‘Canes Win Three in a Row

The ‘Canes made it three wins in a row last Friday, when they shut out the Laney Wildcats 4-0 in their last game of the season.

During this period the young players jelled as a team and played like veterans with a minimum of errors, some hot bats at the plate and over-powering pitching.

They scored 23 runs and only gave up 2 by defeating Josey 9-0, Greene County 10-2, and Laney 4-0.

Head Coach Chris Jenkins and Assistant Coach Brooke Adams, both in their first year at the helm started the season with a young team, went on to lose three starters, but brought up some players from the Junior Varsity and managed to field a formidable team by the end of the season in the AA classification, perhaps serving notice to their new 7-A regional opponents that they will be a force to be reckoned with next year.

Coach Jenkins seemed to think the late season turn around of the team was simply due to a lot of young players gaining some playing experience.

“We were just so young,” he said. “We played four kids who had never played an inning at the varsity level before. Also, our only senior, Brian Anderson, who hung in there and never quit, was a good leader and a positive influence on the team.”

In the last game on Friday, the ‘Canes stung the Wildcats for two runs in the first inning on singles by Ethan Huff and Kyle Byrd, and walks by Lee Bailey and Caleb Anderson. They picked up two more in the fifth when the same pair, Huff and Byrd, singled again and Anderson walked. Huff, going three-for-three, also had a single in the second, and Donavan Sands blasted a double in the sixth.

On the mound, J.C. Dunagan struck out seven batters and pitched a one-hit shutout behind the outstanding defensive play of outfielders Sands, Alex Jordan, and Bailey, and infielders, Reynolds, Anderson, Byrd, Huff and Cody Batchelor.