New head coach Cierra Reaves seeing small successes with Mullins softball
Auctioneer baseball team has big series against Kingstree this week
Mullins – When you have any athletic program that struggles, one often has to find success in measured ways.
The Mullins High School softball team is in its first season under head coach Cierra Reaves, having been the head coach for just two months. The Auctioneers were winless in their first 14 games and were 0-10 in Region 7-AA.
Reaves, however, sees where her team has made improvement as the year has gone despite still being winless.
“I feel like the scoreboard and record don’t tell the full story of progress,” Reaves said. “Compared to last year’s five total runs scored, we have scored 58 runs this year with me just coming in mid-February. We have played at least five innings in most of our games (minus doubleheaders) when they seldom played past four or five innings last year.”
Ariyah Staley was leading the Auctioneers in hitting with a .381 batting average. Kei’hauna Lacy was hitting .356 and Arreyianna Carter had a .334 average.
Reaves said her top pitchers are Nariya Woodbury and Carter. Reaves also tabbed Carter as one of her top defensive players along with Jalea Cross.
Reaves had eight returning starters from last year’s team. She believes an offseason of being able to work and coach her players will pay major dividends.
“Although our pitching is still developing and we have to eliminate some errors, we can be a solid team if I have more time with them prior to season play next year,” Reaves said.
Reaves admits she wsa pleasantly surprised with what she inherited in regards to talent.
“My expectations were nonexistent,” she siad. “I knew I was walking into a minimally funded and coached program, but I was pleased to see the level of athleticism and drive to be better these young ladies have displayed thus far. It also helps that I have an awesome group of parents.”
MULLINS BASEBALL 1-9 IN REGION
The Mullins baseball team won only three of its first 14 games and was 1-9 in region play coming out of spring break.
If Mullins is to have a shot of making the state playoffs, it will likely have to sweep 1-7 Kingstree in games on Tuesday, April 21, and Wednesday, April 22.
The Auctioneers’ one region win came against Manning by an 11-1 score. They almost swept the Monarchs but dropped a 15-14 decision.
Mullins’ other win was over Lee Central by an 11-10 count.
The Auctioneers were hitting .267 as a team. They were led by Andre Littlejohn with a .474 average, while Layne Gerrald was batting .368. Jaydn Garrett had a .348 average, and Jadae MGill was hitting .318 and was leading in stolen bases with 10.
Adam Shaw and Bryan Jonap worked the most innings as pitchers. Shaw had 17 innings with 33 strikeouts, while Jonap pitched 12 innings.
In the win over Manning, Shaw pitched a tremendous game. He tossed a 1-hitter and an unearned run in five innings. He struck out 11 while walking just three.
