Central baseball team wins Region 4-AA title, reaches championship round of district tournament
Journey Hough wins 400 in AA girls track state meet
evenbtua Pageland – Trent Strickland just completed his fifth season as the Central High School baseball head coach. It has been a sometimes painfully slow climb, but the Eagles just had their best season under his tutelage.
Central finished the season with a 17-11 overall record, won the Region 4-AA championship and reached the championship round of the District 2 tournament in the state playoffs.
“It just says a lot about the work we have put in,” Strickland said. “The guys have really bought in to what we are trying to do. They believe in each other and the program.”
The Eagles won their opening game in the district tournament by an 18-4 count over Blacksburg. They struggled In the second game though, falling to eventual state champion Clinton 14-1.
Central rebounded to beat Liberty 9-0 in an elimination game to get back to Clinton. The Eagles made a much better showing this time although it was still a season-ending loss, falling 5-3 on the road.
Strickland believes his players have developed a bond that has led to the success they enjoyed.
“I would say our strength is our brotherhood,” he said. “The guys believe and trust each other. They have each other’s backs, and I always say great teams are player-led and that’s what we had this year.”
Cody Branham was the offensive leader of the team. He led the team in hitting with a .492 batting average, in home runs with six, in stolen bases with 16 and in runs batted in with 25 to go with 23 runs scored and four doubles.
Logan Olney led in hits with 32 while picking up seven doubles, one triple and two homers and hitting .356. He scored 22 times and had 15 RBI.
Dylan Tomberlin led in doubles with nine and runs with 25 while batting .296, stealing 15 bases and driving in 15.
Strickland spread the pitching out among five arms. Senior Landon Crawford worked 38 1/3 innings, Colton Threatt 36, Aidan Welch 22 2/3, senior Lawson Hicks 18 1/3 and Olney, another senior, 17 2/3.
Crawford had a 2.56 earned run average while striking out 35, walking 18 and allowing 33 hits. Threatt had a 2.33 ERA and 53 strikeouts while allowing 24 hits and walking 25, Welch had a 2.16 ERA and 27 strikeouts while walking just six and giving up 21 hits, Hicks had a 1.15 ERA and 21 strikeouts while walking nine and allowing just six hits, and Olney had a 5.15 ERA with 25 whiffs.
“We have six starters returning,” Strickland said. “We have three seniors this year that are going to be hard to replace, two of them being pitchers. We are returning two arms we relied heavily on this year.”
JOURNEY HOUGH WINS 400 IN AA STATE MEET
Central’s Journey Hough won the 400-meter dash in the girls portion of the AA track and field state meet held on May 15 at the Richland Northeast track in Columbia.
Hough won the event in 57.12 seconds. She also placed in the 100 dash, finishing seventh.
The 4x800-meter relay team qualified but did not place.
On the boys side, Jordan Caldwell placed seventh in the discus. He had a throw of 145 feet, 2.91 inches.
Other Eagles who competed in the meet but didn’t place were Angel Martinez in the 1,600-meter run, Treyveon Clyburn and Martel Ruben in the 110-meter hurdles and Ruben in the javelin.
