MONTGOMERY—The Fayetteville Lady Wolves returned to Montgomery for a second consecutive season, but fell short again this season, as they were eliminated following two losses. The team’s first loss to 1A’s No. 2-ranked team, Parrish, was riddled with errors and ended after six innings 10-0. However, the team bounced back to play a close game against Pleasant Home. In the end, it wasn’t enough, as the team fell short, 3-1. “It’s disappointing to be going home, but I can’t say enough about how my girls responded after that first game,” head coach Chris Sherbert said. “In the first game, we played the No. 2 team in the state, and then we just got off the field with the team that finished No. 2 last year. We competed in both games. Even though the first game ended up being 10-0, we still competed.” Despite coming up empty-handed, Sherbert felt like the team still took a step forward this season and knows the bar will be raised even higher next season. “We’ve just got to build on this and learn,” Sherbert said. “I’ve got two seniors. Like I told them, the good news is: great job, I love you, and I’m proud of you. The bad news is: the bar goes higher. Before the day started, I told the girls no matter what happens on this field today we move forward. Even after that, they took two steps forward today. I’m proud of them.” In the game against Pleasant Home, the Lady Eagles jumped out to 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. They added another run in the top of the third inning. In the bottom of the fourth inning, with Pleasant Home turning to eighth grade relief pitcher Katherine Walker, Hailey Haynes led off with a double to right-center field. Haynes advanced to third base on a failed pickoff attempt. Lauren Guy hit a grounder to the left side of the infield, Haynes tried to score from third base. On a close play at the plate, she was called out. Fayetteville eventually put a run on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Courtney Deloach scored from third base on a failed pickoff attempt. Pinch runner Savannah Scott was caught in a rundown at third base later in the inning. Sherbert shared blame for the out. “In hindsight, I should have held her up right there at third, because I would have had my number four hitter [Haynes] coming up,” he said. Pleasant Home added an insurance run in the top of the seventh by way of a throwing error to third base that allowed the runner at third base to score a run. Deloach got on base again in the seventh inning but with two outs, the third pitcher of the game for Pleasant Home, eighth grader Taylor McGhee, got catcher Peyton Dennis to strike out for the final out of the game. Brittany Snyder had a particularly strong defensive game by converting 12 total putouts after making some errors in the first game against Parrish. “She made a ton of plays,” Sherbert said. “She got so frustrated that she couldn’t even do pitch and catch. I said ‘Look, you know what you can do, now do it,’ and she made every play that was hit to her.” Sherbert also credited Haydn Hughes for her pitching performance, along with his two seniors, Summer Guy and Katelyn Bierley. He noted Bierley showed leadership by changing positions between games and compared Guy with Snyder in having a bounce-back defensive performance against Pleasant Home. Rather than use his team’s youth as an excuse, Sherbert pointed out this was a return visit. “We’re not young,” he said. “A lot of these sophomores, they’ve been playing two years. I told them ‘You’re not young anymore. That’s an excuse—we’re veterans.’ We had a veteran team this year and at times, we did not play like a veteran team and I was disappointed. At times, we did play like a veteran team, but I would say more times we didn’t than we did. But we turned it on when it counted. We got to Regionals and we turned it on.” In the game against Parrish, the Lady Wolves ran up against senior pitcher Grayson Culverson, who threw a perfect game in six innings and struck out eight Fayetteville batters. Culverson went on to throw her second shutout of the day in a win against Decatur Heritage. Despite running up against strong pitching, the story of the game was errors committed by the Fayetteville defense. According to official AHSAA statistics, the Lady Wolves committed eight errors in the game. It was a close game through three innings, with Parrish scoring three runs off of errors. Parrish gained a decisive 6-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with three more runs, one of which came off of an error. Parrish added two runs off of errors in the bottom of the fifth inning. In the sixth inning, Jamie Hocutt hit a single to left field and an error allowed a run to score on the play. Makenzie Morgan hit a single through the gap between shortstop and third base to drive in the 10th and deciding run. One of the bright spots in the game for Fayetteville was Hailey Haynes, who made five defensive putouts without committing an error. “I can’t say enough about Hailey Haynes, how she has stepped up this week,” Sherbert said. “She struggled the first half of the year hitting the ball. She’s usually a great hitter and a solid defender and she’s had her struggles. But since the Ragland tournament, she’s been tearing the cover off the ball and I can’t say enough about what she’s done on the offensive side, as well as the defensive side.” Looking ahead to next season, Sherbert believes the key to taking a step forward starts with greater consistency. “We’re a veteran team and I expect us to play more consistently next year,” he said. “That’s our goal: we’re going to preach consistency from start to finish. We weren’t very consistent this year. We’ve got to be more consistent. If we are, then we’ll come down here and really put the fear in some folks down here. They know who we are; they’re not going to hide from us, they’re not scared of us, but they know Fayetteville’s here and we’re here to stay.”

