NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Johanna Long will throw out the first pitch, meet with fans and sign autographs Saturday at the Pensacola Blue Wahoos home game against the Chattanooga Lookouts.

Long, 20, is a Pensacola native and attended Pine Forest High School. Her father, Donald Long, raced in the defunct NASCAR All-Pro Division; Johanna convinced her father to let her race go karts when she was 8. Long won the prestigious Snowball Derby in 2010 and raced in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series in 2011 before moving to the Nationwide Series this year. She ranks 17^th in the Nationwide points standings despite starting just 14 of 20 races. She’ll skip races in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Montreal before returning to the track Aug. 24 in Bristol.

The baseball game between the Wahoos, Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, and Lookouts, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Double-A farm team, begins at 6:30 p.m.

Gulf South Conference volleyball coaches expect the University of West Florida to win its fifth straight conference title, the league announced last week.

The Argonauts received five of seven first place votes and one second place nod for 35 points in the coaches’ preseason poll. North Alabama received the two other first-place votes and was picked to finish second (32 points), followed by Christian Brothers (26), Valdosta State (18), West Alabama (16), Alabama-Huntsville (11) and West Georgia (nine).

"The GSC is a great conference," said reigning GSC Coach of the Year Melissa Wolter, who is entering her seventh season leading the West Florida volleyball squad. "We have great matches all throughout the season and we have to prepare for every single team we play since everybody is constantly going out and recruiting great players."

Lindsay Homme, a junior from Willowbrook, Ill., earned GSC Player of the Year honors last year and is one of four Argonauts receiving preseason recognition. Homme led the seven-team league in hitting percentage (.324) in 2011 and was second in kills per set with 3.62. Unsurprisingly, her termination tally of 387 led the Argonauts while she also accumulated 25 service aces, 91 digs and 90 blocks. She and sophomore outside hitter Autumn Duyn of Venice, Fla., an outside hitter, were picked for the 2012 Preseason All-GSC Team. Duyn was second to Homme with 346 kills and also finished second in digs for the Argos with 304.

Coaches picked Sarah Scott, from Plainfield, Ill., via the University of Texas-San Antonio, and Andraia Leja of Crystal Lake, Ill., and Harper College in Palatine, Ill., transfers to UWF, among their newcomers to watch.

The Navarre High School football team will scrimmage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10, at Bennett C. Russell Stadium. Fans must bring a towel or laundry soap for admission – liquid laundry soap is preferred, according to new coach Jay Walls.

Justin Gatlin of Pensacola was so happy he struggled to find the right words.

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