T he S ports L edger
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MAY 2023
Etowah Wins 4A Baseball Championship The Etowah High School baseball team won the 2023 Class 4A State Championship with a 5-1 victory over UMS- Wright at Jacksonville State University.
Scottsboro High School Senior Summer Miller has signed a tennis scholarship with Huntingdon College Albertville Soccer star Ana Mendoza has signed a soccer scholarship to continue her career at Holmes Community College. Collinsville standout athlete Jordan Coker has signed a football scholarship with Huntington College. Another Collinsville standout will be continuing her career at Wallace State Community College. Tyla Tatum recently sign to play basketball at the college. Asbury High School's Hannah Floriano has signed a cheerleading scholarship with Snead State in Boaz. Two standout athletes from Cherokee County High School have signed college scholarships. Jack Amos agree to play football at Thomas University in Thomasville, GA. Classmate Jaden Wilson has signed a basketball scholarship with Shorter University in Rome, GA. Sand Rocks Jacob St. Clair has signed a basketball scholarship with Arkansas State. Sand Rock classmate Logan Crider has signed a football scholarship with Millsaps College. Arab's Libby Wright has signed a Track & Field scholarship with the University of Montevallo. Auburn Golf Trio Earns SEC Honors For the 14th straight season, Auburn men’s golf has been recognized with players on All-Southeastern Conference teams as J.M. Butler, Brendan Valdes and Reed Lotter were highlighted amongst the SEC’s best following a successful regular season. Voted on by the SEC’s head coaches, Lotter earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team while Butler made Second Team and Valdes was named to the first team. Junior Ryan Eshleman also represents the Orange & Blue on the SEC Community Service Team. Auburn now owns 96 The Florida Gators baseball team recently defeated Kentucky to close out the 2023 SEC regular season as the conference's Co-Champions. The Gators are sharing the title regular season title with Arkansas. Florida also secured the No. 1 overall seed for the 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover. The Gators will face the winner of the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed in Hoover on Wednesday, May 24 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Gators finished the 2023 regular season at 42-13 overall and 20-10 in the SEC. Florida's 42 regular season wins are the second-most in program history. SEC Baseball Champs All-SEC honorees in its history, including 40 that have come under head coach Nick Clinard’s tenure. This season’s haul marks the first time the Tigers have earned at least three yearly recognitions since 2020. Scholarship Signings
Snead State Community College’s Baseball team ended its 2023 campaign with a third-place finish in the ACCC Baseball Championship Tournament, which was held May 10-15 in Oxford. AL. The Parsons (34-25, 17-15) made an incredible run, finishing the tournament 4-2, which is six 9-inning games over a four-day span. As No. 4 seed out of the ACCC North, Snead State picked up its first win of the tournament against Lurleen B. Wallace with a 9-7 victory in a single-elimination, play- in game, which allowed them to advance to the double- elimination side of the bracket. Mason Cooper and Cason Firth led the Parsons, each batting 2-for-5 and recording one RBI apiece. Hayden Stancil and Alex Johnson had two RBIs apiece. On the mound, starter Jeb Bartle, Cody Williams and Evan Steckmesser combined for eight strikeouts, seven hits and six earns allowed over nine innings to pick up the win. In the second game of the tournament, the Parsons fell to Wallace State - Dothan 10-4. Snead State combined for eight total hits, led by two from right fielder Carter Frederick. Trey Higgins had two RBIs. Snead State pitchers Cody King, William Tarpley and Jarett Mason combined for four strikeouts to 14 hits and seven earned runs in the loss. The Parsons rallied to win three straight games to advance to the semifinals, starting with a 3-1 victory over Coastal Alabama-North. Brock Hill pitched a complete game for the Parsons, allowing just five hits and one earned run over nine innings. He struck out eight Coastal batters. Higgins helped power the Parsons to the next round with a two-run homerun in the fourth inning to give Snead State a 3-1 advantage. Snead State added two more wins, including an 11-6 win over rival Wallace State - Hanceville and a historic, comeback, walk-off win against Lawson State, 15-14. Against Wallace State - Hanceville, the Parsons combined for 15 hits as a team. Shortstop Brooks Hardie hit a grand slam in the second inning to drive in four