Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JUNE 13-19, 2018 UCW 25 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Ashton Fields Taryn O'Connor Role players critical for champion Bucs by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Seventy-First expects to compete for title again by EARL VAUGHAN JR. All great teams have stars, but they're not always the reason a championship is won. Such is the case with this year's Jack Britt state 4-A softball champion. All the pieces of a puzzle have to fit to make the picture complete, and a couple of big ones that found their way into Jack Britt's title portrait were Ashton Fields and Taryn O'Connor. When regular shortstop Jessica McRae broke her nose in the Eastern Regional series with South Cen- tral and had to undergo surgery, it knocked her out of the state finals with South Caldwell. Enter fresh- man Fields, who had to be plugged into the lineup at first base when regular first baseman Rayven Shepard moved to shortstop to replace McRae. Fields played flawless defense at first the entire weekend, and fielded a throw from third baseman Savannah Roddey to get the last out of the final game. "We knew she would be nervous when we started, but you would have never known,'' said Britt coach Sebrina Wilson of Fields. "She stepped in and did everything.'' Fields had almost no experience at first base with Britt, but she played the position extensively in travel softball. "I wanted to make sure I didn't let the team down,'' she said. Early in the first game, she gunned down a runner headed for third and said that gave her a boost of confidence. While the decision to move Fields to first was forced by injury, inserting Taryn O'Connor into the batting order the day of the final game of the title series was the result of Wilson's intuition. Wilson had a feeling O'Connor was due at the plate and wanted to put her in the lineup. "Joe (as- sistant coach Myrtle) said she had a really great day in the cage,'' Wilson said. "She got aggressive and fouled off some pitches.'' She wound up going 2-for-4 in the title game with a double and two RBIs. O'Connor couldn't explain what happened with her hitting. "God must have fallen in place for me,'' she said. "ey just told me to hit how I was doing in batting practice.'' Wilson said there were other players who stepped up at key times for Jack Britt during the champion- ship run. She mentioned Abigail Johnson, who got a big sacrifice fly in the playoff win over Fuquay- Varina and performed well as a courtesy runner in the title series with South Caldwell. Kiara Ramos sparked a key rally for the Bucca- neers in their playoff win over Wilmington Hoggard. "e journey this year has been an adventure,'' Wil- son said. "Everybody we asked to do a job; they did it.'' A lot of folks were wor- ried how Seventy-First was going to fare when it stepped into the rugged Sandhills Athletic Con- ference last season and had to take on traditional powers like Richmond Senior and Scotland. Falcon coach Duran McLaurin wasn't among the doubters. "We were picked to finish fourth or fifth in that conference, and we finished second,'' McLaurin said. Actually, the Falcons tied for second with Richmond Senior, which beat them 25-19, end- ing the season 9-4 overall and 5-2 in the league. McLaurin said there was no disgrace finishing behind a Scotland team that won the Eastern 4-A championship. At this year's spring workout ses- sions, McLaurin worked toward doing as well or better than last year. "We want to build depth, take a look at some of the sopho- mores that are going to be coming up from the junior varsity team and see if they can plug in some spots,'' he said. e big concern on offense is replacing 1,000-yard rushers Fabian Jones and Juan Maddox. e good news is quarterback Kyler Davis is back. "He's special,'' McLaurin said. "He's going to be a good one.'' Davis is the second-leading returning passer in the county with 1,778 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. He was only intercepted three times. Offensive line returns some key players like Benja- min Willis and Tristan Hill. McLaurin is counting on linebacker Javen Wash- ington to be the defensive leader. "We've got a lot of athleticism on both sides of the ball,'' Washington said. "We've got a lot of young guys that can play.'' Washington said the linebacker corps is senior- heavy, with himself, Jaliyah McNeil and Devante Wedlock returning. He said that trio will be key to Seventy-First's success this season. McLaurin expects the Falcons will contend for the conference title again this year. "Football is football,'' he said. "You've got to be able to run the football and be able to stop the run. ose are things I feel we do. "As long as we stay stout against the run and not give up big plays in the secondary, do what we've been doing the last four or five years, which has been effective, I think we'll be right there.'' Duran McLaurin Javen Washington Athlete of the Month for the School Year 2017-2018: August - Xeaiver Bullock (E.E. Smith) September - Justice Gallaway-Velazquez (Cape Fear) October - Christian Jayne (Terry Sanford) November - Justice Gallaway-Velazquez (Cape Fear) January - Alexandria Scruggs (E.E. Smith) February - Daniel Peede (Pine Forest) Michael Vernagallo (Cape Fear) Dallas Wilson (Cape Fear) March - Justin Ebert (Terry Sanford) April - Andrew Jayne (Terry Sanford) May - Carlie Myrtle - Jack Britt (Softball) 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 50 MONDAY & BRINGING YOU THE BEST IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS 6-8pm