Sports

Success can lead to growth for athletes who are part of winning programs and cause them to develop either into stronger leaders or players like Dyersburg soccer’s Walker Holden, who took on a leadership role during the preseason and brief time the Trojans were on the field before play was halted last month.

While baseball, softball and other spring sports fields at local high schools have been quiet since the third week of March, the diamonds and pitches at Dyer County and Dyersburg High School will be a little brighter at night this week.

The closer it is getting to a full month without sports, I wonder how our readers and sports fans are getting their fill of live sports. As I talked about a few columns ago, the NFL has been able to provide us with at least some news to talk about outside the headlines and stories about COVID-19 and the concerns surrounding it...

Getting thrown into the fire early in a high school career can be a lot to handle for an athlete in their mid-teens. In situations like this which now-senior Dyer County pitcher Taylor Sipes went through back in 2018 as a sophomore, it can make a player grow up early and become a vital part of the team, which has happened with the Jackson State signee as he hopes to continue his senior season soon.

Monday, April 6 All Games Cancelled Tuesday, April 7 All Games Cancelled Wednesday, April 8 All Games Cancelled Thursday, April 9 All Games Cancelled Friday, April 10 All Games Cancelled Saturday, April 11 All Games Cancelled

Though Dyersburg High School’s Tom Mathis Field has been silent since around lunchtime on March 16 when the Trojans defeated Ripley in one of the last sporting events in the state, the field has not been completely empty during the current suspension of play as the baseball staff continues to maintain its appearance with hopes play will soon resume.

The sports world is normally abuzz this time of the year as you have spring sports starting at the high school and college level and the winter sports are drawing to a close. It goes without saying the sports world has been silent since the middle of March as concerns over the COVID-19 virus have led to the suspension of some seasons, like what is currently going on with the TSSAA and middle schools here in our state while the college athletic season has been outright wiped out as the pandemic continues.. ...

Over the course of a high school career, a player can grow and develop from being a bench player to one of the starting nine on the field for a winning ball club like Dyer County’s softball has had for the past four seasons.

The longer the concerns over the COVID-19 virus continue, we will see more that we haven’t before, especially in the sports world. By now you have heard the 2020 Summer Olympics scheduled for Tokyo have been postponed until next summer - an unprecedented move as the only time the Olympics - summer or winter - have not been held was during World War I and World War II...

The 2019 tennis season saw two Lady Trojan netters – juniors Rachel Finley and Leah Wagner – make the jump to the next level as the 11th-grade duo became the second Dyersburg doubles team in three years to advance to the state tournament.

When looking at a sports team from top to bottom, you need all kinds of players – from the offensive juggernauts to the athlete you look toward to come up with that big stop when the chips are down.

The first month of the spring is always fun for sports fans, even if the current professional game you love to follow is in its offseason. For football fans, it has become a year-round news cycle where there, truly, is no offseason for people who cover and follow the National Football League...

With a bevy of season cancellations and suspensions littering the sports world over recent weeks, the Dyersburg Dixie Youth League has set a tentative start date for the 2020 season to resume should the situation regarding the COVID-19 virus improve among other factors.

Last season’s run to the Class AA State Semifinals by the Dyersburg boys soccer team was a memorable one and one the Trojans of 2020 want to repeat should the spring sports season be allowed to resume from its suspension due to the concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus.

As we head into April through the last days of March, we’re starting to miss some of our annual spring traditions due to the concerns over the COVID-19. We already know the Major League Baseball season will not start any time soon as today was supposed to the start of the 2020 season...

On Monday March 24, Governor Lee extended the statewide school closure to April 24, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coming off a junior season which saw him make strides on the diamond for the Choctaws, Dyer County senior JD McCord had strengthened his resume as he was getting ready to head into his senior season this spring.

Monday, March 23 All Games Cancelled Tuesday, March 24 All Games Cancelled Wednesday, March 25 All Games Cancelled Thursday, March 26 All Games Cancelled Friday, March 27 All Games Cancelled Saturday, March 28 All Games Cancelled

In sports like baseball and softball, the action always starts, essentially, with two people – the pitcher and the catcher.

While a player’s senior year is usually the culmination of four years worth of hard work and dedication to their sport, on occasion, an athlete can return to a sport midway through high school which he played in the past and make an impact on the sport.

The NFL free agency stories have offered sports fans both locally and nationally a break from stories on COVID-19 and the cancellations, postponements and suspensions surrounding it. The Tennessee Titans were one of the first ones to make a splash as they announced early in the week they were signing quarterback Ryan Tannehill to a contract extension...

Leadership in a team sport among the players can be crucial and usually a head coach like Dyersburg softball’s Matthew Shearon will look to his senior class for leadership.

In a landscape of sports which has seen itself be cleared out through at least the end of the month, the only thing which has been a constant is the rain. It feels like the rain has been going on for weeks on end with no break - though I know that to not be true. Saying that, the rains we have been experiencing since the TSSAA’s spring season tried to get its start last week before school systems individually began to shut down their schools’ systems late last week still continue...

In their regular meeting on Tuesday after via conference call due to provisions being made statewide concerning the COVID-19 virus, the Tennessee Secondary School's Board of Control voted to continue the current policy of letting the local school districts and systems make the decisions on the spring sports' regular seasons.

With cancellations filling the sports landscape from the professional ranks all the way down to the high school and middle school levels, the concerns of the COVID-19 virus have begun to effect local youth leagues as the Dyersburg Dixie Youth and Newbern Cal Ripken leagues have postponed activities through the end of the month.

With the growing concern of COVID-19, the YMCA of Dyer County will begin operating with limited services on Wednesday, March 18 and has temporarily suspended all youth sports, child watch, group exercise classes, and programming until further notice.

