It’s official, there will be no more spring sports this season.
The MAIS joined the MHSAA last week to officially cancel all spring sports for the remainder of the 2020 school year.
While schools and parents have found ways to honor those seniors who didn’t get to play a season, there is no way to replace time on the field.
With those seasons cancelled, here’s a sampling of the things that we didn’t get to see this spring.
Kemp Alderman’s senior year
Ole Miss signee Kemp Alderman started at NCA since he was a seventh grader.
Alderman had a .483 batting average for his career at NCA and had hit 27 home runs with 118 RBIs in 98 career games played. To put those numbers into perspective, if Alderman played a 162-season like they do in the major leagues, he would have been on course to have 195 RBIs. The all-time MLB leader for RBIs in a season is Hack Wilson with 191.
Alderman hit 12 home runs last year in 30 games played and had four this year in 12 games, giving him 27 for his career. The single-season record is 23 set by Shannon’s Dave Clark, who went on to play in the majors. Alderman might not have surpassed Clark’s numbers but he was on pace for another big season, especially with East Central signee Hayden West backing him up in the lineup. Alderman’s numbers were likely to have gotten a lot better as they headed into a fairly week division schedule.
Those numbers would have also benefited from an extended playoff run, which the Generals would have had. With Alderman and West on the mound as their No. 1 and 2 starters, the Generals were going to be a tough out in the playoffs. They would have likely won 2A and could have easily competed for the championship in 3A, 4A and probably 5A as well.
It’s a shame for Alderman because a state championship ring is really the only thing lacking from his resume of accomplishments.
Now, the only drama in the Alderman family is awaiting the MLB Draft this summer. It’s not a question if Alderman will be drafted but how early and by whom. Then will be the question of whether or not he will sign to play pro baseball or opt to play at Ole Miss.
The growth of Jaylon Buckley and Brady McGee
Speaking of stud baseball players, it’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of Union’s Jaylon Buckley and Lake’s Brady McGee this season.
Both of them are Division I level baseball players. Both of them have big arms and lively bats.
McGee is just a sophomore and has a .433 batting average and has started since the seventh grade for the Hornets. McGee hit .505 last year and was hitting .478 this season. On the mound, McGee was 8-2 last year and off to a 2-0 start this season and had struck out 35 in just 17 1/3 innings pitched this season. Last year, McGee pitched 60 innings so a 100-plus strikeout season was not out of the question.
Then there is Buckley at Union. This was an important season for the junior, especially on the mound. Buckley struck out 90 batters last year and went 8-2 with a 1.83 ERA. He had already pitched 19 1/3 innings and had 23 strikeouts. Buckley has a live arm that consistently runs in the upper 80s. He has posted on Twitter that he’s been clocked in the lower 90s. At this point, it’s unclear where Buckley what level Buckley can play at. I think this season and a full summer would have helped clarify some of those questions.
Now both McGee and Buckley have to hope that they are able to play some travel ball this summer. But at least they have another season to play.
Union adding another state
championship in powerlifting
There aren’t many dynasties in high school athletics but the Union powerlifting team was well on the way to establishing one.
Union has won three straight Class 2A powerlifting state championships and was headed to fourth straight title.
The Yellowjackets easily won the Class 2A North state title and had five lifters win their weight class.
One of those lifters was strongman Jacob Moore in the 275-pound weight class. Moore was a record setter in the 2019 state meet where he set 2A records in the squat and deadlift and had a 1,605-pound total. I had been told that Moore had already squatted over 700 pounds this year and was just getting stronger by the day and set for another record-setting performance.
Could Lake follow up on slow-pitch championship?
The Lake softball program has been somewhat of a soap opera in recent seasons.
Two years ago, the Lady Hornets made it all the way to the Class 2A state championship series where they lost to St. Patrick. But then coach Eric Neal left to take the softball job at East Central.
Lake then hired Keith Essary and went through a miserable season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Eupora last season. Essary left after one season and Lake hired Newton County assistant Jake Loper.
That hire payed instant dividends as the Lady Hornets won its first state championship in girls athletics this fall in slow-pitch softball.
Now, Loper was headed into a fast-pitch season that was full of promise with a loaded roster that was plenty deep with pitching. Fast-pitch is certainly a different sport than slow-pitch but it was clear that the Lady Hornets were contenders in Class 2A. Lake had two players, Landry LeBlanc and Alana Edmonds, sign with East Central and were going to be really strong at the plate.
One thing that I’ve learned is that you can never take winning a state championship for granted. It takes lucky, skill and momentum to win championships and it would have been interesting to see if Lake could have put that all together again this spring.
How fast is Jada McDougle?
It’s not often we get an SEC-caliber players in Newton County but we are fortunate to have two in the county right now with Alderman at NCA and Jada McDougle at Newton County.
McDougle signed to run track at Mississippi State, which is quite an accomplishment when you consider the level that MSU competes on.
McDougle won the Class 4A 100-meter and 200-meter sprints last season and after a busy summer of running, was on pace to repeat in those events.
Newton County softball trying to repeat
There aren’t many certainties in this world but Newton County contending for a state championship in softball is one of them.
Newton County climbed that mountain again last year and won the Class 4A championship. But the Lady Cougars lost three college-level players from that team, including their top two pitchers.
Veteran coach Justin Chaney was going to have his work cut out for him this season but still had a really good softball team this season with two more college signees in Lizzy Hollingsworth and Katelyn Gipson. I don’t know how far Newton County would have gotten in the playoffs this season, but it’s certain they would have been a tough out at any round and that’s because they play solid defense and Chaney understands about manufacturing runs and playing small ball. The question was going to be pitching which had looked solid but not dominant.
How those pitchers developed was going to go a long way to how far Newton County went this season.
NCA making another run at a tennis championship
Speaking of powerhouses, Newton County Academy has built one in tennis under coach Pete Mazzella.
The team is two years removed from sweeping the state champions on both the boys and the girls side. Last year, both teams finished were runners-up in the state championship tournament with seven of the 11 positions playing for the state championship.
Mazzella returned another talented and deep team and was going to battle it out with traditional power Manchester again.
The Lady Generals, who won the championship two straight years, were poised for another run at that title. The Lady Generals were so deep that they have two players that will move on to play college tennis in Anna Moore (East Central) and Madison Busby (Southwest). It would have been a battle with Manchester, who is always good, but NCA was certainly in position to reclaim their title.
Could Marla Graham keep it going at East Central?
Speaking of tennis and NCA standouts, former Lady General Marla Graham was on a roll at East Central.
The freshman was undefeated on the season and on course to contend for a state championship for the Lady Warriors, following in the footsteps of Bethany Wellerman who won a state championship for the Lady Warriors two years ago.
Graham had rolled over her competition so far and honestly, was in a position where that was likely to continue.
Newton County and New Albany tennis showdown
Speaking of tennis, Newton County is always in the conversation for a Class 4A state championship.
But it was going to be a lot different this season.
The last six seasons, Newton County had played New Albany for the Class 4A state championship and won it two years ago. This year, Newton County got moved to the North in tennis, something that still hasn’t been properly explained to me since they play in the south in every other sport. But the two teams were on a collision course in the Class 4A North state playoffs this season so one of those two teams would not make the championship series for the first time in quite a while.
And speaking of Newton County tennis, senior Lee Hill won’t get a chance to defend his Class 4A state championship in boys doubles. Hill, who was an all-state player in soccer and helped newton County to the Class 4A championship game and excelled as a kicker in football, was looking to go out with a bang. Another individual championship would have been the feather in his cap this season.