SYLACAUGA – Cleanup of the REEF Environmental superfund site reached a major milestone this week as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began wastewater discharges into Shirtee Creek. Discharge began Thursday after months of testing to develop an efficient treatment system for the estimated 15 to 18 million gallons of wastewater at the abandoned facility. Depending on weather conditions and various test results, EPA aims to discharge 250,000 gallons of treated wastewater into the creek five days a week. Another 500,000 a day will be sprayed onto a grassy field on the property. Federal on-scene coordinator Jason Booth said if all goes well, cleanup should be complete in 10 weeks. “Our goal is to focus on discharging into the creek over the next few weeks to get the kinks worked out and make that process as efficient as possible, and also continue the land application,” he said. EPA tested its treatment system for about a week before beginning discharge. A toxicity test showed that living organisms in the creek, specifically minnows and sand fleas, had a 100 percent survival rate over a 96-hour period when the treated wastewater was added at 1, 2, 5 and 7 percent dilution. Ten-percent dilution led to 90 percent organism survival. Those results determined the rate at which EPA could safely discharge. Long-term toxicity testing will be conducted to see if and how the discharge affects reproductive systems of the organisms, Booth said. EPA will also take periodic water sampling from upstream and downstream the discharge point and continue 24/7 air monitoring in and around the Twin Street facility. The process of treating the wastewater, which mostly originated from local auto and oil companies, begins by blending polymer and flocculent, two compounds that bind to suspended solids, with smaller amounts of wastewater through a system of hoses and pipes. Once blended, the water is sent to the 7-million gallon aeration basin, where it is kept in a healthy aerobic environment through use of aerators that were already in place on the site. Hoses carry water from that basin through a system of filters decreasing in size from 25 microns to 10, 5, and finally 1 micron. The water then goes through a carbon filter and is finished with a wash of hydrogen peroxide, which kills odor-causing bacteria. From there, it is connected to an underground pipe that travels about one mile before opening to Shirtee Creek. A portion of the water is redirected to the field. Wastewater from the aeration basin will be emptied first, followed by the two equalization basins. As the water level lowers in those basins, waste from the various tanks onsite will be poured onto drying beds that feed any liquids draining out of the waste back into an equalization basin for discharge. Even untreated, Booth said the REEF wastewater itself is not hazardous, but has the potential to become so if it is not kept in an aerobic environment. “It has a little bit of everything – metals, grease, volatile organic compounds, but not enough of anything to be a threat to the environment,” he said. “The hazardous parts are the ones that involve oxygen, or a lack of, and that’s where the aerators come in to make sure it stays aerobic.” With cleanup well on its way, Booth said the future of the former treatment facility is still unknown. “We were hoping to bust in the basins and fill them with dirt once we are done, but because REEF is in bankruptcy, creditors and debtors will have first claim to the equipment out here,” he said. “So, we’re not sure where it’s going to go at this point. I would love to sell some of this stuff to help pay for cleanup, but it doesn’t look like that will happen.” The remainder of the funds budgeted for cleanup is about $308,000, which will last EPA about three and a half months at its current burn rate of $88,000 a week, Booth said. Another $500,000 contingency fund is available, if necessary. Booth is offering site tours to any interested citizens. To set up a time, contact EPA community involvement coordinator Kerisa Coleman at coleman.kerisa@epa.gov. Contact Emily Adams at eadams@dailyhome.com.