North Garland High School - Marauder Yearbook (Garland, TX)

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SUMMER Each year after the fmal game of the season the Raider baseball team packs up the equipment and places lt In the shed Balls helmets catch er s equlpment and bases wlll remain for approximately only two weeks Does this signal the begmnmg of a new season'- The answer IS yes and The league IS called Amen can Legion a natlonwlde sum mer baseball league The Le glon teams orlgmally had no re stnctrons but to have each member meet an age requrre ment Area teams llncludlng North Garlandl put thelr regular school teams together to play essentially practice games against the teams they would face the next dlstnct season The Ll I L reallzlng this lmple mented a rule this year that prohlblted teams from playmg In uniforms that contained school colors or the school nickname So the Raiders sum ply trotted out their dlstrlct team In grey uniforms wlth the me North Garland ffl Playing all their QAAAAA opponents except Lakeview lwho dld not form a teamj and a few teams from other dns tracts the Raiders flmshed sec ond In the Belt Llne Baseball National KAJ League to South Garland The Colonels eventu ally elrmmated the team from the regional tournament In Sanger Texas The purpose of having this team though was to give young players experience One of the factors In the success was the performance of the un derclassmen The dlstrlct wan mng team ln 1987 had flve un derclassmen named to the two All DISIFICL teams North Garland even formed a second team to allow sopho mores and freshmen a chance to gain seasomng when there would be no room at the varslty level Only one other drstrlct program North Mesquite has a JV summer team Robert F Josey and Mark R Murphy FOLLOWING THE FLIGHT of the ball Scot! Bale sensor prepares to leave the batter s box Garland Darly News Photo 1 1 Y . , . - - - .1 . . 11 . - 1 1 , . . 7 I I . , . - .. 11 U 1. , . D0 . 1 1 7 l l . 1 , . . . ., , ' ' 1 1 1 n ' na . ' 1 1 , ,, . f an - 4 1 . 1 el, 1 v , 1 ge 1, ' 2 it f 1 93 ,fs ., XA' sk 1 ' 1 1 l ' . 1 . 6 .g ,4 mis

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SLIDING HEADFIRST INTO the tag of Gar- land's Chris Monk. Eric Rivas, senior is tagged out at second base. Rivas would later hit the game-winning home run. Garland Daily News Photo NG Clinches Bi- District CHAMPIO HIP Raiders Advance To Area Playoffs Only To Be Deriea ted By Rivals Thomas jefkrson icontinued from page 91 year, after that mess last year. We had to keep up the baseball team's tradition. Wickline had no official captains, but relied on the seniors on the team to lead. Bill Brazil, then a senior, emerged as a pitcher during their pre- district, and was appointed to start the first game. Brazil provided a hard act to follow, as, in addition to allow- ing only three hits in six and two- thirds innings, he knocked in two runs while also scoring two. Al- though the Raiders could not know it at the time, this would be the only game in the first half of district play that would not find the Raiders be- hind or tied to their opponent in the late innings. All our close victories showed that the team could play at its best during the last two innings, said LaFlame. The second half of district play be- PREPARING TO DELIVER the ball, Kevin Cor- ley, junior, warms up during the game against Garland. Corley was selected to the second all- district team. Garland Daily News Photo gan the same way as the first. Brazil hit and pitched well, Corley shut the door in the late innings, and the Raid- ers won. It sounds easy, but the latter part of district proved to be just as arduous as the first. Although the team lost only once during that time, they had to overcome late inning ties or deficits in three victories. The Raiders clinched a playoff spot after Brazil's five-hit pitching de- feated Greenville, and took the dis- trict after disposing of Highland Park. During the two key games, right- fielder Ricky Creel. then a junior, scattered seven hits, while Eric Ri- vas. senior, knocked a three-run home run against the Scots. Bryan Adams defeated Samuell to advance to meet the Raiders in the last game of the regular season. Bry- an Adams, winning the coin toss, elected to play the first game at - Pleasant Grove Field in Dallas. Loca- KICKING UP A CLOUD of dust, Trent Thom- as. senior, slides hard into second base. North Garland used the school field and equipment during the summer league. Garland Daily News Photo tion, though, mattered little, as the Raiders out-lasted the Cougars in ten innings, 7-6. After another victory, the team earned the bi-district cham- pionship. During the series, the Raiders proved successful once again. Brazil and Corley combined for a victory in the first game and Cedrick Fletcher, then a sophomore, in his first varsity start as a pitcher, held Bryan Adams to only five hits and one run. Ste- phen Endres. one of the sophomores called up from the junior varsity for the playoffs, had four hits and five runs batted in for the Raiders in two games. More importantly, though, Endres stepped into the third-base- man's role in Fletcher's place. l was as nervous as l've ever been out there, said Endres, but I really wanted to contribute to the team. The Raiders opponent in the area playoffs was Thomas Jefferson. From all the accusations laid out last year, we couldn't help using that as a rallying point, said Rivas. The first game was a carbon copy of many of the district games. The Raid- ers scored just enough runs to win in the last, if not extra, innings, while Brazil and Corley held the opposi- tion. It took the team eight innings to overcome the Patriots, but not with- out some timely hitting by shortstop Greg DeSario. From the ninth spot in the order, DeSario knocked in pinch- runner Jeff Trevino. junior, from sec- ond base to give the team a slim one- run lead. Corley came into the game in the eighth and shut the door on Jefferson. The second and third games, how- ever, would not prove as successful for the Raiders, as the clutch-hitting team had become accustomed to was not there. We all tried to win the game by ourselves. Baseball is a team sport and you've got to have a team effort, Donald LaFlame said. -Mark R. Murphy 'Wmutg