**

UABAthleticsDepart-ment. Sev-

eral female employeesfrom the UAB AthleticsDepartment devotedtime to the local Birming-ham Habitat for Human-ity program on Tuesday.The volunteers’ time andefforts went to the con-struction of a house forBirmingham native Kati-sha Cook and her threechildren.

DariusMiles. TheMemphisGrizzliesforward, whowas sus-pended last season for vi-olating the NBA’s anti-drug program, was freeon bond Thursday afterbeing charged with pos-session of marijuana. The27-year-oldMiles pulledover for allegedly failingto use a turn signal, andpolice found a smallamount of marijuana.

THUMBS UP THUMBS DOWN

STILL A PROJECTSabanstays thecourseCoach’s ability tofocus impressesAlabama’s ToddBy DOUG SEGRESTNews staff writer

Brothers Caleb and Jona-than Booker showed no fear asthey approached Nick Sabanon the 13th green Thursdaymorning.

The problem wasn’t whatthey the brothers were bearing— a football for seventh-grader Caleb and a cap forfifth-grader Jonathan.

It was the time of day.And Saban, the Alabama

football coach, noticed some-thing was amiss immediately.

“What happened to schooltoday?” Saban asked as he au-tographed Caleb’s ball.

“I got out early,” the young-ster replied.

The excuse was legitimate.The Hoover siblings are home-schooled and got out of classin time to get to Ross BridgeGolf Resort for Saban’s ap-pearance at Thursday’s Re-gion’s Charity Classic pro-am.

The Bookers weren’t alone.Various throngs followed theCrimson Tide coach through-out the 51⁄2-hour outing, andmost fans ignored the first teewarning about not asking forautographs.

With administrative assis-tant Cedric Burns armed withSharpies, Saban seemed tostop at every tee, fairway andgreen to sign the memorabiliabrought to him at each hole.

“He’s considerate of oth-ers,” said Tide golfer GatorTodd, a member of Saban’s fi-vesome. “I don’t know if Icould stop and start like thatand keep my focus. But he’s sofocused.”

See SABAN Page 7C

HIGH SCHOOLS BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

Hartselle sweepsLions in 5A finalBy ETHAN RAMSEYNews staff writer

MONTGOMERY — Briar-wood Christian won Game 1of the Class 5A final againstHartselle on Wednesday de-spite being outpitched andouthit. That formula couldn’tproduce a second win andthe school’s first state titleThursday.

Second-ranked Hartselleemphatically recorded itsseventh state championshipwith 8-3 and 4-0 victories atRiverwalk Stadium, settingan Alabama prep record of 50wins in the process.

Briarwood (31-9), a clubthat entered the series aver-aging more than nine runsper game, tallied only fiveruns and 12 hits in the threegames. The fifth-ranked Li-ons won Game 1 with one hitbecause of a three-hitter byace Ben Bracewell.

“If we run into a team that

beats us two games in a row,then we tip our hats tothem,” said Briarwood coachLee Hall, whose club sufferedits first losing steak of theseason in one day. “Theywere better than us. They de-serve to win the state cham-pionship and we deserve tobe runner-up.”

Tigers’ No. 3 pitcher Gar-rett Turrentine (11-1), aright-hander, tossed a four-hit, 107-pitch complete gameshutout in Thursday’s night-cap, not letting a Lions run-ner past second base.

Series MVP Luke Bole allbut sealed the title for Hart-selle (50-9) with a three-runbomb in the third off Briar-wood starter Logan Crook.The shot to deep right off ahanging curve ball broughtB o l e ’ s A l a b a m a - l e a d i n ghome run total to 20.

See BASEBALL Page 8C

NEWS STAFF/MICHELLEWILIAMS

Defending Regions Charity Classic champ Andy Bean points to where Charles Barkley’sfirst drive of Thursday’s pro-am landed.

Unfortunately for Barkley (and a fan), his golfswing isn’t much better than it was before hestarted ‘The Haney Project’ on The Golf Channel

NEWS STAFF/MARK ALMOND

Hartselle’s Joshua Doyle is safe with a stolen base as theball bounces away from Briarwood’s Ben Bracewell onThursday. Hartselle swept Briarwood to win the 5A title.

By JON SOLOMONNews staff writer

Tommy Parrish stood a couple of hun-dred feet away and to the right ofCharles Barkley as the former NBAstar, trapped in golf purgatory, teed offon the sixth hole Thursday at the Re-

gions Charity Classic.Reverting to his infamous golf hitch seen on

a television show on The Golf Channel, Bar-kley lined the shot directly toward Parrish.Ducking his head helped Parrish, a Jasper res-ident nervously keeping an eye on his younggrandson. But only so much.

Whack! The ball struck the back of Parrish’s

neck.“I’ve been watching his show and thought

his golf game had improved a little bit,” Par-rish said as he applied ice. “But it hasn’t.”

Barkley’s first public golf appearance sincehe finished taping “The Haney Project” withrenowned golf instructor Hank Haney was notwhat Barkley wanted. To follow Barkley for 18holes at the CGI Pro-Am was to witness a co-median enjoying the interaction with fans anda competitor fighting demons in a sport hehas been unable to conquer.

