By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

Late last year Kelley Thomas Bates lost her life in a tragic accident. Next Saturday the folks of Yazoo County will honor her life with a charity fundraiser in her name.
“We wanted to do something to honor her name and bring people together because it was such a bad experience for everybody,” Falla McCallum said. “She was such a good person. I don’t know anybody that has had anything negative to say.”
On March 31, at the Wardell Leach Complex, there will be a coed softball tournament and walk to raise money for the Epilepsy Foundation of Mississippi and the Mississippi SIDS Alliance/Butterflys by Grace.
“Her (co-coordinator of the event Ashleigh Porter) daughter is epileptic and Kelley was concerned about Anne Marie (Porter),” McCallum said. “Kelley’s mom choose the other foundations.”
The softball tournament will feature teams of 12 players, with 10 players on the field at a time. There is no limit for the number of teams to enter. The cost is $150 per team.
The charity walk is $30 per person and includes t-shirt. The distance for the walk is up to the individuals participating in the walk.
“We did the walk because (Bates) had started running and we wanted to incorporate that into this,” McCallum said.
There will also be raffle items given away, including among other things a basket of hunting gear from Shane Smith with Antler Insanity and TCTI Fitness will be donating a membership to its new gym in downtown Yazoo City.
The softball tournament and walk is set to begin at 8 a.m. at the Wardell Leach Complex. The event will last until the final game of the tournament is played. No alcohol will be allowed by the players or spectators. A concession will be open to the public.
For more information on the 1st Annual KTB Coed Softball Tournament and Walk, contact Falla McCallum at (662) 571-4767 or Ashleigh Jones at (662) 590-5749.

On Thursday morning Jammie Jamison signed a letter of intent to play football at Holmes Community College next season. Jamison was joined by coaches Adam White (top left) and Marcus Davidson (top right), Manchester headmaster Bryan Dendy, as well as Sherica Gilbert and Amanda Gilbert.

A Maverick dives back to first base during a previous game. Manchester was safe on this close play, but the close plays went the other way Tuesday night in a 5-4 loss to Oak Hill.Demarcus Mahone will miss the rest of the 2012 season. By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

Despite another solid outing by senior David Coody on the mound, Manchester lost its first game of the 2012 season to Oak Hill, in a 5-4 decision.
In sports, the outcome of any game might come down to one play. Unfortunately for Coody, the Mavs were on the wrong end of that one play.
In the top of the sixth inning, Coody gave up a hit and a walk that loaded the bases for Oak Hill, who was trailing 4-2. A single to left field tied the game at 4-4 with two runs coming across home plate.
During the next at bat, Coody let one pitch get away from him and past the catcher that allowed the runner at third base to score the game-winning run.
Manchester would fail to advance a runner past second base in the next two innings, including a pair of strikeouts to end the game, giving the Mavs their first loss of the season.
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The Mitchell ReportWinning baseball games is about consistency.
The only way to be consistent is to play games often and on a consistent basis.
So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone in attendance that Corbin Ellis, head baseball coach at Yazoo County, did everything in his power to play their Tuesday night game against Humphreys County.  He added as much dirt as he could. His players raked the entire infield.
In all, the Panthers spent over an hour trying to make their field playable, but it was futile.
That game was never going to be played.
It had rained several days before Tuesday, putting the Panthers’ field in a muddy, wet condition. The grass around the field was wet and muddy. If there was any dirt, it was all mud. Obviously, the playing field would be in the same condition.
The area around third base was the worse area and received the most attention from Ellis. Dirt was added (twice)around the area where a runner at third base would be taking off for home plate. The base running path between second and third wasn’t all that great either, but I didn’t venture out that far in my dress shoes.
If this was in the middle of the season and the Panthers had played a game in the past two weeks, I believe Ellis calls the game before the Humphreys team even comes to Yazoo. But they hadn’t and that’ what made this decision so tough and why Ellis wanted to play this game so badly.
The Panther players wanted to play the game, too. The other team’s coach, however, didn’t want to play because of the wet field and, from a player safety standpoint, it was probably the right decision.
From a winning standpoint, though, it wasn’t. Yazoo County had gotten off to a slow start with just one win, but had only played five games before spring break.
Hopefully the rain will hold up long enough for Yazoo County’s field to get in shape and for the Panthers to start playing baseball again.