Sign up is for all teams, men, women, church and independent.

Teams should bring a $100 deposit. Practice times will be scheduled at this time.

For more information, contact Coach Ronald McMinn at 563-7611.

Dakota Mabry placed first in the shot put, followed by Cody Edlin in third.

Colton Robison placed in three events. He was fourth in the 400 meter run, fourth in the 100 meter dash and fifth in shot put.

Josh Garrott also placed in three events. He placed first in the mile run, second in the long jump and third in the 400 meter relay.

Placing in two events was Nick Douglas with second in the 100 meter dash and third in the 400 meter relay.

Austin Atkinson was also on the 400 meter relay team which earned him a third place ribbon.

Jim Tyler Dalrymple was the fourth member of the third place 400 meter relay team. Dalrymple also placed first in the 20 meter dash and second in the 400 meter run.

Rounding out the North Delta track were Robert Moore, fourth in the 200 meter dash and Andy Barnes, third in the discus throw.

Wednesday, March 28, the North Delta track team will participate in a meet at Marshall Academy.

Thursday, the Lady Tigers (20-3 overall, 3-1 district) fell 1-0 to district powerhouse Horn Lake.

Horn Lake scored its one run in the first inning and from then on it was a pitcher’s duel.

Lady Tiger Whitney Kiihnl took her third loss, striking out 12, walking two, and allowing two hits.

The Lady Tigers had three hits against Horn Lake, but could not get in a run. Kiihnl, Hayley Plummer and Casi Brooks each had a hit. Kasey Kelsay walked once. Nine Lady Tigers struck out.

Kiihnl still has impressive stats following the two shutout wins Saturday in the Grenada Tournament.

In the morning game, South Panola defeated Brandon 1-0 and later New Hope 8-0.

Kiihnl has struck out 296 and only walked 28 batters this season. She has allowed 16 total hits and 11 runs. She was named the Clarion Ledger’s player of the week which published in today’s edition.

The Lady Tigers had eight hits against Brandon. Lindsey Thaggard led with two hits. Brooks scored the only run.

Kiihnl struck out 11 and walked one.

The Lady Tigers had nine hits and eight runs against New Hope.

Brooks and Plummer had two hits each. Kiihnl struck out 19, walked two and allowed one hit.

The Lady Tigers are on their third week of a three-week travel schedule.

Today they will be in Grenada for games at 5 and 6 p.m. This weekend they will participate in the Southaven Tournament. Friday they will play Covington at 4 p.m. Saturday, they have three games beginning at 8:30 a.m. against Mooreville. Then they will play Richland at 1:30 a.m. and East Central at 4 p.m.

They will return home on Thursday, April 5 for a district game with Southaven at 5 and 6 p.m.

Many of my papers run this column on Sunday, the next of which will be April First, otherwise known as April Fool’s Day, for some reason. None of my dictionaries tell why, but no doubt someone somewhere knows, and will tell me.

Over the years, I’ve played tricks on others, not necessarily on April Fool’s Day, and have had jokes played on me. A writer often gets to joke in his books, or articles, or columns, and gets paid for it! A speaker will do the same, and get paid. Unless, of course, he plays the prank on the guy who is signing the checks!

Playing football at Ole Miss, one had to learn to take such foolishness with a rein on his temper, because a freshman was never to argue with or get peeved at an upperclassman.

So, when we came in after practice one afternoon to find no street clothes in our lockers, we had no choice but to run across the whole campus nekkid (a passel of unclothed freshman football players are not nude, nor naked; those words don’t fit!) from the dressing room to Miller Hall, right as dark was closing in, but not dark enough to hide us from the hordes of co-eds who someway had been alerted that there was going to be a special parade that evening. Maybe that was a down payment for the panty raids we organized in subsequent years.

