03/29/2024
Bladen County Sports
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East Bladen clinched the Four County Conference Baseball Championship with a 6-3 win over Union on Senior Night.  Senior Alex Coates pitched 4-hit baseball for 6 innings, and sophmore Xavier Wooten picked up the save. Coates, Wooten, sophmore Ty Watkins and sophmore Brooks McGill smacked 2 hits each.

Currituck rallied for 4 runs in top of the seventh to eliminate East Bladen 6-5 in the opening round of the NCHSAA Class 2A Baseball Play-offs. Junior Kyle Tatum, Watkins and sophmore Quinton Bedsole belted 2 hits each for the Eagles who finished with a 15-7 record.

Junior Sophia Singletary pitched a one-hit shutout in a 3-0 win for West Bladen softball on Senior Night at East Bladen. Junior Laikyn Pait, junior Jenna Dove and freshman Carley Dawson connected for 2 hits each for West Bladen. Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson beat out an infield hit to ruin the no-hit bid in the sixth inning.

Singletary pitched a 3-hitter in the Lady Knights 3-1 NCHSAA opening round win over Franklinton. Dawson cracked 2 hits, and Pait slammed a 2-run double.

North Johnston snapped a 3-3 tie and eliminated West Bladen 6-3 in the second round. Pait blasted a solo home run for West who finished 15-9 after winning 11 of their last 13 games. A triple play from centerfielder Logan Autry to catcher Alanna Ludlum to thirdbaseman Dawson to secondbaseman Kassidy Anderson highlighted the Lady Knight defensive effort.

Seniors Lacey Suggs racked up a ‘Hat Trick’ with 3 goals and 4 assists in East Bladen’s 9-0 girls soccer win over West Bladen.  Suggs posted another ‘Hat Trick’ of 3 goals and 4 assists in the Lady Eagles 9-1 win over Union.

Suggs tallied 3 goals and 2 assists in a 5-0 win over Randleman in the opening round of the NCHSAA play-offs. First Flight eliminated East Bladen 4-1 in the second round.  Coach Jay Raynor’s Lady Eagles finished with a 19-3 record. Suggs finished the season with 41 goals and 26 assists for a whopping 108 points.

East Bladen juniors Ethan Hines and Eian Hines finished third and fourth in the Long Jump in the NCHSAA Class 2A State Track & Field Championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.

Ethan Hines finished third with a leap of 22 feet, 3 inches, while twin brother Eian Hines was fourth with a jump of 22 feet, 0.75 inches.

West Bladen grad and current UNC-Pembroke junior Abbey Walters has been named All-Southeast Region for her exploits on the softball field by two different organizations – the National Fast-Pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA). Earlier this season, Walters was a first team All-Peach Belt Conference selection and was also named to the PBC All-Tournament team.

The Bladenboro native led UNC-P in batting average (.396), hits (72), doubles (16), triples (4), home runs (8) runs batted in (42), total bases (120), and slugging percentage (.659). She also tied for the team-lead in stolen bases (26) and on-base percentage (.420).

Those numbers placed Walters in the top five in the Peach Belt Conference in seven of those categories and in the top ten in the PBC in ten categories. Her 120 total bases came up just two short of the UNC-Pembroke school record of 122.

West Bladen grad and Coker College junior Clint Allen received the South Atlantic League’s Gold Glove Award as the best defensive leftfielder in the league.

Allen played in 34 games and owned a fielding percentage of .950 with one outfield assist on the year.  At the plate, Allen scored 20 runs, collected 23 hits, drove in 9 runs and stole 10 bases. The 6-1 junior posted a .235 batting average and .385 on-base percentage as the Cobras finished with a 28-20 record.

Senior Seth Britt’s 2-out single knocked in senior Chandler Lennon with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning as West Bladen baseball closed out their season with a 3-2 victory at East Bladen. Lennon slammed a one-out double. Junior Trent West threw out a potential tying run at the plate in the bottom of the inning.

West had earlier struck out ten batters in 4 innings on the mound. Senior Jeremy Hunt picked up the win in relief as the Knights evened their league record at 7-7.

Senior Miller Heustess pitched a 3-inning no-hitter for East Bladen softball in a 4-0 win over Union that was stopped by weather. Heustess also singled and scored a run.

East Bladen High celebrated Lacey Suggs’ commitment to UNC-Wilmington as a preferred walk-on. Suggs will join the UNC-W basketball roster, will not have to try-out and is expected to receive a scholarship next season when one becomes available.

West Bladen senior Stefan McDonald signed to play college basketball at Guilford College in Greensboro. McDonald averaged 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists this past season and connected on over 40 per cent of his 3-point shots as the Knights finished 20-8.

Elizabethtown won the Bladen Five Middle School Conference Baseball Championship with a perfect 6-0 record. Clarkton School of Discovery and Elizabethtown shared the Bladen Five softball title. Both teams finished with 5-1 records.

Bladen County native Matt Hill was named the new Head Boys Basketball Coach at Lumberton High School. Last season Hill led St. Pauls to an 18-8 record, the school’s best record since the 1997-98 season. He inherited a program that was 3-19 in 2013 and led them to 8 wins in 2014, before the ten-win improvement in 2015.

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