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

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Raiders Meet Fotmidable D ER ARIES f V Rises To Frrst In District Despite Constant Owl Rivalry The Raiders first rose to promi- nence early in their season. During the summer leagues ta tournament held among various teams consisting of both varsity and junior varsity players within the districtj, the team defeated its opponents to reserve a position in the championship game. Once there, they met and ultimately lost to the Garland Owls, the team that would be a foil to the J.V. team for the entire regular season. Practice began in late February of 1987 as the team began to prepare for its opening game with Highland Park. After school workouts usually began at three o'clock and lasted as late as 6:30, as coach Roy Denny repeatedly drilled the players in such areas as running, batting, and throw- ing. The team's first game resulted in a victory, but the next game set the team back. The Raiders suffered 1987 JUNIOR VARSITY BASEBALL 8-2-1 NG OPP 7-5, 12-6 South Garland 7-3, 4-4 Garland 5-2, 6-8 North Mesquite 4-3 Mesquite 6-3, 5-4 Highland Park 4-9 Plano East 7-3 tbistrictl Garland I2 Q Spam their first loss of the season to Plano East. At first, l never had any doubts about our success as a team, said Jeff Thompson. senior. When I saw those Plano East players, all I could think of was 'big '. The Raiders met the Owls again, two games and two victories later, and, once again the Raiders failed to emerge victorious. l don't know why we had so much trouble with Garland, said Brent Cuba. senior. We just tried our hardest to win, but things never really seemed to come together. The Owls and the Raiders met a second time during a midseason bout. Both were closing in on the district championship, and a victory for either would provide a stepping stone in their search for a champion- ship. The result of the game was nei- ther a victory or a loss for either team. The score stood at 6-6 after fourteen innings of play. The game was lasting too long and it was getting ridiculous because it was so dark. Nobody could see a thing so we just called it off and stopped playing, Billy Holbert. ju- nior, said. The end of the season found the Raiders the top team in the district and they made the district champion- ships. There they met for a third time their arch rivals, the Garland Owls. This time, though, the outcome was strikingly different from the previous encounters. The Raiders beat their longtime foes in the most important game of the season and were crowned best in district. We worked hard all year and when it came down to the line, we redeemed ourselves, said coach Roy Denney. -Robert F Josey l9B7 JUNIOR VARSlTY BASEBALL-Front Row: Paul Tom Pasinski, Greg Floyd, Rich Genovese. Not Picturedg Odle. Chris Allen. Larry Rockwell, Jason Lawrence, Coach Roy Denney. Robby Bereuter. Second Row: Kirby Jones, Patrick Cook,

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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

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TURNING HIS SHOULDER to deliver the ball, CONGRATLILATING BRENT NALLEY, sopho- Tony Perry freshman, hurlsapitch in between more, on scoring a run, Greg Floyd junior, innings. Perry was a member of the junior prepares to take his turn at bat. Floyd batted varsity summer league team. .500 during the regular season. Garland Daily News Photo Garland Daily News Photo 45, . emi na Nw ,. O The North Garland baseball program was only one of two programs ln the area that field ed a junior varsity summer league team The only other school to sponsor such a team was North Mesquite High competitor The team was made up of players of all grade classifica tions including Incoming fresh men It served as sort of an in to the world of high school baseball and it let them know what to expect from the team and what was expected of them by the team The team played other teams from all over the North teams such as West Mesquite and Forney were usually of a 4 A classification This pre sea son play provided a warm up for the players and readled troduction for these freshmen them for the upcomlng season -Mark R. Murphy School, a district 9-AAAAA Texas area. These opposing '87 pw amaze G I5