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As a summer fizzles, these items stay hot
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Published: September 24, 2008
So summer's gone. Already. Yep. Officially, it ended as of midnight Monday, which marked the arrival of fall. Miss it? I do. Already.
With a new season upon us, it would seem only fitting to take a glace backward and recall the sports-related events that made the summer of 2008 such a success.
Without question, the starting line should be at home plate. That's where the junior edition of the Mooresville Moors Gresham-Baker Post 66 American Legion baseball team spent most of its time.
Moving out of the shadows of the Senior Division entry for which the Little Moors serve as feeders, the band of players hailing from programs at Mooresville Senior High, Lake Norman High, and South Iredell High combined abilities to put forth a performance that has never been fashioned by any prior local legion team. The Jr. Moors won their conference crown, captured their division title and secure a berth in the state Junior finals. There, only a slight dent in their otherwise shining armor provided them with a runner-up finish among the some 100 strong Junior Division American Legion teams in the state.
The groundwork has been laid and, hopefully, graduates off the Little Moors will take their experience with them to the Moors team in the coming season.
As for the main Moors, they, too, put together a fine season of their own. Once owners of a near program-record consecutive game winning streak, Post 66 vied for top Southern Division of Area III honors before just coming up short. The crew then tossed aside prior struggles to advance out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in years. It took a state tournament finalist to end Post 66's season. A load of talent is eligible to return, making hopes of similar success in coming seasons also promising.
On to the golf course. I know what you're thinking. It being the summer of my second ever hole-in-one, that feat might top the list. Close. Just didn't want you to forget about it completely.
Actually, it was the efforts of current Lake Norman High School senior golfer/tennis player Hayley Hammond that takes top honors. She emerged almost out of nowhere to finish first in the 12th annual North Carolina Girls Championship of the Carolinas Golf Association. She paved her way through qualifying stroke play and one-on-one match play to surface as the champion of the major event. It was one that also placed her name and face on a host of college programs' recruiting list. She headed into the fall as the current overall stroke leader within the North Piedmont Conference during the current girls golf season.
Soccer stole some summer heat as well, with Lake Norman's varsity team starting off as two-time reigning state champions and atop the state's 3A class poll. It's Mooresville, though, that motors into the fall with the most zip, up to fifth in the state poll and currently leading the NPC.
What a fall we're going to have.
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