Brooks Best: Spring 23/24

BLADEN COUNTY — Both East Bladen and West Bladen had great 2023/24 seasons across multiple sports, with their athletes shining in the forefront so this week’s column shines a light on the stellar performances during the Spring season. The West Bladen Baseball team has been showing steady improvement over the past few seasons and they climbed the table from fifth best team in the Southeastern Conference to the second best with a conference record of 7-3.

They earned a key victory over traditional powerhouses and defending SAC 6 champions Midway in mid-April for a 6-1 victory. The Knights relied on solid pitching from junior Garrett Dunham to help get them over the line against the Raiders at home. He allowed just one run on eight hits and he struck out four batters in a pivotal conference win.

The Knights went on a 5-1 run after their victory over the Raiders and earned the 22nd seed in the 2A NCHSAA Playoffs. They traveled away for their first round match-up to take on the 11th-seeded Martin County Knights. Both teams battled it out through the first seven innings as regulation ended 2-2 to send things to extras. Dunham was responsible for an RBI-double that brought around Aiden Russ to tie the game at 2-2 to give them a chance in extra innings.

Unfortunately, Martin County would seal things in the eighth inning but it didn’t erase the stellar season the Boys out of Bladenboro had on the diamond. West Bladen concluded their season with an overall record of 11-11 and they’ll come back next season with most of their key guys returning.

Dunham’s 1.27 ERA on top of the mound and his .338 BA in his junior season earned him Player of the Year in the SAC 6. The East Bladen girls soccer team had a great 2024 season under head coach Jay Raynor as they finished the year with an overall record of 16-3-2. The Lady Eagles had a complete team from front-to-back and they showed their dominance in Waccamaw Conference play, going 8-2.

They had All-State performers in central-midfielder Heidi Rebollar and winger Jackie Medina-Leal; the Lady Eagles also stacked the All-Region team with forward Molly Evans, defender Zoe Smith, defender Gabby Rebollar, midfielder Anna Miranda, keeper Resse Hester, Heidi Rebollar and Medina-Leal. East Bladen scored 72 goals and only conceded 17 goals on the season.

West Bladen’s softball team finished third in the SAC 6 standings this season as they finished the year with an overall record of 7-8 and a conference record of 6-4. The Lady Knights could rely on their senior talisman Gracie Faircloth this season as she lit her opponents up at the plate with a .404 BA and 21 RBI’s. Faircloth went 4-of-5 against Red Springs in a 18-3 rout as she was responsible for 2-RBI’s and two runs scored.

She was also amongst the Lady Knights best pitchers with 31 strikeouts in 29 innings of work. East Bladen’s softball team didn’t have the best of years but they were still able to sneak into the NCHSAA 1A Playoffs with an overall record of 9-11. They traveled away to Weldon in the first round and pulled off a 15-0 victory to advance to the second round.

Jeena Brice gave the Weldon line-up nightmares from the center circle as she pounded the strike zone for 10 strikes and she claimed the shutout on a two hit evening. Niyah Wooten led the Lady Eagles in slugging on the day with a 3-of-4 outing at the plate for 4 RBI’s and two homers. East Bladen’s baseball team finished in third place in the Waccamaw Conference with a record of 8-4 and finished the year with an overall record of 13-12.

Jake Futtrell showed up for the Eagles in his senior season with a 2.10 ERA and he went 7-3 as a starter on top of the hill. He threw 11-strikes against Pender in a two-hit victory during the season for one of his best performances on the year.