Total Control

HANCOCK - Leather or lumber? Take your pick, but the Hancock softball team can beat you in more ways than one. Junior Adrienne Kesecker struck out 12 while scattering three hits and the Panthers played errorless behind her as Hancock bumped Northern Garrett from the Maryland Class 1A West tournament with a 5-0 victory in the quarterfinals Monday. The Panthers will travel Wednesday to play defending state champion Beall - a 13-2 winner Monday over Boonsboro - in the semifinals.

Williamsport senior A.J. Jamison entered this baseball season as the most decorated player in Washington County. He'll be a lot happier if the Wildcats finish the season as the county's most decorated team. "Individual awards aren't very important to me, as long as the team is successful," Jamison said. "Obviously, winning states is a big (goal). " "A.J. is more about what the team can accomplish, and not himself," Williamsport coach Larnie Vickers said. "He wants to win more than anybody on the team, and he wants to win with these guys.

bobp@herald-mail.com Karl Jernigan took time to work on two sets of bases Tuesday - total and data. The Hagerstown Suns center fielder, who has had about as much luck at the plate as the coyote has had in catching the roadrunner, dug in and took everything Kannapolis starting pitcher Tim Bittner could muster. The perseverance paid off as Jernigan battled long and hard for his two hits - the second to drive in a fifth-inning run and break a scoreless tie - to pace the Suns to a 3-0 victory on an Education Day morning matinee at Municipal Stadium.

Legislators want more control of Md. budget By LAURA ERNDE / Staff Writer ANNAPOLIS - When Washington County wants state money for local projects such as a new minor league stadium or a Civil War museum, supporters must go to the governor. continued For the last 85 years, Maryland's governor has had total control over the state's operating budget. Legislators can't add items to the budget. They can only propose cuts. But that process could change under a proposed constitutional amendment that got tentative approval from the Maryland Senate on Wednesday.

HCC faces 6-man team, wins by 51 By BOB PARASILITI bobp@herald-mail.com The Hagerstown Community College men's basketball team added to the list of headlines which can be considered fact on Wednesday night. CONTINUED To go along with "Dog bites man" and "Death, taxes are only things for certain," tack on "HCC faces 6-man team, wins by 51. " The Hawks performed in their usual fashion against most Maryland JuCo Conference teams that don't start with Allegany.

HEIGHT="6" ALT=" " NATURALSIZEFLAG="0" ALIGN="BOTTOM"> Hagerstown's pitcher just misses no-hitter but stays in total control to move the Gray into the Pony League East Zone Tournament finals. Most people have their emotions on their sleeve. Derek Haines wears his on his hat. When Haines' no-hit bid was ruined in the bottom of the seventh Friday night, the hat went flying to the ground in frustration. When Haines finished with a one-hitter four pitches later, it was tipped to the fans in appreciation.

By JACK HILL III Staff Correspondent WILLIAMSPORT - Trailing by one point (41-40) with just under 2:30 remaining, the Williamsport Wildcats proceeded to score the final nine points of the game to get past the North Hagerstown Hubs 49-41 on Monday night in a Monocacy Valley Athletic League girls' basketball game. Senior point guard Erin Gross and Jessica Rouse made a lay-up each to start the nine-point streak for Williamsport. After that, Carrie Weimer sank three of her four foul shots and Janet Richmond made both of her free throws to cap the hot spell and clinch the win for the Wildcats.

koelble@herald-mail.com CLEAR SPRING - As the 84-game losing streak became history with its victory on Saturday, Clear Spring's girls basketball team had good reason to be optimistic heading into its MVAL Antietam game against South Hagerstown on Tuesday. South coach Stacey Zeger knew the Blazers would be revved up and cautioned her Rebels to be ready to play during her pregame talk. The message was received and the Rebels used an immediate surge from the opening tip to put the clamps down on the Blazers in a 50-36 victory.

Any tapes of South Hagerstown's boys home opener should have an immediate location - the trash bin. Urbana came out hitting 10 of its first 11 shots in the opening quarter and steamrolled the Rebels on Wednesday night 75-34, leaving South with a pair of losses to open the season. “I didn't think we were that good of a team coming in, and the effort we gave tonight as a team is totally unacceptable,” said South coach Kevin Naylor. To compound the current status of South hoops, junior forward Devon King played sparingly into the early parts of the second quarter and scored four points.

