Cheraw baseball Team In Hunt For Region Title, Softball Team Rebuilding

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Cheraw — The Cheraw Braves (7-3, 7-0) baseball team entered their own Spring break baseball event (The Founders Credit Union Diamond Classic) with an undefeated region record to date, and while head coach David Byrd is pleased with the season so far, he is hoping his team can learn to finish games better offensively.

“We finally got over the hump this season of not being able to beat the number one pitcher at Andrew Jackson and North Central, and both of those teams beat us 6-0 a year ago, when they pitched,” said Coach Byrd. “We got by AJ 2-1 this season, and beat North Central twice (8-2, 15-5), and we still have to play Buford twice at the end of the season and they are undefeated in the region also.

“We have had situations where we have had a batter walked, and the next batter was hit by a pitch, and we were not able to bunt them over, and that is frustrating,” said Coach Byrd. “We have had several games that we could have broken things open, with runners in scoring position, but we could not get that timely hit to bring them in. I am hoping we get a little stronger finishing games on offense, as we get into the second half of the season.”

Cheraw entered their 10-team Spring break tournament on April, 1 led by four players hitting over .400. At the top of the index was freshman Anthony Strong at .533 with seven RBI’s and one home run, followed by senior Landon Sellers at .468 and 13 RBI’s including two doubles and three home runs.  Junior Kaden Johnson was at .417 with two RBI’s and junior Will Quick was hitting .407 with 9 RBI’s and three doubles.

On the mound, Cheraw is being led at mid-season by a core group of five pitchers. Strong (R-R) is currently 2-0 with 15 strike-outs in 15 innings of mound duty and he sports a .467 ERA. Junior Charlie Phillips is 6-6 pitcher who is 2-0 with 12 strike-outs in 8 innings of work with a .875 ERA. Johnson is 1-0 on the hill with 15 strike-outs in 13 2/3 innings of work with a 2.56 ERA. The middle reliever/closer is senior Aiden Nolan and he has worked 11 innings with 10 strike-outs and he is 1-1 with an ERA of .770.

“I give a lot of credit to our improved pitching this year to our pitching coach Tristian Campbell who has returned to our program after finishing up his college career at Western Carolina,” said Coach Byrd. “He is doing an outstanding job.”

Coach Byrd also pointed out the outstanding defensive play of senior Austin McIntosh in center field. “Austin is one of the best center fielders I have coached,” said Coach Byrd. “He has thrown out four or four baserunners at the plate with his strong arm and he was the difference in our 2-1 win over Andrew Jackson when he threw out one of their runners at the plate with a perfect throw. He’s a gold glove for sure.”

Senior Gunner Jordan is playing first base and he has contributed two home runs and 10 RBI’s this season. In a recent 8-4 win over Andrew Jackson junior Brayden Michael led the way with three hits while Johnson had six K’s and scattered three hits.

“We still have to play Buford at the end of the season and they are undefeated in the region right now also,” said Coach Byrd. “We need to keep working hard and learn how to finish games better by the time we play them.”

Cheraw Softball Team Having Rebuilding Season So Far  

The Cheraw softball team, head coached by Kevin Thurman, came into the break at 3-6 and 1-3.

“We only returned one all-region player (Zoey Hunt-pitcher) from last year when three teams tied for the region title,” said Coach Thurman. “Zoey has been in our program for five years. She is currently batting .457 with 10 RBI’s and three home runs.” Hunt is also the ace pitcher for the Lady Braves.

The team only had two other returning starters to the team that tied for the region tittle in 2023. They are shortstop/third baseman Rivers and senior catcher Michelle Driggers. Catherine Crawford is a speedy sophomore center fielder bating .285.

The top two newcomers to the team include sophomore outfielder Ally Huggins and 8^th grader Addison Polson.

“We are a decent team, but we have had a bad bout with injuries this season,” said Coach Thurman. “At one time we had four starters out at one time and we have not been at full strength in any one game this season. The team is working hard and we hope to be playing our best softball by the end of the season.”

Coach Thurman is assisted by Jimmy Grissome and Doc King.