SPORTSSPORTSPAGE A4 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013

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It is time for the annual PinehurstJunior Tennis Classic. This United States Tennis

Association (USTA) sanctioned jun-ior tennis tournament will be heldJuly 11-13 at the Pinehurst ResortTennis Club. The Pinehurst Junior Tennis

Classic is the longest consecutiverunning junior tournament in thestate of North Carolina. Junior tennis players ages 10-18

from all over North Carolina andthe southeastern part of the UnitedStates will be participating in thistournament. The registration deadline is July

7. If you are interested in playingyou may register online at http://ten-nislink.usta.com/ and use the tour-nament ID number 703900313 in the

searchable field. Participants will receive a tourna-

ment T-shirt, lunch, dinner and aplayer clinic held on the first day ofthe tournament. For more information, contact

Dave White with Pinehurst Parksand Recreation Department at (910)295-2817 ext. 1273 or Chris Wileywith Southern Pines Recreation andParks Department at (910) 692-2463.

State Baseball Starts ThursdayMoore County has several repre-

sentatives in the State Games ofNorth Carolina baseball tournamentthat starts Thursday at UNCCharlotte.Union Pines coach Chad Hill is an

assistant coach for the Region 4

squad. The head coach isChristopher Dague of Jack BrittHigh School.Players on the Region 4 squad

from the area are Emmitt Carden ofUnion Pines and Austin Embler,Tristan Helms and Dalton Bullardfrom Pinecrest.There are eight teams participat-

ing in the tournament. Region 4 is inthe four-team Bracket A. Region 4 kicks off the round-robin

portion of play when it takes on theRegion 7 team at 9 a.m Thursday.On Friday, Region 4 meets Region

6 at 4 p.m., then on Saturday Region4 faces Region 1 at 1 p.m.The tournament concludes

Saturday when the teams come outof bracket play (there are twobrackets of four teams each) for the

finals, with the seeds from eachbracket facing each other. The No. 1seed from Bracket A will face theNo.1 seed from Bracket B, etc.This will be the 27th year for the

high school baseball event. Eachyear 32 high school coaches volun-teer their time to hold tryouts intheir regions and then select the 20best players from the region.

Bare Qualifies for Rex OpenGolfer Andy Bare of West End

earned a spot in this week’s RexHospital Open in a Monday qualifierheld at UNC Finley Golf Course.Bare was one of six players that

advanced to the Web.com Tourevent that begins with first-roundplay on Thursday at the TPCWakefield course located near

Raleigh. Bare shot a 5-under 67 toclaim the sixth spot out of the quali-fier.Six other players qualified in a

Monday qualifier held at LonniePoole Golf Course in Raleigh.

Whispering Woods ProjectA spokesperson for the

Whispering Woods Golf Club saidrecently the course would be closedfrom June 17 through July 5 for theclub’s greens renovation project. The plans are to reopen the course

on July 6 using a modified coursewith temporary greens until thegrass on the normal greens has timeto grow-in. The club anticipates that a grand

reopening would be held on Sept. 7.

M O R E S P O R T S : P A G E A 5

Sports Briefs: Junior Tennis Classic Deadline Is July 7

North Moore Holds SummerSoftball, Basketball Camps

BY JAMES W. HOUSTONSpecial to The Pilot

North Moore head softball coach SammyMcNeill had a great turnout for his annualsummer softball camp last week with 45future and current players, ranging fromgrades three through high school. The camp was run by McNeill and his staff

of assistant coaches and former players,along with special speaker Danny Way. Wayis the head softball coach at EasternAlamance, one of the top 3-A programs in thestate.“It was a real good turnout,” said McNeill.

“We worked on the fundamentals of thegame, but we focused on hitting. Last year’scamp, we worked on running and speed, butthis year we spent nearly 80 percent of ourtime on hitting.”One of the aids McNeill and his staff used

to improve each girls’ hitting was videoingeach girl hitting the ball. Then each girl was shown her swing in a

frame-by-frame breakdown and what theywere doing wrong and how to improve theirswings and produce higher batting averages.

“After we broke down each of the videos oftheir swings, we took them back out to thebatting cages,” said McNeill. “This gavethem all a chance to see the results of thevideoing breakdown and what to do toimprove their hitting.” Each camper received a T-shirt that had

written on the back of the shirts, “Championstrain, endure pain, never complain.” This isthe theme McNeill has adopted for LadyMustangs softball.The camp ran for four days, Monday

through Thursday, with three hours ofinstruction each day.

Hoops CampIf you were around the North Moore High

School gym during the morning hours lastweek, you could hear the sounds of many bas-ketballs bouncing, many kids shouting andthe shrill of coaches’ whistles. North Moore head boys’ basketball coach

Grant Smith and assistant coach Chad

see CAMPS, page A5

Using technology, Chris Brown (left) uses an iPod to look at video of campers’ battingswings.

Kirsten McLeod listens to instruction before hitting off a battling tee during the softballcamp.

North Moore softball coach Sammy McNeill (green shirt, standing) talks to the campers.

Campers at the basketball camp participate in a readiness drill.

Coach Chad Chriscoe rallies the campers before they embark on a drill.

Photos by Jason Wolonick/The Pilot