Twelve area names from Monroe County earned All-District honors from this baseball season.
Three of those bring specialty awards back to Sweetwater as the Wildcats dominated the All-District 3-2A team.
District 3-2A Baseball: Kai Correll was named the Co-Player of the Year while Caleb Powell shared the Co-Pitcher of the Year award with Travis Watson being named Coach of the Year for District 3-2A.
Five more Wildcats and two Tellico Plains Bears picked up all-district honors as well.
“The success of the program depends upon good players. If you are going to have a quality baseball team you have to have good players. It just shows the amount of work they have put in,” Watson said. “These guys have done a good job and these were the goals. They deserve the awards.”
Correll batted .380 this season with 57 hits, 40 RBIs and 53 runs scored this season. He was a factor on the mound as well, with 59 strikeouts, a 2.38 ERA and 25 earned runs across 73.2 innings.
He shares the award with Polk County’s Kolton Casson.
Caleb Powell pitched 68 innings for Sweetwater, holding the opposition to 17 earned runs. The senior struck out 51 batters and finished with a 1.75 ERA.
Powell struck out a season-high 10 batters against Meigs County on April 9. He shares the award with McMinn Central’s Tyler Oaks.
“They both brought a ton of experience in coming off a state-run last year. Caleb continued where he left off — he got better and better his junior year,” Watson added. “With Kai hitting in the middle of the lineup and throwing every Monday, he has been in that role the last couple of years.
“We are super excited for all four seniors.”
Fellow seniors Tucker Lorenz and Blaine Watson were named to the All-District team, making up the left side of Sweetwater’s infield.
Lorenz batted .382 with 60 hits, 40 RBIs and 47 runs scored. He tallied 18 extra-base hits.
Turning 11 double plays and notching 157 putouts, Lorenz was key in Sweetwater’s defensive success.
Watson batted .427 his senior season with 61 hits and 41 RBIs as the leadoff batter for much of the year. In 32 innings of pitching, he struck out 32 batters and owned a 2.81 ERA.
“(Tucker) has the chance to play at the highest level in college and we are excited to watch him,” Watson added, “Blaine is probably going to play outfield at the next level, but he played at third base for us all season where we needed him and did a great job there as well.”
All four seniors in Sweetwater were named to the All-District team.
“You could go down anytime from February to now and those guys would be working on their own. They were always what I call field rats, they were there,” Travis Watson said. “They made the most of it. It has really rubbed off on the younger guys. You cannot just come to practice a couple times a week and develop. You have to do it when no one is looking.
“That is the thing that has changed our program — the work ethic.”
Cade Houser batted .331 as a junior with 46 hits and 40 RBIs. Behind the plate, he caught 15 runners stealing.
Jayden Richesin pitched 42.1 innings as a junior, striking out 25 batters and earning a 2.65 ERA. At the plate, he batted .294 with 40 hits and 27 RBIs.
Performing mainly out of a designated hitter role, freshman Nolan Dacus batted .319 with 37 hits and 27 RBIs.
Tellico Plains’ Peyton Dodson and Daren McJunkin were named to the All-District team.
On the mound, Dodson tossed 35.1 innings as the Bears’ ace. He struck out 48 batters with a season-high 12 against Polk County. Defensively, he totaled 42 catches and 33 putouts with a .810 fielding percentage.
Dodson batted .289 with a .407 on-base percentage and 13 hits.
“Peyton meant a lot and did everything for us. He was our leadoff and got the team going,” Tellico Plains assistant coach Lucas Pilkey said. “He started every Monday game and was our true No. 1 from the beginning of the season.”
McJunkin became a key bat as a junior. He hit .229 with a .426 on-base percentage and eight hits with the limited stats available.
“Daren and Peyton — they bleed maroon,” Pilkey added. “Daren, for example, stays in and stays extra. He does everything for the team and so does Peyton. You ask Peyton to do this or do that and he is going to do it.”
McJunkin would stay after and work with the JV players for up to 30 minutes, helping to better the players around him.
Zak Derrick, Bryce Hammond, Ayden Plemons and Hunter Rayburn represent McMinn Central while Kingston sees Blake Harrell, Carson Ladd and Zack Peterson named to the team.
Meigs County's Bowen Combs, Brody Goins and Nate Hull are also named to the team alongside Polk County's Zanten Branham and Tucker Lanning.
District 5-3A Baseball: Two Sequoyah Chiefs found themselves on the All-District 5-3A team. Senior Josh Britton is joined by junior Ryan Hall on the team.
Britton batted .308 for Sequoyah with 20 hits and six RBIs. He tossed 20.2 innings this season with 11 strikeouts while turning four double plays and totaling 37 putouts in the field.
Hall batted .325 for the Chiefs with a .462 on-base percentage, 26 hits and 18 RBIs. The junior was the go-to arm on the hill, tossing 51.1 innings with 36 strikeouts and a 4.36 ERA.
“While we had a lot of guys contributing throughout the lineup, Josh and Ryan led us in district play on the mound and at the plate. Ryan went 4-1 on the mound with 19 strikeouts. Any time he is on the mound, we feel like we have a good chance to win,” Sequoyah coach Josh Monhollen said. “Josh hit .409 in district play this year. He was the guy you wanted to see at the plate in pressure situations and was great on the bases. We missed him incredibly at the end of the year.”
Loudon’s Jaxon Walker was named the District MVP with Nolan Bethel as the Pitcher of the Year and former coach Jason Lambert named the Coach of the Year.
Loudon’s Caden Ridings and Eli Kelso wrap up the team.
Lenoir City’s Drew Henry was named the Defensive Player of the Year while Elijah Waldrop was named the Offensive Player of the Year and Heritage’s Gaven French was named Rookie of the Year.
South-Doyle’s Noah Irwin, Hunter Tipton and Holden Lowe are joined by Heritage’s Braden Cooper and Hayden Sanders as well as Lenoir City’s Brandon Bell and Jacob Hatmaker on the All-District team.
Most Popular
Comments / 0