Daily-led Airedales earn split
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
The Alma Airedales earned a split with Van Buren in 5A-West baseball action Friday, the Airedales’ first victory over the Pointers since March 21, 2016.
The Pointers eked out a 6-4 win in the nightcap, leaving the Airedales at 9-10 overall and 3-5 in 5A-West play.
Sophomore Jackson Daily had three hits in the team’s victory, but Brayden Driscoll’s two-run double in the fifth helped the Airedales extend the lead to 7-4. Colby Kimmons’ two-run single in the sixth made it 9-4.
Branson Brogan earned the save, working 1 ⅔ innings of relief of Driscoll.
Daily raised his team-leading batting average to .442 while going 5-for-5 in the doubleheader. He’s also walked 12 times and leads the Airedales with a .545 on-base percentage.
Daily doubled home the first run to give the Airedales an early 1-0 lead. Cash Wilson went four innings, walking three and allowing three runs.
After Van Buren tied the game at 4-4, Avery Bowerman put Alma ahead for good, 5-4, with an RBI single.
The Airedales, who had dropped the previous eight games to the Pointers, took a 3-0 lead in Game 2. Driscoll and Michael Taylor opened the first with back-to-back RBI doubles. Branson Brogan’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
Alma went ahead 3-0 on Sheppard Osborn’s RBI grounder.
Eli Risley suffered the loss, though sophomores Braden Green and Aiden Keith combined for 4 ⅓ innings of solid relief, allowing one run and combining for five strikeouts. Keith has yet to allow a run in 5 ⅔ innings this season.
TRACK
The Airedales’ senior high track team competed at the Pointer Relays Friday.
Alma’s Byron Standridge, Landon Morris, Josh Releford, and Aiyden Parker placed second (3:37.44) in the 1600 relay.
Standridge, Jackson Mitchell, Morris, and Parker were third (1:33.8) in the 800 relay.
Alma sophomore John Crump was fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles and sixth in the 110 hurdles.
Nevaeh Kangas was fourth (2:32.86) in the 800 meters. Kenadie Farris placed seventh in the high jump.
The Alma junior high boys and girls track teams competed at Clarksville last week.
Olivia Whipple was second (13.71) in the 100 meters and second (29.44) in the 200. Kadee Wise was third (18.02) in the 100 hurdles and eighth in the 100 hurdles.
Jaeli Morris finished third (33-6) in the shot put. Bentley Vaughn finished fifth in the 200 meters.
In the boys' events, Dallas Perkins, Daniel Rodriguez, Hamir Thibodeaux, and Chase Parker helped lead the Airedales’ 1600 relay team to a second-place finish (4:04.19).
Perkins, Quinton Broadway, Jeremiah Whitaker, and Parker helped pace Alma to a third-place finish (1:44.68) in the 800 relay.
Thibodeaux was third (46.79) in the 110 hurdles. Parker and Grady Farmer finished fourth and sixth in the triple jump.
Boaz Benson was sixth in the shot put and seventh in the discus. Koda Hollander was 1600 meters. Perkins was sixth in the 100 meters and eighth in the long jump.
BASEBALL
The Alma Airedales split a nonconference doubleheader with Shiloh Christian on Monday.
Carson Curd pitched five strong innings and Izaac Plouride drove in a run and threw out two runners to pace the Airedales to a 3-2 victory in the opener.
Alma dropped the second game, 4-2. Landon Taylor pitched 2 ⅔ innings and absorbed the loss while allowing two unearned runs. Cade Moore’s two-run single tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth.
But the Saints scored twice in their half of the fourth to secure the victory.