Goretti tumbles in tourney opener By BOB PARASILITI bobp@herald-mail.com St. John Neumann 70 St. Maria Goretti 60 ST. JOHN NEUMANN (70) Cunningham 2-7 1-2 6, Delbrocco 7-9 3-4 24, Green 1-3 0-0 2, Haddix 7-13 0-0 14, Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Taylor 6-13 7-10 20, Thomas 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-49 11-16 70. ST. MARIA GORETTI (60) Gibson 10-17 3-4 26, Wills 0-4 0-0 0, Carter 2-3 0-0 6, Tanner 4-13 2-2 11, Spierenburg 3-5 1-2 7, Davis 4-11 1-3 10, Adenhart 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 11-16 60. Neumann2491521-70 Goretti17151117-60 Three-point goals - St. John Neumann 9-16 (Delbrocco 7-9, Cunningham 1-3, Taylor 1-4)

In soccer, goals are celebrated and goal scorers revered. But the truth is, stopping goals is just as important as scoring them. And when it comes to stopping goals, very few Washington County players have ever had as good a season as Williamsport senior Alex Aleshire - The Herald-Mail's 2011 All-County Boys Soccer Player of the Year. “Having played the position, he's become one of the most complete players I've ever seen,” Wildcats coach Chris Downs said. “(He has)

Any tapes of South Hagerstown's boys home opener should have an immediate location - the trash bin. Urbana came out hitting 10 of its first 11 shots in the opening quarter and steamrolled the Rebels on Wednesday night 75-34, leaving South with a pair of losses to open the season. “I didn't think we were that good of a team coming in, and the effort we gave tonight as a team is totally unacceptable,” said South coach Kevin Naylor. To compound the current status of South hoops, junior forward Devon King played sparingly into the early parts of the second quarter and scored four points.

View all of the photos for purchase! HAGERSTOWN -- The Broadfording Christian Academy boys basketball team made its biggest statement by doing absolutely nothing. That's because the Lions made sure Heritage Academy did even less. Broadfording held Heritage scoreless for a 6-minute, 32-second stretch of the second quarter on Monday -- most of it with Iver Silva on the bench -- to battle its way to a 50-44 Mason Dixon Christian Conference victory. Heritage scored on an Aaron Clark drive for a 15-14 lead with 6:58 remaining in the first half.

"For those who don't understand greater-than-two-syllable words: 'Collectivism' means 'tyranny of the majority' (total control), or 'do what we say or else.' It also means the 'group in charge' runs your individual life. The question is: Do you own your own life or not?" - Martinsburg, W.Va. "Karl Rove, who has been described as Bush's brain, is working hard to get Sen. McCain elected. One year from now, will Karl Rove be described as McCain's brain?" - Rohrersville "In response to Jim Rosko's comments about Sarah Palin, and Oprah Winfrey's supposed refusal to interview her, Oprah has said flat-out that she would love to interview Sarah Palin, but would only do so after the election.

It's always entertaining to hear people try to explain groups of people whom they don't understand. The very fact that they don't understand these groups should probably disqualify them from "explaining" same, but forget that for the moment. If someone doesn't think the way you think, there must be a reason, right? Some organic flaw, some psychological scar, some educational failing that prevents them from seeing the truth. Of small-town America (and that's us, if you're keeping score at home)

Williamsport senior A.J. Jamison entered this baseball season as the most decorated player in Washington County. He'll be a lot happier if the Wildcats finish the season as the county's most decorated team. "Individual awards aren't very important to me, as long as the team is successful," Jamison said. "Obviously, winning states is a big (goal). " "A.J. is more about what the team can accomplish, and not himself," Williamsport coach Larnie Vickers said. "He wants to win more than anybody on the team, and he wants to win with these guys.

INWOOD, W.Va. - Things didn't go exactly the way Tiffany Barnisky had imagined. But then again, Musselman's designated hitter wasn't all that picky about it. "It's not what I wanted, but it got the job done," Barnisky said. She didn't hit all of the ball - it was only an infield single to second base. But it came with none out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning and scored Courtni Williams with the game's only run on Thursday for a 1-0 victory over arch-rival Martinsburg.

Mall must control kids To the editor: I am an employee at one of the stores in the Valley Mall. It seems to me that the young teens who frequent these stores are out of control. I believe that we need to implement the same rule that Chambersburg Mall has about supervised children. The weekends are not a fun time to work or shop. These kids are constantly running in and out of the stores, creating havoc. I know a paper was issued to mall stores stating that extra patrols were going to happen on the weekends and profanity was not going to be allowed.

HANCOCK - Leather or lumber? Take your pick, but the Hancock softball team can beat you in more ways than one. Junior Adrienne Kesecker struck out 12 while scattering three hits and the Panthers played errorless behind her as Hancock bumped Northern Garrett from the Maryland Class 1A West tournament with a 5-0 victory in the quarterfinals Monday. The Panthers will travel Wednesday to play defending state champion Beall - a 13-2 winner Monday over Boonsboro - in the semifinals.

koelble@herald-mail.com HANCOCK - In order to have any shot at reaching the state tournament, Hancock figured it would have to go through Allegany to continue toward its goal. The Panthers will get a chance to put a check next to that achievement tonight at 6 when they take on Allegany in the Maryland Class 1A West West sectional final at Fort Hill High School. Hancock (20-3) avoided the disaster of blowing a 15-point lead in the third quarter to hold for a thrilling 80-76 overtime win against Northern Garrett (14-10)