Laurens Academy baseball team playing well after slow start
Crusaders softball team 2-7
Laurens – After getting off to a slow start, the Laurens Academy baseball team entered and came out of spring break playing well. The Crusaders had won seven of their last eight games to up their overall record to 8-4.
LA head coach Darryl Halbert thinks the best is yet to come for a team with just one senior.
“Eight of our starters were playing basketball deep into the playoffs (reaching the semifinals of the SCISA AA state tournament) and are just now getting into baseball condition,” said Halbert, who has seen his team eclipse last year’s win total when Laurens went 5-8.
The most consistent lineup is made up of senior Braydon Burke, juniors Caleb Hardy, Evan Asalone, Ethan Collins and Elijah Hornberger, sophomore Mason Cooper, freshmen Elias Littleton and Riley Whittaker and eighth-grader Wyatt Little.
Littleton, Whittaker and Little man the top three spots in the batting order. Hardy, Asalone and Collins are usually in the next three spots with Cooper, Burke and Hornberger manning the bottom third.
Little led the team in hitting with a .486 batting average and had six doubles. Asalone was batting .333 with Whittaker at .323 and Collins at .318.
Burke and Asalone are the top two returning pitchers. Burke had a 3-1 win-loss record in 18 1/3 innings pitched while Asalone is 1-1 in 12 1/3 innings. Little is also 1-1 with a team best 1.46 earned run average in 14 1/3 innings. Whittaker has worked 10 1/3 innings and has a save, and Littleton is 1-0 in 3 2/3 innings.
Other members of the team are sophomore Rob Roper, freshman Jenson Tarver and eighth-graders George Sherer and Hodges Compton.
LA SOFTBALL STARTS 2-7
The Laurens Academy softball team is also young with just two seniors. The Lady Crusaders opened with a 2-7 record.
“The season so far hasn’t been what we want, but we are a young team,” said LA head coach Frankie Dunaway. “We started the season without a definite pitcher. I’ve had three ladies step up and are trying their best to throw strikes.”
The three working in the circle are senior Madyson Graham and sophomores Caroline Robinson and Mackenzie Runyans.
Runyans is batting leadoff and also plays shortstop. Junior Morgan Bolding bats second and plays either shortstop or second base. Batting in the 3 hole is sophomore third baseman/outfielder Brooke Abercrombie.
` Graham is batting cleanup and also plays first. Junior outfielder Addison Mitchum bats fifth followed by senior outfielder Sophia Harvey, outfielder Robinson and junior catcher Makayla Lindley.
Junior Caroline Mullinax and eighth-grader Ellie Watts share time in the outfield and round out the batting order.
Lindley was leading in hitting with a .500 average, while Graham was batting .364 and Abercrombie .333.
“We’ve improved since the beginning of the season, and we are striving to get better game by game,” Dunaway said.
Other members of the team are sophomores Payton Cagle and Lily Goforth.
