Terrell Academy blasts Westwood before halt to spring sports

CAMILLA — Last spring, the Terrell Academy Eagles baseball team made it to the state championship series and lost. This season Coach Ashley Walker and his senior-laden team are hoping to bring the state championship to Dawson, if they get to play again. The Eagles went into the sports black-out ordered by the Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) on a 23-1 three-inning rout of region rival Westwood Friday afternoon in Camilla, with hopes the season is not over.

“With tears in our eyes we told our guys that although it’s disappointing, we are going to put our trust in the powers that be to make the right decisions based on safety and well-being,” Walker said Friday evening. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we told the guys to make good decisions, be healthy, be active and be ready to contribute when this is over.”

“We also told them to pray for our school, pray for our association, our communities and our country during this difficult time. This is adversity and though we may not realize it, God always has a plan, so we will put our trust in Him to see us through,” Walker said.

The Eagles have eight seniors on the team this season and this is their final chance to play high school baseball. Garrett Sloan has already signed a baseball scholarship with Mercer University, so his playing days will continue in college, but the seven other seniors could have played their last game. At the beginning of the third inning, with the score at 23-1, all of Terrell’s seniors ran onto the field to get a moment for Eagle fans to show appreciation, in case this was the final game.

“I hope not,” Walker said. “We love our seniors and it is one of the biggest senior groups we have had with Terrell baseball so we put all the seniors out there to have that moment, just in case,” the coach said. “But that is worst case scenario. Hopefully we will play again in few weeks.”

The game was over quicker than expected. With the sharp hitting and strong pitching, the Eagles made quick work of their much younger foes. The Eagles got 13 batters to the plate in the first inning and scored eight times. With one out Sloan singled to begin the onslaught and later in the inning he tripled to score two runs. That first inning also included double from Will Denham and singles from Cameron Jones, Cole Lewis and Ethan Gay. The Eagles also got four walks in the inning.

The Eagles added three more runs in the second and then scored 12 in the third. Thirteen of the first 14 batters in the third inning got at least a single, but the big blow was a Sloan grand slam which put the score at 18-1.

Sloan was nearly perfect on the mound as well. He struck out four of the seven batters he faced in two innings pitched, but he hit one batter, Westwood catcher Beau Shirah. Shirah stole second and then stole third. When the throw to third went awry, Shirah raced home to give the Wildcats their only run.

Jake Donalson pitched a near perfect third inning to close the game for the Eagles on the mound.

Sloan was 3-4 with six RBI, Cameron Jones went 3-5 with four RBI, Landon Torbert, Cole Lewis and Will Denham each went 2-2 with two RBI.

While many colleges have canceled their spring seasons, the GISA has suspended all athletic activities until April 10 and hopes to resume after that date.

Staff Photo: Joe Whitfield
Staff Photo: Joe Whitfield