My roommate one year at college hated eight o’clock classes, but had one scheduled for second semester. He slept on the top bunk, and would set the alarm clock on the desk in the center of our room. It would ring, and he’d whirl out of bed, set one foot on the very edge of the desk, reach over to shut off the noise, then roll back into bed and miss the class. For the which he’d blame me, since I was a couple of years younger and behind him.

So, one night after he’d gone to sleep, I decided to teach him a lesson. I went into the hall and emptied one of the huge metal trash cans into another, and took the empty one into our room. The chest of drawers was on the wall directly opposite the bunks, and I quietly cleared off its top, then placed the trash can on its side atop the chest, aimed toward the bunks. I pushed the alarm clock all the way to the back of the metal can: I wanted lots of amplification.

Then I moved the desk two inches away from the beds, and hit the sack.

Sure enough, the next morning, the alarm went off on time, but with ten times as much volume! Doug rolled out of bed in an extra panic to shut off the noise. I opened my eyes just in time to see his foot hit exactly the same spot that he always did – except that now there was no desk edge there!

That whole end of the dorm was awakened and standing outside our room before he ever got that blasted alarm shut off! I had wisely slept in my jeans, so departed long before I could get my share of the blame. He broke no bones, but he never missed another eight o’clock class! April Fool!
A few years later, in the Navy, our ship was alongside a pier in Norfolk, and the Navigator, Lt. Commander Patterson, came back from liberty one early April night rather the worse for wear.

Not trusting himself to walk, he drove his VW Beetle right up to the foot of the gangway, parked and locked it, then weaved his way up to the quarterdeck and saluted me, the Officer of the Deck. I asked the Messenger of the Watch to escort him safely to his stateroom, and sent the Bosun’s Mate of the watch for fresh coffee.

I was Gunnery Officer, so I scrambled a quick Fox Division working party, and before my two Watchmates returned, six Fox men and I had run down the gangway, lifted the VW, for which there was barely room on the narrow pier, and turned it sideways!

When the Bosun and the Messenger returned to the quarterdeck, my Fox people were gone and I was bravely standing the Midwatch alone. That’s the midnight to four a.m. Watch.

But when daylight came, and the XO saw Cdr. Patterson’s Beetle crossways the pier, both bumpers hanging over the water, he raised a fuss that ended up with most of the ship’s crew and a bleary-eyed, hung-over Navigator wondering just how in the heck he had been able to park that thing thataway!

I waited a LONG time before confessing that April Fool’s Joke! Fox Division kept its mouth shut!

The Tigers redeemed themselves after Tuesday’s loss with an 8-6 win in seven innings. South Panola won that three-game series with Horn Lake, taking two of three.

Saturday, the Tigers hosted Charleston in a non-district double header. The Tigers swept Charleston 9-6 and 17-0.

The game against Horn Lake took a lot of twists and turns. Horn Lake led 3-0 going into the top of the third inning.

South Panola cut the lead with two runs, 3-2. The Tigers put up two more runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at six.

A hit by Tiger Tyler Benson in the top of the eighth inning drove home the eventual winning run.

David Renfroe started on the mound for the Tigers with Ethan Bright getting the win in relief. Heath Bolton pitched the extra inning for the save.
Other big runs for the Tigers was a clutch double by Mitchell Houston in the top of the sixth and a double by Bolton in the top of the seventh.

In the first game against Charleston, Colton Ales pitched the complete game and got the win in seven innings.

Ethan Bright hit his eighth homerun of the season while also hitting a double.

Game two only lasted three innings as Whit Whitten got his first varsity win, pitching the complete game.

Getting multiple hits were Houston, Renfroe, Bright, Robby Brown and Joseph Blair with two hits each.

In the junior varsity game, Horn Lake and South Panola ended in a 5-5 tie.

The Batesville Jr. High Tigers defeated Winona in both games Thursday night.

Friday night, the high school team will be in Southaven for another pivotal district matchup. The junior varsity will play first at 4:30 p.m. followed by the varsity at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, the Tigers will host Southaven at 5 and 7 p.m.

The junior high team hosted Lafayette last night but the score was not available at press time.

