Gators place at nationals

Team invited back to Disney for January tourney

Gators who made the trip to central Florida included (l-r) front row: Michael Subject, Robbie Bacon, Tyler Causer, Martin Causer and Brian Jackson. Middle row: Chris Schuster, Jacob Edgers, Dario Brown, Wesley Causer, Ethan Deemer and Cody Folker. Back row: Coaches Diane Jackson and April Causer. - photo by Photo provided.

HinesvilleGators2 — Gators who made the trip to central Florida included (l-r) front row: Michael Subject, Robbie Bacon, Tyler Causer, Martin Causer and Brian Jackson. Middle row: Chris Schuster, Jacob Edgers, Dario Brown, Wesley Causer, Ethan Deemer and Cody Folker. Back row: Coaches Diane Jackson and April Causer. - photo by Photo provided.

Special to the Couirer

Updated: Sep 13, 2007, 9:04 AM

Published: Aug 29, 2007, 12:51 PM

The 11 players who make up the U14 and U16 Hinesville Gators soccer teams had one goal in mind as they decided to play 3V3 soccer this summer.
That goal was to qualify for the finals and play at the National 3V3 Soccer Tournament at the Walt Disney World Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., in July.
The journey for the teams began in June as they competed and placed well in qualifiers. The U14 Gators, coached by Diane Jackson, came in second place in a qualifier in Carrolton. The U16 team, coached by April Causer, went to Savannah for a qualifier. Both teams went to Jekyll Island in July and once again placed well.
That made the Gators dream come true and on July 27, they headed to Disney World to compete at the Nationals. The U14 Gators played two games on the first day of competition and won both 6-3 and 7-2. The U16 team played only one game on the first day and lost 5-6.
The next day, a Saturday, the U14 lost the first game 3-4. After several rain delays they went on to play two more, winning both 6-1 and 6-4. This qualified them to play in the championship on Sunday. At the championship, the U14 Gators lost to the Scorpions 5-3.
The U16 won all their games on Saturday 8-7, 7-2 and 5-3, sending them to the championship game on Sunday as well. They lost to the Hammerheads in the last few minutes of the game 1-0.
Of course, some of the players went to the Disney parks after the tournament. And they get a chance to see Mickey Mouse again as both teams qualified for the World Kick It Championship at the Disney Sports Complex in January.

Cavs take series opener from Tide

Published: Apr 2, 2025, 9:58 PM

The Long County Blue Tide baseball game into the week knowing they needed to bring their A-game if they were going to beat the Calvary Day Cavaliers. On Tuesday, April 1, they struggled to get much going at the plate as the Cavaliers pulled away late to win the series opener 10-1.

The Cavaliers play their home games at Grayson Stadium in Savannah but because Grayson is also home to the Savannah Bananas, who have home games this week, all three games of the series are going to be played at Fulcher Field in Ludowici. That meant the Blue Tide were the visitors at their own field in the first game of the series.

The Blue Tide took a 1-0 lead when Isaiah Miller avoided the tag on a chopper to first base, allowing Nick Sizemore to score.

Because of this, the Blue Tide played the away team in the first game Tuesday. Nick Sizemore and Creight Rogers both walked to put two on base.

The Cavaliers retired 10 straight Tide batters from the second into the fifth innings, including eight straight strikeouts.

Calvary tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth on a run-scoring double, and a sacrifice fly in the fifth put the Cavs in front 2-1.

A fly ball lost in the sun became a double and brought home another run, and a single to left helped push the lead to 4-1.

Calvary got a two-run double to cap the fifth inning and go up 6-1.

Kenny Pickens ended the Tide’s 10-batter hitless streak as he singled to open the sixth. However, the next two batters went down before Pickens was caught stealing for the final out of the inning.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, the Cavaliers struck for four runs on a two-run single, a RBI double and a hit batter.

The Tide fell to 12-8 overall and 6-4 in region play.

They will host the Cavaliers again on Thursday, April 3 in a doubleheader to close out the regular season region play. The first game starts at 4 p.m.

The Tide will likely need to win one to preserve their top 16 ranking in the state as they look to clinch their first home state playoff series in 25 years.

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