County girls leaders
- Updated: April 7, 2017
Alexandria’s Stevens holds six-shot individual lead, defending champion White Plains leads team race by 10
By East Alabama Sports Today
The individual leader in the Calhoun County Girls Golf Championship is in unfamiliar territory while the team atop the leaderboard has been there before.
Alexandria senior Abby Stevens, who has never held an overnight lead or won a tournament before, shot 5-over-par 78 Friday in windy conditions at Pine Hill Country Club and holds a six-shot lead at the midway point in the event.
Defending champion White Plains posted a 261 and leads the team standings by 10 over Alexandria. Oxford is third at 282.
“It feels really good, but I’ll be praying a lot tonight so I don’t mess it up,” Stevens said. “I’ve never been in a position where I’ve been leading like this, but I don’t want to work myself up over it. Today I was like, ‘this is my last county I’m just going to have fun with it,’ and it worked out for me.”
Stevens credited an adjustment with her putter grip with helping her make a nine-shot improvement over her score in a tournament at Chesley Oaks the day before. She figured half her strokes in both rounds came from putts, but half of 78 is a lot fewer than half of 87. She had two birdies in the round, on the par-5 sixth and the par-3 16th in which almost made an ace.
“Yesterday I was putting terrible, I guess that’s really what it was,” Stevens said. “Coach (Brenard) Howard said I was dipping my shoulders. I prayed a lot about it last night and today I felt a better; it’s a new day.
“And Coach Howard twisted my gripper around because I think it was twisted. The place where you put your thumb is flat and it kind of twisted, I guess from shoving it in my bag, and I couldn’t seem to line up right. Today I was able to putt it a little bit straighter and it helped. The littlest things change golf.”
Team leader White Plains counted an 84 from Lexee Cunningham and an 85 from Hanna Dyar, but perhaps their most important round was the 92 delivered by freshman Allison Arenth.
Lady Wildcats coach Chris Randall credited Arenth’s score as the key to his team’s position on a day when his two top scorers struggled with the putter. He inserted Arenth into the lineup after the way she got around in even harsher windy conditions at the Chesley Oaks tournament.
Without her score, the Lady Wildcats’ lead would be one going into Saturday’s final round at Pine Hill.
“To get that out of your No. 3 on a day like this that’s five or six better than what we expected,” Randall said. “For her to shoot that it really picked our team up.”
CALHOUN COUNTY GIRLS GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
TEAM SCORES
White Plains 261
Alexandria 271
Oxford 282
Pleasant Valley 331
Saks 371
Weaver 378
INDIVIDUAL SCORES
Abby Stevens (Alexandria) 39-39—78
Lexee Cunningham (White Plains) 43-41—84
Hanna Dyar (White Plains) 42-43—85
Kayla Huckeba (Oxford) 46-45—91
Allison Arenth (White Plains) 47-45—92
Megan Harvey (Alexandria) 43-50—93
Anna Bolton (Oxford) 51-43—94
Abby Gattis (White Plains) 46-50—96
Kaylee Reaves (Oxford) 50-47—97
Destiny Heathcock (Alexandria) 50-50—100
Bailey Webb (White Plains) 47-54—101
Ary Rosario (White Plains) 53-48—101
Gabby Fagan (Pleasant Valley) 47-54—101
Abbie Vingers (Sacred Heart) 52-50—102
Caitlin Lewis (White Plains) 51-53—104
Cheyenne James (Saks) 53-53—106
Gracie Muncher (Alexandria) 55-51—106
Grace Davis (Pleasant Valley) 55-56—111
Caitlin Roland (Jacksonville) 57-56—113
Cassia Rissler (Ohatchee) 60-56—116
Lauren Cobb (Pleasant Valley) 57-62—119
Callie McFall (Jacksonville) 61-62—123
Autumn Ray (Weaver) 58-65—123
Kara Burgess (Weaver) 61-63—124
Faith Bonness (Saks) 59-67—126
Katie Knight (Pleasant Valley) 59-68—127
Marlie Wright (Pleasant Valley) 67-63—130
Carmella Reese (Weaver) 63-68—131
Cara Prater (Weaver) 63-68—131
Sarah Ford (Pleasant Valley) 68-63—131
Briana Behel (Saks) 70-69—139
Deanna Jennings (Saks) 72-71—143
Peyton Mcintyre (Oxford) 73-71—144
Estefania Gomez (Saks) 72-72—144
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