Barkley hit a handful of good shots, butmore often, his drives went astray.

See BARKLEY Page 7C

Late coach taughtLions to never give upAsk Ben Bracewell about

the letters “CW” writtenon the bill of every

Briarwood Christian baseballcap this year.

His answer will be aboutbeloved Briarwood Christianteacher and volleyball coachBarry Walker.

He was known on campusas Coach Walker. BarryWalker was still teaching thisyear. The Lions saw himteaching on a Friday.

Senior Austin Lankfordsaid he passed away that Fri-day night. Coach Lee Hallsaid it was a heart attack onFeb. 6.

“He was such a specialman,” Hall said. “You’re talk-ing about a volleyball coachwho won like six state titles.He was the Sammy Dunn ofstate volleyball coaches.”

But ask Bracewell aboutwhat legacy a legendary statevolleyball coach leaves onthe minds of baseball play-ers. He goes like he’s bearingdown in the seventh inning.The words flow from theheart about why “CW” wason the bill of every Briarwoodcap this year.

“Never give up,” saidBracewell, the Lions’ pitch-ing ace. “That’s the one thingCoach Walker told all of us allthe time. Just never give up.No matter what it is or howtough it is.”

The Lions had never losttwo games in a row this sea-

son before falling to HartselleThursday night at RiverwalkStadium.

Those initials in Sharpieblack may have faded onthose caps just a bit. Butwhat they stood for neverdid.

Take the many examplesfrom this season. Take thedeciding Game 3 winsagainst Beauregard and St.Paul’s in the quarterfinalsand the semifinals.

There were consecutive in-stances Thursday night withtwo outs against Hartsellewhere the Lions saw their op-ponent rush the field and cel-ebrate like they’d won it all.

They had not. Yet.That never fazed Lankford

when it happened twice dur-ing a clutch at-bat that ex-tended their season. Oncewas on a foul tip that mostinitially thought was the thirdstrike.

See SENTELL Page 8C

NEWS STAFF/MICHELLEWILLIAMS

Alabama coach NickSaban watches a tee shotThursday during theRegions Charity Classicpro-am.

MORE REGIONS COVERAGE INSIDEyy BBrreeaakkiinngg ddoowwnn CChhaarrlleess BBaarrkklleeyy’’ss oolldd sswwiinngg aanndd hhiiss ““nneeww--aanndd--iimmpprroovveedd”” sswwiinngg // 77CC

yyAAuubbuurrnn’’ss CChhiizziikk,, AAllaabbaammaa’’ss GGrraanntt sshhooww ooffff tthheeiirr sskkiillllss oonn pprraaccttiiccee ggrreeeenn rraatthheerr tthhaann tthhee ccoouurrssee // 66CCyy PPrroo--aamm nnootteebbooookk,, RReeggiioonnss CChhaarriittyy CCllaassssiicc tteeee ttiimmeess,, ttoouurrnnaammeenntt iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn // 66CC

COLLEGE BASEBALL AUBURN 3, ALABAMA2, 10 INNINGS

Tigers win on walkoff walkBy CHARLES GOLDBERGNews staff writer

AUBURN — Auburn coachJohn Pawlowski knew the statsheet promised a home runderby.

Jon Luke Jacobs and AustinHubbard paid no heed.

The two Auburn pitcherskept Alabama hitters in thepark, and a game between twoof the best home run-hittingteams in the nation ended inthe 10th inning on — of allthings — a bases-loaded walk.

Auburn beat Alabama 3-2 infront of 2,361 fans in Plain-sman Park on Thursday nightin a game that didn’t followthe script that had been sug-

gested by two teams that hadcombined for 203 home runsthis season. Not one ball leftthe park.

“It didn’t come into play,”Pawlowski said. “That’s whathappens when you get goodpitching.”

The outcome was a boostfor Auburn, which improvedto 30-24 overall and 10-18 inthe SEC. The Tigers have beeneliminated from making theSEC Tournament, but are hop-ing a big finish will improvetheir 34 RPI and put them inthe running for the NCAATournament. Alabama, tryingto win the SEC title outright,fell to 36-16 overall and 17-10

in the league.Auburn improved to 2-0

against Alabama this season,though the first win, in March,didn’t count in the SEC stand-ings. The two rivals wrap upthe regular season with a 6o’clock game tonight and a 3p.m. contest Saturday.

Brian Fletcher drove in thewinning run, taking a highpitch on a 3-2 count. Thatdrove in pinch runner BradleyRay and set off a happy cele-bration for the Tigers.

“We didn’t have a lot of op-portunities early,” Pawlowskisaid.

See AUBURN Page 3C

JEFFSENTELL

SPECIAL/TODD VAN EMST

Auburn’s Brian Fletcher (1)is lifted by teammatesafter walking to force inthe game-winning runagainst Alabama.

Columnist RayMelick and writer Jon Solomon video:Slippery slope for UAB, Jacksonville State on academicsand the APR. Go to al.com/sports/birminghamnewsONE-MINUTE MADNESS