Thursday, the junior high Tigers will play in Winona at 5 p.m.

Grant Goforth continues to win in boys’ singles with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Nick Kennedy at Center Hill last Tuesday.

In girls’ singles, Regina Rehorovska defeated Ashley Ward 6-4, 6-0.

In girls’ doubles Ashley Roberson and Marlee Goforth won 6-0, 6-2 over Alex Ray and Lillian Rowe.

In the boys doubles match, South Panola’s Manuel Henrich and Matthew Dooley won 6-3, 6-0 over Cameron Roberts and Matt Morris.

The South Panola mixed doubles team of Blake Goodwin and Alyssa Boren defeated Colby Wood and D. Bellew 6-1, 6-0.

In the junior varsity matches, J.P. Wallace and Nikki Reinemann lost to Jacob Gray and Lorrie Morchinin 4-8 in a mixed doubles pro set.

Jonathan Ware and Jordan Williams won their mixed doubles set 8-3 over Chelsey Rambo and Michael Bland.

Thursday, the Tiger tennis team traveled to Senatobia for a match.

South Panola won the match 3-2.

In girl’s singles Rehorovska defeated Anablair Hunt 6-1, 6-3.

In boys singles Grant Goforth defeated Josh Warren 6-0, 6-0.

In three sets, Marlee Goforth and Roberson defeated Kristin Billingsley and Lacy Red 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

In boys double, Henrich and Dooley lost to Joel Garrett and Bedford Hunt 2-6, 2-6.

The mixed doubles team of Goodwin and Williams lost to Adam Barnett and Natalie Pippin 3-6, 2-6.

In junior varsity action, Rodrigo "Roy" Lozano Ruiz lost to Ryan Marshall 7-9.

In mixed doubles, Boren and Wallace won 8-5 over Ashley Ferguson and Eric Briscoe.

The tennis team will host Lafayette today at 4 p.m. in a non-district match. Thursday, the Tigers travel to Southaven for district play at 4 p.m. Monday, April 2, the tennis team will be in Olive Branch for a district match.

Back at home at the FedEx Forum on March 20, hosting the New Orleans Hornets, the Grizzlies lost by a score of 114-103. Stepping up for the Grizzles were Pau Gasol who scored 28 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals, and one blocked shot.

On the other side of the ball, David West scored 26 points for the Hornets and Chris Paul scored 23 points with nine assists. Tyson Chandler had 11 rebounds for the Hornets. At the end of the first quarter, the game was tied at 30. At the half it was tied at 61. It was the third quarter that the Hornets took their game up a notch to score 31 point to the Grizzlies 20. In the last quarter the Griz scored only 22 points to cost them the game.
The Hornets were still battling for the last playoff spot in the West with the Clippers and the Warriors. The Hornets trail the pair by a half game.

Two nights later, the Grizzlies had another big team coming to the FedEx Forum with a big name player, the L.A. Lakers and Kobe Bryant.

On a night when the University of Memphis Tigers were in San Antonio playing in the 2007 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship Regionals, playing Texas A & M on national television, who would have thought that 16,107 fans would show up to watch this game between the Grizzlies and the Lakers?

The Grizzlies announcer and the overhead video board updated the crowd throughout the game.

In the closing minutes, the game was shown before officials asked that it not be shown because the crowd’s reaction was distracting the play on the court.

The NBA leading scorer, Bryant, came into this game with the chance to add to the NBA history books again. He added to the books on January 26, when he scored 32 points against Charlotte and became the youngest NBA player at 28 years, 156 days, to reach 18,000 career points ahead of Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O’Neal.

His chance was to score 50 or more points in three straight games and only two other players in NBA history had done that. On Friday night, March 16, Bryant scored 65 points against Portland and on Sunday, March 18, he scored 50 points against Minnesota. The question in many minds on this night was, could Kobe Bryant do it? Could he join the list with Wilt Chamberlain who did it in 1961 and Michael Jordan who scored 50 points in three consecutive games 20 years ago with the Chicago Bulls?