runs. Higgins followed with a grand slam of his own in the fourth inning. Pitchers Baker Green, Jase Gray and Steckmesser combined to strike out seven batters and only allow five earned runs on 13 hits. The Parsons rallied from a 10-0 deficit to take down Lawson State, and did so on just seven hits, including a walk-off single by Luke McNeil with the bases loaded. Snead State outscored Lawson State 15-4 in the final five and a half innings. Frederick, Stancil, Coby Wilkerson and Hardie each accounted for two RBIs. Darren Cho and Stancil each led the team with two hits apiece. Frederick, Williams, Gray, Mason, Stancil and Bartle combined for 12 strikeouts on the mound while allowing 14 hits and 14 earned runs. On championship Sunday, the Parsons fell just short of a return trip to the title game, falling 10-3 to Wallace State - Dothan in a semifinals rematch. Frederick, Hardie and Higgins each launched solo homeruns to give the Parsons their three runs. On the mound, starter Tarpley, Johnson, Fisher Moss and Brayden Moore allowed a total of 10 earned runs on 17 hits. Combined, Tarpley and Moss struck out six batters. At the conclusion of the tournament, Snead State’s Mason Cooper and Brock Hill were named to the All- ACCC Tournament Team. Before the tournament began, Carter Frederick was recognized as the 2023 ACCC North Player of the Year. Snead State ended the year winning 16 out of their last 20 games played to get 34 total wins on the season. Parsons head coach Casey Underwood called this team “a special group.” “I am so proud of how this team played for each other and for the name on the front of the shirt,” Underwood said. “As a coach, I am very thankful for this sophomore group, not only for all the work that they put in on the field, but this team finished with a 3.54 GPA – the highest we have ever had in the baseball program. And all of our sophomores graduated for the seventh year in a row.” Snead State Earns Third Place In ACCC Baseball Tournament The state title was the first for Etowah since 1996. The Blue Devils rolled through the state playoffs with a 10-0 record. Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, an unusual double-play by Etowah High School’s pitcher-catcher twin brother, Briggs and Caleb Freeman, snuffed out a bases- loaded jam in the fourth inning. The Blue Devils got out of the jam when Caleb struck out the batter. The ball got by Briggs, who hustled to get the ball as the runner on third tried to score. Freeman tossed the ball to Caleb, who raced from the mound to cover the plate. The ball got there just in time to get the runner sliding in for the final out. That spark ignited a rally in the bottom of inning as Etowah (30-11) scored three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Slade St. Clair drew a walk, Jamison Scissum then reached first on an infield hit, and Andrew Pierce then bunted to move the runners. His perfect execution helped him beat the throw to first for a hit to load the bases. Briggs hit a shallow fly to the outfield which was caught by the second baseman, and a hustling St. Clair scored in what officially became a sacrifice fly. Conner Dingler was inserted by head coach Blake Bone, and he delivered a single to score two runs. Etowah added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings and winning pitcher Caleb Freeman did the rest. He got the mound win scattering seven hits and striking out six on just 104 pitches. The Blue Devils managed eights hits overall. Pierce and Hunter Humphries each had two hits while Scissum, who earned MVP honors in the Class 4A State Championship Series, had one hit and an RBI.
Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger
Etowah's Hunter Humphries gets an out for the Blue Devils during the Class 4A State Championship game at Jacksonville State University.
The Top 5 in the AHSAA Heptathlon for 2023 are: Mary Hayes Johnson of Cherokee County (5th); Chaci Whitfield of Oxford (4th); Lanette Harrell of Jasper (3rd); Caroline Sanders of Scottsboro (2nd); and Janie Ford of St. Paul’s (1st). Ford won the Heptathlon title, while James Clemens’ Benjamin Thomason captured the Decathlon Championship. Courtesy of AHSAA AHSAA Heptathlon Top 5
Guntersville's Treyvon Avery (#3) hauls in a one-handed interception in the 2023 Spring Jamboree against Pisgah. Avery returned the ball 57 yards for a Wildcat touchdown. Guntersville went on to rally for a 32-0 victory in the varsity half. The Wildcat's outscored Pisgah 14-0 in the third quarter. Guntersville will open the 2023 season this fall with a home game against Southside. A Pisgah football schedule was not available at press time. Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger Guntersville Wins Jamboree
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