By Brad Greer

South Panola High School concluded its 2010 athletic season  with their annual baseball awards banquet held Tuesday night in the school cafeteria. Headlining the event was guest speaker Ole Miss head baseball coach Mike Bianco.

South Panola Diamond Club President David Karr kicked off the evening’s festivities by recognizing the Junior High and High School Diamond Girls for their contribution and hard work throughout the season.

The first awards of the night were presented by head junior high baseball coach Charles Willoughby. Seventh grade offensive Most Valuable Player award went to Chase Coker while Hays Hudson took home the defensive MVP award. Landon Fullilove won offensive MVP for the eighth grade squad while defensive MVP honors went to Hunter Ivy.

 DeShawn Lindsey was awarded  the team’s highest batting average after hitting .600 for the season. Other winners included:

D.C. Sheley – Spirit Award; Bailey Lawerence – Hustle Award; Adam Cook – Sportsmanship Award; Jesse Pearson – Scholar Athlete Award (3.86 GPA); Morgan Tubbs – Tiger Award and Team Captain.

Varsity head baseball coach Patrick Robey then presented awards and plaques to the high school squad who finished the season with a 11-15 record.

Despite missing the playoffs by one game, seven Tigers were named to the Region 2-6A All-District team. Ryan Maxwell collected three awards on the night, one of which was the Leadership Award. The senior catcher was also named to the Chickasaw Athletic All-Conference team as well as being selected to second-team all district where he hit .290 with 11 RBI’s and three doubles to go along with one home run.

Senior first baseman/ pitcher Matt Hendrix and junior third baseman/pitcher Lee Self garnered first-team All district honors while senior designated hitter Wesley Gregg, sophomore utility player Chris Townsend,  senior outfielder Zach Horne and junior outfielder/ pitcher Mitchel Babb were named to the second team squad.

Hendrix led the team with a .333 batting average and three home runs to go along with 27 hits and 15 RBI’s while compiling a 2-5 record with a 4.30 Earned Run Average. Self batted .318 on the season with 27 hits, seven doubles and one home run while posting a 1-1 record on the mound with a 2.06 ERA.

Gregg batted .312 with 24 hits which included eight doubles and one home run while driving in 17 runs.

Townsend posted a .292 batting average with 14 hits including one triple and scored 12 runs. Horne hit .323 on the season with six doubles and 16 runs while Babb batted a .294 with 25 hits, 15 runs scored to go along with two doubles and a team-high 10 stolen bases.

On the mound, the left-hander led the squad with a 5-3 record and a 5.31 ERA while striking out 44 batters and walking 37 in 29 innings of work.

Seniors Matt Brown, Joey Gabbard, Hendrix, Gregg, Horne and Maxwell were presented gifts, as well as Robey and his assistant coaches, Brad Lightsey and Andrew Pylate.