By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
If you are looking for reasons why the Seymour Lady Eagles finished fourth in the TSSAA State softball tournament and runner-up in the district, here are four really good ones. Their names are Courtney Ervin, Carly Lewis, Kerigan Newport and Celeste Whaley.
They were recently named to the All-IMAC (Inter Mountain Athletic Conference) team.
That is why this highly talented team had such high preseason expectations and those expectations came to pass.
To place four players on an all-star team in unusual and to make it even more so was the fact that only one of the four was a senior.  Ervin was the senior; the two juniors were Whaley and Newport while the lone sophomore was Lewis.
Courtney Ervin, who has signed a letter-of-intent to play softball for Austin Peay, was the team’s second leading hitter with an average of .417.  She was also second in hits with 60 and she led the team in runs scored with 40.  She also tied for the team lead with 11 sacrifice bunts.  Ervin also led the team with 21 of 24 stolen bases and her on base percentage of .481.
Carly Lewis, along with Whaley was one of the two primary pitchers on the team.  The sophomore pitcher had a 17-4 record on the mound with a 1.16 ERA and 8 shutouts. She limited her opponents to a .177 batting average.
Pitching was not all Lewis had to offer however. The sophomore also was third on the team in hitting with a .401 average and first on the team in RBI’s with 40.  Lewis was tied for 1st with 4 home runs, first in double with 13 and triples with 3.
The other pitcher, Celeste Whaley, was primarily ALL-IMAC because of pitching alone. Her record was 17-5 on the mound with stingy ERA of just 1.09.  She led the team with 9 shutouts, 202 strikeouts and just 40 walks.  The junior seemed to be the ‘go to’ pitcher when the chips were all on the table.
The other junior selection was shortstop Kerigan Newport.  She was selected basically for her hitting and defensive play.  She led the team with a batting average of .440.  She tied for the most homeruns with 4 and she also led the team in hits with 74.  The junior was second in runs scored at 39, doubles 11 and third in RBI’s with 25.
The Lady Eagles also lost Chaney Graham and Macy Crane besides Ervin. All three will go on to play softball at the next level.
Losing only three seniors off this 4th ranked team is a good indication of things to come next year. Expectations will be high. A state title should be well within reach with this talent packed team.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.