Just days after Dyersburg State’s softball and baseball seasons were put on hold by the TCCAA, the NJCAA followed suit with last week’s decision by the NCAA, cancelling all spring competition effective immediately. A press release on the NJCAA website stated:...

In what was turned out to be their only chance to get on the field during a week with a weather forecast filled with rain as well as COVID-19 virus concerns, the Trojan baseball team made the most of the opportunity to take the diamond, finally getting on the field for the first time in 2020 to take an 8-2 win over visiting Ripley in a shortened game on Monday morning at Tom Mathis Field in the rain.

Following a weekend full of cancellations due to the COVID-19 virus as well as rain, Dyersburg City Schools and Dyer County Schools have suspended all extracurricular activities until further notice, including all sporting events scheduled at the high school and middle school levels.

A trio of runs in the third inning on Friday at Tipton-Rosemark helped pushed the Dyer County baseball team to its second win over the season, taking a 5-3 decision over the Rebels in the Lewis Harris Tournament.

Though Dyersburg State spring sports teams -- the baseball Eagles and Lady Eagle softball -- held at least a share of first place coming into this weekend's scheduled games, Dyersburg State teams will have to wait until at least the end of the month before taking the field again as the TCCAA has suspended all spring sports through March 31.

To say it’s been a crazy couple days in the sports world would be putting things mildly. Beginning with the NBA on Wednesday night, other major professional leaguers brought their seasons either to a halt or, in the case of Major League Baseball, pushed back the start of their seasons due to the coronavirus...

A pair of early McNairy runs set the tone for the Lady Trojans' home opener on Friday evening at Doug French Field as Dyersburg's softball team was unable to overcome an early deficit against the Lady Bobcats before falling 5-1.

On Friday afternoon, the TSSAA website released a statement regarding inquiries from schools and school systems which are considering suspending classes and/or extracurricular activities for an extended period of time as a result of COVID-19.

Though the Choctaws found themselves down nine runs heading into the top of the seventh, the Dyer County baseball team finished strong, scoring a trio of runs to cut the deficit to 9-3 by the final out as Bartlett handed the orange and white their first loss of the season.

The 2020 Girls Basketball State Tournaments have halted after two days of quarterfinal action as the TSSAA suspended play in the Division I Tournaments due to the COVID-19 virus.

It’s been a pretty rainy first week to the spring sports season as the rains which frequently visited the area the past month have continued into March. But, despite having rain two out of three days already this spring season, games have been played and local teams have started their seasons with the hopes of getting to or, in a couple cases, back to the Spring Fling in Murfreesboro in May...

After being rained out on Monday, the Dyer County baseball team got its 2020 season off to a successful start – but it wasn’t easy as the Choctaws had to answer a sixth-inning Collierville rally with one of their own in the top of the seventh on the way to an 8-7 win by the orange and white in the Lewis Harris Tournament at Collierville on Tuesday night.

Heading into Tuesday night’s trip down to Lexington, first-year Dyersburg Middle School head coach Kaci Lewis and her Lady Trojan volleyball team had won all 16 of the games on their schedule this season. After their three-set win – the second in as many nights – the Lady Trojans ended the year with a perfect 17-0 mark thanks to their come-from-behind win over the Lady Tigers.

Playing for just the third time on their home field in 20 games on Tuesday, Dyersburg State picked up a win to open doubleheader baseball action against Carl Sandburg Community College on Tuesday, 4-0, but a surge of runs in the eighth inning of game two led to the Eagles’ 6-1 loss in the nightcap in Dyersburg.

With the rain falling on J.C. Sawyers Stadium on opening night of the 2020 boys soccer season, the Trojans made sure they wouldn’t have to stay in the elements long as the Dyersburg boys scored nine times in the first half to win via mercy rule at halftime, 9-0, over visiting South Fulton...

Though the Choctaws had multiple opportunities on goal during the season opener in Newbern on Monday evening, the Dyer County boys soccer team came away with only a 1-1 tie with visiting Augustine in wet conditions.

The spring diamond season begins this week and Dyersburg High School’s softball and baseball teams celebrated the start of the 2020 campaign with the annual First Citizens National Bank First Pitch Banquet and Silent Auction on Saturday night at West Dyersburg Church of Christ.

The Dyersburg Dance team had a history-making weekend down in Orlando, Fla. in the 2020 National Dance Association National Championships as the DHS dancers came home with the co-National Championship in the Small Varsity Pom division, making it the first national championship in dance in the school’s history on Sunday.

Monday Haywood at Dyersburg (Softball, 6:30 p.m.) South Fulton at Dyersburg (Soccer, 6 p.m.) Dyer County at Bartlett (Lewis Harris Tournament) (Baseball, 6:30 p.m.) Halls at Dyer County (Softball, 6:15 p.m.) Augustine at Dyer County (Soccer, 5:30 p.m.)...

The 2019-20 basketball season is now complete for the DHS Trojan boys squad and plans for the annual banquet are now underway. While the season is over, I'm left to wonder if the fans and supporters of the program understand just how fortunate we are to have Blaine Mahaffey spearheading the program?...

With the end of the basketball season coming this past Monday and Tuesday, it is now time to head out to the fields, pitches, tracks and courts of the springtime world as we get ready for the third and final part to the TSSAA’s annual trio of seasons during the school year...

The past three years have been good to the Lady Choctaw softball team as the Dyer County girls have reached the state tournament in each of the past three seasons.

JASON PEEVYHOUSE jpeevyhouse@stategazette.com Whenever a coaching change occurs, there can be a period of adjustment for the players and the coach involved in the changing of the guard. This can be the case even in times when the new coach is from the previous head coach’s staff and has been around the players as an assistant for years...