Area sports briefs: Johnsons pace Sunday qualifying
Published 12:00 am Monday, August 27, 2012
From staff reports
Qualifying for the Crowder-Dorsett Labor Day Four-Ball Golf Tournament at the Country Club of Salisbury concluded on Sunday.
Leading the Sunday qualifiers was the team of Todd Johnson and Stephen Johnson. They turned in a 68.
The team of Jake Kennedy and Andrew Purcell recorded a 69 on Sunday.
Qualifying medalists were Sean Kramer and Andrew Morgan. They teamed for a 60 on Saturday, five shots better than any other team in the field.
Senior Flight medalists were Andre Resner and Victor Wallace. They shot 67 on Saturday.
See Scoreboard.
Flights and match-play pairings will be announced as soon as they are available.
McCanless Couples
The McCanless Couples played with a Captain’s Choice format on Sunday.
The first-place team was Gene Seaford, Kristi Laton and Robin Leslie.
The second-place team was Jan Godwin, Harry Owen and Don Goodnight.
Leslie won for the longest putt.
Minor leagues
The Kannapolis Intimidators won 4-0 at Lakewood on Sunday.
Matt Lane shut out the BlueClaws for 62/3 innings, and recent first-round draft pick Courtney Hawkins hit his third homer since being promoted to Kannapolis.
Whit Merrifield (Davie) had two hits for Northwest Arkansas on Sunday in the Double-A Texas League.
The former South Carolina star is batting .286 since his promotion to the Naturals.
Keegan Linza (North Rowan) turned in his best outing of the season for Great Falls in an 8-3 win against Grand Junction in the Pioneer League on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Linza (5-2) pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed two hits, struck out five and walked one.
Linza’s ERA is 4.44, but his strikeouts-to-walks ratio is 10 to 1. In 14 starts, he’s struck out 50 and walked five.
Major leagues
Bobby Parnell (East Rowan) squared his record for the season at 3-3 on Sunday.
He was credited with an unusual win in the New York Mets’ 2-1 victory against the Houston Astros.
Parnell relieved in the top of the ninth with a runner at second base, one out and the score tied 1-1. He allowed a single to Ben Francisco, but Marwin Gonzalez was thrown out at the plate on a close and controversial play.
After an intentional walk, Parnell got Tyler Greene for the third out of the inning on a grounder back to the mound.
The Mets then prevailed in the bottom of the ninth on Ike Davis’ one-out walkoff homer, and Parnell was a winner.
Parnell now has 11 career wins. He also has 11 career saves.
If you’re wondering, Jay Ritchie had eight wins and eight saves in the big leagues.
Barry Moore had 26 wins and three saves.