USA Baseball named Northwest Whitfield High School senior Cade Fisher to its 18-and-under national team this week.
Fisher, ranked as one of the top left-handed prep pitchers in the country, is one of 26 players on the team that will compete in a seven-game series against Canada that starts Friday night and will be played in two cities in southwestern Florida: Bradenton and Sarasota.
"I'm really excited to play for Team USA and represent my country," said Fisher, who has committed to the University of Florida. "That's something that I will always remember, just to be a part of it."
Fisher (6-foot-4, 190 pounds) was dominant in his junior season at Northwest Whitfield, going 10-0 with a 0.27 ERA this past spring. He allowed 23 hits and struck out 160 batters in 77 2/3 innings while walking only 12. He also pitched three scoreless innings with three strikeouts at the recent Team USA Trials.
Fisher is one of five Georgia players on the team, a group that includes former Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones' son, Druw, from Wesleyan School in Gwinnett County.
"This process is always a lot of fun but at the same time when it comes down to making the final decisions, it's always difficult," 18U national team manager Jason Maxwell said in a release. "But with the players that we have selected, we are very excited about them moving on and representing USA the way that we should be representing. There is a standard when you put on a USA uniform and we're looking forward to these guys living up to that standard and making USA Baseball proud."
Scott gets first win leading Ramblers
LaFayette's football team used a strong running game and dominating defense to defeat Walker County rival Gordon Lee 35-17 on Thursday night, with the host Ramblers handing head coach Andy Scott his first win in charge of the program and evening their record at 1-1.
A veteran head coach in Georgia, Scott took over at LaFayette this past spring.
Senior running back Jaylon Ramsey, the Ramblers' quarterback the past two seasons, had 65 yards and touchdown runs of 4 and 3 yards, with Jacob Zwiger adding a pair of touchdown runs, including a 30-yarder for the game's first score. The LaFayette defense, led by Kevin Kremb and Jaden Morris, held the Trojans to 89 yards.
Gordon Lee (1-2) cut LaFayette's 14-0 lead to seven points on Conner Whitman's 10-yard touchdown run, and after Ramsey's second score pushed the difference back to 14, the Trojans' Nate Dunfee returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown just before halftime.
Gordon Lee added a Montgomery Kapehart 22-yard field goal to start the second half, but the Ramblers scored the next 21 points to secure the nonregion win.
Chattooga player remains in ICU
Chattooga High School football player Bryson Pollock remained hospitalized at Erlanger in Chattanooga after being admitted Tuesday with pneumonia in both lungs as a complication of COVID-19.
Indians coach Shawn Peek said Thursday there was no change in the 16-year-old's condition. According to an article by Casie Bryant on the website allongeorgia.com, Pollock tested positive for the coronavirus after the team's game with Adairsville on Aug. 20. A week later, an X-ray was taken of Pollock's lungs, but it was several days later before his family found out he had pneumonia.
The ICU at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia - about 30 miles south of Summerville, where Chattooga High is - was at capacity, so Pollock was sent to Erlanger, where he remained under close observation. Chattooga's scheduled games with Pickens last week and Sonoraville on Friday night have been canceled.
Different streak for Polk County
After two years of frustration, Polk County's football program has turned a corner and the wins have begun to snowball.
The Wildcats suffered through consecutive 0-10 records and entered this season on a 21-game losing skid, with their most recent victory over Marion County in the 2018 regular-season finale.
That streak ended with a season-opening 42-19 win over rival Copper Basin - a game in which Polk County twice had to rally from first-half deficits before pulling away - and was followed by an even more impressive 29-0 win over Class 4A Sequoyah last week.
"I've told our kids for two years that if we could just get over the hump and get that first win, they would be amazed by what that can do," said Rusty Brewer, who is in his third year as head coach of the Wildcats. "It was really special to get to see the hard work, especially by our seniors and juniors, get rewarded in that first game.
"We've struggled with injuries for two years, to the point that we had to play some guys who probably weren't ready, but they kept battling."
Junior Ryan Cronan has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the first two games, and sophomore Damian McWilliams caught a touchdown pass in both wins and also had 12 tackles and caused three fumbles in last week's win.
The Wildcats were scheduled to open Region 3-2A competition this week against Tellico Plains, but that game was rescheduled for Oct. 8.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @youngsports22. Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.