CHHS needs good showing in Dothan

Staff

Published Wednesday, March 28, 2001

Sports Editor

Charles Henderson will travel down to Dothan today and participate in the Dothan High School Spring Break Classic, which is something CHHS head coach Steve Garrett said will be a "new" experience for his team.

For the last two years, the Trojans (11-6) have traveled in the opposite direction,

up Highway 231 to play in the Montgomery Tournament held at Patterson Field. Last season, CHHS went head-to-head with quality teams such as Jeff Davis, Demopolis and Geneva County.

Don't look now, but things just went from tough to tougher.

The Trojans open with Class 6A Northview at 10 a.m. today, followed by 5A opponent Thompson at 7 p.m. and will play traditional 6A baseball power Opelika at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, all at Northcutt Field. There is the possibility of a fourth game on Wednesday, but the determining factor for that is how well the Trojans do in the first three contests.

"We just wanted to go with something different this year," said Garrett about the move to the Spring Break Classic this season. "Dothan participated in our tournament in February, so we told them we'd play in down there."

Garrett said although he was looking forward to taking on some pretty tough competition in Dothan, he wasn't too fond on how the first day's games were set up.

"They've got us matched-up against some pretty tough teams," he said. "But I don't like the first day where we play early in the morning and then don't play again until 7 p.m. That's a big gap of time where you're not doing anything. I told them if they did us like that again, we weren't coming back."

Ironically, the Trojans will open the tournament with the same team they opened the 2001 season with - the Northview Cougars. Charles Henderson beat Northview 9-3 on Feb. 8th, but Garrett said he expects the Cougars to be much improved since that game.

"I'm sure they're (Northview) going to be better then they were," said Garrett. "Thompson is going to be a tough team for us also."

Thompson High School, from just above Birmingham, comes into the tourney with an 18-5 record and looks to be one of the top teams in North Alabama in Class 5A.

"They're (Thompson) a pretty good baseball team, no doubt," said Garrett. "Hopefully, by the time the playoffs come around they'll be tired themselves out."

Charles Henderson opens area play on Friday, April 2nd at Carroll of Ozark. Garrett said he wants his team to have a strong showing this week, before heading into the final stretch of the season.

Garrett also said he's pleased with the play of his team at this point in the season.

"We've had our ups and downs this year," he said. "But I don't think people realize how young we are. We've got four underclassmen starting at all times. For having that many young players starting in the field, I think we're in pretty decent shape. Of course, I'd like to be better then we are, but we've lost to some good teams and we haven't really played anybody that's not good. I'm happy where we're at right now."  

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