LPGA Tour professional Brittany Lincicome enthusiastically confirmed her decision to return for a sixth straight visit at next year's Rotary Sour Mash Memorial golf tournament.
Lincicome's competition for the 18-hole exhibition at Parkersburg Country Club will be the same foursome who tried to recruit her before the start of Monday's event. The team of Lori Williamson, Brenda Stauffer, Lisa Stafford and Gary Ferguson won this year's championship and earned the right to play against Lincicome and playing partner, PGA professional Scott Davidson from PCC.
Ferguson was a late addition.
"One of their ladies had to drop out, so they were trying to recruit me for their team," Lincicome said. "Clearly, they didn't need me."
Last Saturday at Canal Park in Akron, Ohio, Pittsburgh Pirates Class AA farmhand Gerrit Cole started for the Altoona Curve and gave up three earned runs in four innings of work in a 4-3 loss to the Akron Aeros.
Six days had passed since the 21-year-old righthander appeared in the Futures Game in Kansas City, Mo., where he allowed two runs on one hit while pitching an inning for the U.S. contingent.
Against Akron, Cole escaped a jam in the first inning after the Aeros strung together consecutive base hits with one out. Cole struck out cleanup hitter Thomas Neal looking then induced Juan Diaz to ground out to the third baseman.
Following a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second inning, Cole showed the form which earned him a mid-June promotion from Class A Bradenton by retiring the next six batters.
With Altoona nursing a 2-0 lead in the home half of the fourth inning, Akron exposed Cole for four straight hits. After Neal's leadoff double, Diaz battled Cole for 12 pitches before sending an air-mail job over the batter's eye in center field for a two-run homer. It was Diaz who received a 10-day call-up by the Cleveland Indians last month.
Ryan Rohlinger then stepped up to the plate and promptly sent Cole's first offering down the right-field line for a stand-up double. Adam Abraham singled home Rohlinger for the third run of the inning, but Cole answered with a double-play grounder and a strikeout to end the threat.
Cole was done for the night, but did show signs of brilliance in his 81-pitch performance as he increased his season-strikeout total to 85 in 82 2/3 innings.
Currently, St. Marys has the edge on the No. 3 seed. The two teams split a doubleheader earlier this season, but Post 79 wins the first tiebreaker by six runs.
Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com