To start the game, Bryant came out shooting and missed his first three baskets, but it wasn’t long before he found his spot and became a scoring machine for the rest of the game. He connected from all over the court. At the half, Bryant had 24 points. He ended the third period with 43 points. At the end of the game, Bryant did indeed add his name to the NBA history books with 60 points. In three games, he scored 175 points.

"I didn’t get off to a quick start, but I stayed aggressive," Bryant said after the game. "Again, they did such a great job spotting me on back doors and trying to open plays and things like that. I just tried to find my special spot."

Bryant was 17 of 18 on free throws and he talked about missing the one.

"You have got to get to the line at some point," he said. "The first half we really didn’t do a good job once the ball came down but the second half, we did a much better job and continued to attack."

Bryant said the night was special because the team was coming off three straight wins.

"This is a stretch where we need to make up some ground and get our rhythm back on this trip," he said. "I’m doing my part, and other guys are stepping up and doing theirs as well. I feel like the guys are finding me. It’s not like I’m really taking difficult shots outside of a couple, but I’m already in rhythm by the time I take those.

"To get in rhythm, I need to get great looks, great picks and great passes," he continued. "You can’t do that without the help of your teammates, particularly with the single, double and triple teams. More importantly, you have got to get good passing, good screens, and come and touch and shoot."

Bryant talked about his streak and being in the same league as his idols. He said growing up, he idolized all of them, from Wilt to AJ.

"It’s a tremendous honor for me to be in the same class as those guys in terms of being in the history books," Bryant added. "It is truly a tremendous honor."

Bryant said the key to the Lakers playing is defense. According to Bryant, if they put up 60 points and do not play defense, then they are not going to win any games.

Lakers head Coach Phil Jackson talked about Kobe.

"I was wondering if he ever was going to miss a foul shot," Jackson said. "That was remarkable of him to stand on the foul line and shoot as well as he did tonight. He missed one down the stretch, but we kept going back to him as he rose to the occasion.

"He asked to stay in the ball game when the second unit came back in to take time away from the starters," Jackson continued. "I let him ride the energy, and he rode the curve well."

The Grizzlies lost to the Lakers in another close game for them, 121-119.

Pau Gasol and Mike Miller did all they could do to help their team win but it was not enough to stop the losing streak. The Grizzlies had lost the last four home games out of five.

The game was tied three times. The Grizzlies outscored the Lakers in the second period by three points and five points in the third period. In the fourth period, the Lakers only outscored the Grizzlies by one point. The Grizzlies never could overcome the nine point lead from the first period by the Lakers.

In the last 8 games against the Lakers, the Grizzlies had won seven of them. But they could not do it on this night with Bryant on fire from all over the court. It did not seem to matter who was guarding him, they could not find the answer. Bryant made 20 of 37 shots, 17 of 18 free throws, had five rebounds and four assists.

Gasol scored 35 points for the Grizzlies and had 15 rebounds.

Mike Miller added 33 points to his team’s final score. He made 11 of 16 shots, 6 of 11 on three points, had four rebounds, and seven assists.

The Grizzlies are in last place in the Pacific Division with a record of 17-53, the worst record in the NBA. They began a long six game road trip on Saturday night, March 24, when they played the Utah Jazz and lost 118-108. Utah is in first place in the Northwest Division.

The Grizzlies played Phoenix last night but the score was not known at press time.

The Grizzlies will return home to the FedEx Forum on Tuesday, April 3, when they host Phoenix. They only have five home games left in this season. The last home game is Monday, April 16, when they host San Antonio.

Bryant’s 50 game scoring streak came to an end on Sunday, when he scored 43 points against the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers won the game 115-113. The game before that, he scored 50 points against New Orleans to set a four game streak with 50 points. In four games, he scored 225 points. He became the second player in NBA history, joining the late Wilt Chamberlain.