Moorefield’s Matheny captains Class A all state
The Associated Press

    WILLIAMSON — Moorefield’s man for all seasons, 6-foot-1 senior guard Brent Metheny, has been selected to captain the 1999 boys’ Class A all-state basketball team as chosen by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Metheny, who has led his school to three consecutive football state titles as well as three straight trips to Charleston for the state basketball tournament and two baseball tournaments in a row, averaged 22.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game this season for the Yellowjackets.
    Metheny finished his basketball career as the Hardy County school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,501 points.
He led Moorefield to the state semifinals before they bowed out to eventual state champion Parkersburg Catholic.
“He’s a winner,’’ Moorefield head coach Shelby Vincell said. “He’s more of a scorer than a shooter. He can find ways to beat you when he’s having an off night. He’s that good.’’ Metheny will be attending James Madison University in the fall on a baseball scholarship.
    Other members of the first team: Josh Delawder of Paw Paw, Jeremy Harper of Pendleton County, Dave Borkowski of Parkersburg Catholic, Williamson’s Dennis Hannah, Baileysville’s John West, Sean Wattie of Valley Fayette and Marsh Fork’s Mike England. Delawder, a junior guard, led the state in scoring with 37 points per game.
    Harper led undefeated and top-ranked Pendleton County in scoring with a 21.7 ppg average as well as 8.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and three steals. He will be continuing his hoops career at Virginia Military Institute next year on a basketball scholarship.
    Borkowski, a 6-foot senior guard, averaged 15 points, five rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.7 steals in leading Parkersburg Catholic to the 1999 state championship.
    Hannah led Williamson to its 12th state tournament appearance in the last 15 seasons by averaging 21 ppg. The 6-1 swingman had a high game of 43 points against Oceana early in the season.
    West, a 5-10 senior, scored 13.6 points and handed out seven assists a game in leading Baileysville to one of the most successful seasons in the Wyoming County school’s history.
    Valley’s Wattie had a phenomenal year in leading the Greyhounds to the state finals. The 6-2 senior averaged 18.7 ppg, 12.4 rebounds, four steals and six assists.
    Rounding out the first team is Marsh Fork’s Mike England. The 5-8 senior averaged 15.3 ppg for coach Bud Jarrell’s squad.
    Leading the way on the second team is 6-4 senior Scott Beresford of Cameron. Beresford averaged 24.5 ppg for the Dragons this past season.
    Other members of the second team: Matewan’s Blaine Pruitt, Baileysville’s Jason West, Bub Crum of Burch, Scott Shillenburg from Harman, Jason Shephard of Valley Fayette, Madonna’s Jeff Geisinger and Adam Vance of Harts.

SH nips Liberty, 7-6
by Eric Stoneking
CORRESPONDENT
    South Harrison capitalized on two Liberty throwing errors in the seventh inning Monday en route to a 7-6 victory.
With Liberty clinging to a 6-5 lead, South Harrison’s Andrew Richards led off the seventh inning with a walk, then stole second base. Center fielder Craig Nutter’s single moved Richards to third base.
    With runners on the corners with no outs, disaster struck defending Class AA champion Liberty. Nutter took off for second and Liberty catcher Matt Coberly tried to throw him out.
    When the throw went into the outfield, Richards scored. Meanwhile, Nutter took off for third on the error, drawing a throw from the outfield. Nutter scored when that throw also went awry.
    Reliever Jeff Kyle shut Liberty down in the bottom of the seventh to give South Harrison a win in its first game of the season. “Jeff is a real quality pitcher,” South Harrison coach Brad Nutter said. “He has been in the situation and he is used to it. “Any time you get a guy to come in and close like that, you are in good shape,” Nutter said.
    The game went back and forth the first three innings with no team gaining a clear advantage. Liberty’s Ryan Wagner stepped up to the plate and broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.
    However, Kyle’s two-run single in South Harrison’s next at-bat cut the deficit to one. “I have all the confidence in the world in our team,” Nutter said. “When Liberty had us down three runs, I told these kids we can only get one run at a time.
“I am happy for these kids for going into the last inning down by one and coming out with a victory,” Nutter said.
Richards and Nutter led South Harrison (1-0) with two hits each.
    Wagner led Liberty (1-1) with two hits and three RBIs. Liberty is at Berkeley Springs today.
Also today, South Harrison is at Grafton.

Bridgeport tops Lincoln; RCB
rolls by Irish, 9-3
From Staff Reports
    BRIDGEPORT — Bridgeport scored six runs in the second inning and pitchers T.J. Linkous and Neil DeFazio combined for a three-hitter and 13 strikeouts in a 10-1 win over Lincoln on Monday.
    Joe Honce went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs for Bridgeport (1-0), while Adam Belcastro was 3-for-4 and DeFazio was 2-for-4. Jess Pill and Jimmy Riley each had a double for Lincoln (1-5).
    ROBERT C. BYRD 9, Notre Dame 3: James Funk went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs and teammate Scott Ross added two hits to lead Robert C. Byrd over Notre Dame.
    Robert C. Byrd (3-0) broke up a scoreless tie with five runs in the top of the third. Starting pitcher Joe Moore allowed one run and two hits over three innings to get the win. “Right now, I’m really pleased with the hitting and the pitching we’ve been getting,” said R.C. Byrd coach Felix Veltri.“We’ve got a lot of talented kids on this team, but they’re kids who work year round getting better.”
    Jeremy Wright led Notre Dame (1-2) with two hits, including a solo home run to left center in the bottom of the sixth.
“We just weren’t aggressive offensively or defensively in the first three innings,” Notre Dame coach Mark Starkey said.
“I saw a lot of good things as the game went on. We seemed to get into the flow, but you can’t walk a lot of guys against a team like (Robert C. Byrd).”

Softball

    BRIDGEPORT 10, Nicholas County 5: Beth Guzzi went 2-for-3 with a double and struck out nine while scattering just three hits to lead Bridgeport past Nicholas County.
    Andrea Rome’s two-run double in the second inning highlighted a four-run inning that put Bridgeport (4-2) in command.
“I think we were in a little bit of a slump,” Bridgeport coach Lois Pratt said. “We suffered through a couple of early losses, and we kind of went back to the basics. “So far it’s seemed to really be the difference.”
    Erica Rome had three hits and two RBIs for Bridgeport, while Andrea Rome, Amanda Starkey and Angie Handschumacher added two hits each. Bridgeport returns to action today when it is home against South Harrison at noon.
    SOUTH HARRISON 9, Liberty 3: Desiree Evans went 3-for-3, while teammates Sarah Byrd and Emily Barker each added two hits to lead South Harrison over Liberty. South Harrison overcame a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the second and third innings.
    Alanna Cohen picked up the win for South Harrison (1-1), while Audra Hamrick suffered the loss for Liberty.
Casey Davisson added a double for South Harrison.

Local golf

HOLE-IN-ONE: Bridgeport’s Cal Sieg recorded Salem Country Club’s first hole-in-one of the year. Sieg did the feat on the par 3, 122-yard No. 8 hole with a sand wedge.
It was Sieg’s first hole-in-one of his career and the first time he had played the Salem course. It was witnessed by Jim Cunningham.

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