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By Marc Pruitt
For the Clemmons Courier

Southwest comes up just short at regional tournaments

The three teams representing Southwest Athletics came oh so close to gaining berths in the upcoming World Series.

All three teams won their pools during round robin play last week and advanced to tournament play. The 12 and under Major 70 team advanced to the regional championship in Roanoke Rapids before falling to Winter Park, Florida, in the final, 3-2.

Trailing 2-0 in the final, Southwest clawed back to tie it 2-2 in the fourth inning, only to see the game slip away in the bottom of the sixth inning when Winter Park pushed a run across to pick up the win.

Southwest breezed through pool play, posting an 8-2 sin against Southern Pitt, and 8-4 win against Williamsburg, and a 16-6 win against Pensacola, Florida.

The 12 and under 60 Majors, playing in Stafford, Virginia, also won their pool with wins against Stafford  (11-4), Gloucester (9-1) and West Raleigh (6-5). They were eliminated 9-7 in the semifinals by Stafford.

The 10 and under team, playing in Matthews, won their pool in convincing fashion. They beat Vero Beach, Florida, 7-3, Lawrenceburg 12-2, and Glen Allen, Virginia, 10-4 before running into a buzz saw against Rockville, Maryland, in the semifinals, and losing 5-2.

Congratulations to all the players, managers, coaches, and parents on a great season of All-Stars.

West Forsyth to host alumni soccer game

West Forsyth will hold an alumni soccer game at 6 p.m. on August 9 at Durwood Pack Stadium.

This will be the second year of the event, and Coach Jeffrey Williams is hopeful the weather will cooperate this year. Last year, a heavy rain washed away any chance of playing the game on the field, but Williams said everyone who showed up still managed to have fun with an improvised schedule that included trivia.

“We had a lot of fun things planned for our first one last year and the weather didn’t want to cooperate with us,” Williams said. “We made the best of things with what we had to work with and still had fun, but it wasn’t all that we hoped for. You can’t control the weather, unfortunately.”

Williams said that there will a crossbar challenge and there will be food on hand — barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers — as well as an option to order a special T-shirt for the event.

The game is open to any player and coach, past or present, who has been affiliated with the soccer program.

“We’ll see how the numbers play out as far as having separate games for boys and girls, but I have gotten a really good response so far,” Williams said. “We just want this to be a fun event for the community and for West Forsyth and hopefully, we can bring together the past and the present of West soccer.”

Williams also said they will honor Carlos Aguilar, a former player who died last year after battling cancer, in some manner during the game.

“We’ll have his jersey with us at this event, just like we did for all our games last year and like we will for our games this season,” Williams said. “Carlos and his family mean so much to our team and program and we want to do all we can to remember the impact he had.”

Admission is $2 for spectators. Contact Coach Williams with any questions at uncjeffreywilliams@gmail.com.