Up & Coming Weekly

February 28, 2017

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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26 UCW MARCH 1-7, 2017 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Pine Forest High School's baseball team is coming off back-to-back trips to the third round of the state 4-A playoffs. With the loss of nine seniors from last year's team, head coach Tom Willoughby isn't predicting his Trojans will fare as well this season, but he's sticking with a formula that seems to breed success for his program. Willoughby has had his share of exceptional players, like infielder-pitcher Cobie Vance, who is in his second season playing for the University of Alabama. Players like that certainly help, but Willoughby thinks the guys who aren't going to play baseball after high school are just as crucial. "They are going to put the most into that opportunity,'' Willoughby said. "You raise the team up from the bottom. If you get those guys to play better, the whole team gets better. "Role players are a big factor.'' As with Vance a couple of years ago, Willoughby has another budding star to build this year's team around, shortstop-pitcher Isaiah Bennett. A gifted athlete, Bennett has been a standout in both baseball and soccer for the Trojans. In January, Bennett flew to Arizona to take part in Major League Baseball's Dream Series showcase, a special event to expose African-American pitchers and catchers to pro scouts and team staff for evaluation and instruction. Bennett, a sophomore, has also made an early commitment to play at the University of North Carolina, but Willoughby doesn't think all that exposure will go to Bennett's head. "He loves playing the game and he's going to go about his business,'' Willoughby said. "He won't feel the pressure to live up to expectations.'' Bennett said he's set a high bar for himself this season and wants to focus on being a team leader, showing his teammates the right way to do things. "I think I can perform at any level I put my mindset to,'' he said. One of the biggest challenges for Bennett, and the rest of the Pine Forest pitching staff, will be adjusting to a new rule that limits the number of pitches a player can throw before having to take mandatory days off. As a short reliever, Bennett doesn't think the rules will affect him greatly, but he said it could be a problem for pitchers if hitters become patient and pitchers aren't able to find the strike zone. "You'll have to focus on what you're doing and go after them (the batters),'' he said. Willoughby said he supports the new pitching rule but added it will require coaches to think ahead a little more on who they'll be using in a game and how much. "I'm getting seven or eight guys ready to start the season,'' he said. "We'll have to use two or three guys early on because you don't want them throwing 85 to 100 pitches right out of the gate. "We'll have to use guys as a bridge to get to a closer or just to break up games.'' Willoughby said the Trojans have some three-game weeks early in the season, so he's already looking at which pitchers he'll be throwing in those games. "It builds depth, and that's what you want to do as team,'' he said. As for how that depth performs on the field, Willoughby will just have to wait. "As a group we've been together about a week now,'' he said. "These guys have put in a lot of work. It depends on how quickly they develop as to how good we do this year.'' Pine Forest High School Baseball Team Finds Success by EARL VAUGHAN, JR. When Up & Coming Weekly publisher Bill Bowman and I first started discussing the things we wanted to do with this page, one of the first items I mentioned was honoring scholar-athletes from Cumberland County. We see plenty of lists of athletes with all kinds of scoring and rushing and passing averages through the athletic year, but I fear we often forget that athletics is a sideshow to what young people are really in school for, to get an education. I was reminded of that last week when I got a request from Tracy Esterly on Facebook to add her to my circle of friends. Esterly is the mother of Gray's Creek High School wrestler Andrew Esterly, who competed for the Bears in the recent N.C. High School Athletic Association wrestling championships held at the Greensboro Coliseum. Esterly wrestled in the 132-pound classification where he finished fifth in the state in his weight class. But that's not why I mention him in this week's column. His mother posted a picture of him on Facebook, which you'll see elsewhere on this page, sitting in the stands in the Greensboro Coliseum with textbook open, studying for his class in advanced placement human geography. Making good grades is enough of a challenge by itself, but it's even more challenging when you're in a sport like wrestling. Of all the sports I've covered, wrestling makes the most personal demands on athletes, from maintaining precise weight to having to monitor their health carefully for signs of illness that can keep you out of competition. I applaud Esterly and all athletes like him for their commitment to push themselves to athletic excellence while at the same time maintaining the highest possible standards in the classroom. My longtime friend Rick Strunk, now retired as associate commissioner of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, recalled a conversation he had with a parent who called in a few years ago. The father wanted to know if he, as a parent, could override the diagnosis of a doctor who said his son shouldn't return to the football field. According to Strunk, the son had been diagnosed with a concussion, and the doctor wouldn't release him to play. Strunk tried to explain the logic of keeping the son on the bench, asking the father if he would want to reverse the doctor's decision if his son was suffering from a knee injury. There's currently a bill pending in the North Carolina House of Representatives that would give parents the right to overrule the doctor if it passes. Under the language of the bill, an athlete diagnosed with a concussion will be removed from the game or practice and not be allowed to return that day. However, it then gives a parent or legal guardian the right to submit written clearance to the school so the athlete can resume competition. I'm certainly in favor of parents being involved in making key decisions about their children and athletics, but the logic behind giving this much latitude escapes me. Parents don't need to be given the freedom to decide if their children are healthy enough to return to the playing field, especially with concussions. That decision should be left in the hands of medical professionals. Hopefully, this bill will not get serious consideration and die quickly in committee. Names have been determined for the conferences the Cumberland County Schools will be playing in next season. Both leagues will have new names. Members of the former Mid-South 4-A and Cape Fear Valley 3-A are joining a combination 3-A/4-A league that will be called the Patriot Athletic Conference. The old Southeastern 4-A, which will be adding Jack Britt and Seventy-First next season, is changing its name to the Sandhills Athletic Conference, or SAC-8. Both new leagues begin play in the 2017-18 school year. Andrew Esterly Shows Dedication and Drive by EARL VAUGHAN, JR. EARL VAUGHAN,JR. Sports Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-987-5311 HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS Andrew Esterly Isaiah Bennett, Pine Forest baseball player

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