FREEDOM PATRIOTS

The Patriots went to Davie County Friday night and really played better than the 6-2 score would lead you to believe. The Pats outhit the 5th ranked War Eagles 9-5.
Freedom starter Austin Attaway struck out 5 and gave up just 5 hits. Unfortunately for the Patriots, 3 of those hits were homers as Merrifield and Howard hit a 2 run shots and Oswell hit a solo.
Freshman Dykota Spiess took Ryan Carter yard for his first career homer and the Patriots added doubles from another frosh, Chris Fine and sr. Zach Daw. Aaron and Austin Attaway were both 2-4.
Not a bad showing for a team starting 5 Freshman, 2 Seniors, a junior and a soph.

Also, Spiess came on in relief in the 5 and pitched 2 perfect frames.

This team is markedly better than any team Jeff Williams has had in his 4 years at the helm. Problem is thier youth and the difficult schedule and conference they play in.

Box

123 456 7 R H E
FHS 100 001 0 2 9 1
DC 120 120 X 6 5 1

WP- R Cater; 6IP,10Ks, 1BB, 7H, 1ER
S- M. Oswell
LP- Austin Attaway; 4IP, 5Ks, 2BB, 5H, 5ER

Leading hitters-
DC- W. Merrifield-2-2,HR, Z Howard- HR, Oswell-HR
FHS- Aaron Attaway 2-4, Austin Attaway 2-4, Z. Daw-2B, RBI

Records
DC-2-0, Freedom-0-2

 

YOUTH HAS BEEN SERVED

Great post captain, you are right Freedom does seem better, im just wondering where all the upperclassmen went. Did they quit or did Freedom just not return much. I hope they are not throwing the sheep to the wolves. THE NW4A is pretty tough at the top but they could finish ahead of eb and mcdowell.

 

For a town that bills itself as a "youth baseball center", there has been no real program support from the high school for some time. The 2 returning Seniors played on a Little League All Star Team that challenged for state honors and a Middle school team that dominated. Daw and Attaway are the only players remaining from that group. The rest either quit or got involved in other things. To their credit, both surviving seniors are being recruited and will move on to play college ball next season.
Tori Conley was a 'young" senior last season and could have been in the 07 class but never "red-shirted" so he graduated and at Wilkes Community College.
Good news is that the group of Little League All Stars that are now freshman have been working hard, playing travel ball and have stayed in tact. The ones not on the varisty this year are down on jv's along with some solid sophomores and a couple of promising freshmen that were not a part of the famous LLrs.
So the future looks pretty good. Question is, with the new school being built where will they go to school?
As for this year, I really believe the Patriots can compete favorably with AC, EB, McDowell and Watauga. And they will not lay down for SC and Reynolds but are obviously overmatched with those two teams. Depends on how quickly the freshman can adjust to the pitching. Ryan Carter was a good test as the team got 9 hits. They played the War Eagles tough. Like to have seen what would have happened if they could have kept the ball in the park.
This team is so much better than last years. Last years squad made 92 errors with one infielder committing 42 of them( he's moved on). No way this team defends like that. Huge upgrade at catcher, the younger Attaway is solid at short and the outfield, even with the loss of Conley is a better overall unit.
FHS is the 7th largest HS in the state yet the baseball team had less than 20 try out. Coach kept 13 and 2 have quit. So the Patriots are rolloing into the NW4A with 11 ball players.
Say a prayer for them.