West pitcher Arabelle Shulenburger

East Rowan’s Camryn Perkins.

 

By Mike London

Salisbury Post

SALISBURY — East Rowan senior Camryn Perkins and West Rowan senior Arabelle Shulenburger share the Post’s Rowan County Pitcher of the Year honor.

Shulenburger was the POTY choice of the coaches in the South Piedmont Conference,  who base votes strictly on the regular season conference games, because the consistent right-hander basically was West’s whole pitching staff.

West played 26 games in all. Shulenburger pitched in 25. If you faced the Falcons, you faced Shulenburger. Every coach in the SPC knew who she was. They saw her twice a year for four years.

West went 21-5 this season, was SPC Tournament champ and finished 23rd in the final MaxPreps state rankings that include all classifications. West had impressive home-run power, but it would have been hard for the Falcons to be very good without Shulenburger, a Lenoir-Rhyne recruit who not only handled the pitching but batted .447, with a .528 on-base percentage and 10 doubles. Shulenburger would have been all-county and all-conference even if she’d never set foot in the circle.

As far as walks and strikeouts, Shulenburger and Perkins were really close. Shulenburger struck out 135 and walked 18 in 148 innings. That’s a super ratio — 7.5 strikeouts for every walk. Perkins struck out 131 and walked 21 while pitching in 21 of East’s 27 games.

As far as the other pitching stats, Perkins, who didn’t have to carry all of the load for the Mustangs because they also had Madi Tigert, had a significant advantage.

Perkins posted a 1.16 ERA and opposing batters hit .167 against her. She allowed 16 earned runs.

Shulenburger’s ERA was 2.41 and opposing batters hit .214 against her. She allowed 51 earned runs.

Both pitchers faced tough opponents beyond the SPC in non-conference games as well as in the 3A state playoffs.

East went 23-4, won the SPC regular season and reached the third round of the playoffs. The Mustangs were 16th in the final MaxPreps state rankings for all classifications. Perkins, a Roanoke recruit who had her finest high school season, was a big part of that.

In addition to East and West being really strong, South Rowan made strides, was hard to beat the second time through the league, finished third in the league, won 10 SPC games and won 15 overall, including a road playoff game. SPC coaches acknowledged that improvement by voting Stewart SPC Coach of the Year.

Salisbury’s Leah Herndon had a different job than East coach Todd McNeely, West coach Jimmy Greene, Carson coach Hunter Gibbons or Stewart. They are outstanding coaches who guided mostly experienced, talented players. Herndon coached a lot of players new to the game, players who may never have owned a bat or a glove before they came out for the team.

Salisbury was 10-11, and Herndon was the first Salisbury softball coach in this century to be named Central Carolina Conference Coach of the Year. She gets the Post’s nod for Rowan Coach of the Year, as well.

The county graduated a strong senior class, but still has exciting young players. East Rowan shortstop Lily Kluttz, the Rowan County Player of the Year, is a rising senior.

West Rowan shortstop Reese Poole hit 10 home runs and batted .477, while center fielder Raney Phelps scored 40 runs. Both are rising juniors.

South Rowan’s rising sophomore battery of Remi Hagerty and Cressley Patterson was instrumental in the Raiders’ rise.

All-County team:

East (8) — Lily Kluttz, Camryn Perkins, Kori Miller, Eleni Miller, Jordan Dry, Madi Tigert, Gracie Barber, Chloe Shank

West (6) — Arabelle Shulenburger, Reese Poole, Raney Phelps, Riley Haggas, EA Nance, Taylor Keller

South (4) — Cressley Patterson, Leisha Carter, Remi Hagerty, Kynlee Dextraze

Carson (2) — Emma Woodlief, Peyton Hollar

Salisbury (2) — Ashley Yang, Allie Peeler

Coach of the Year — Leah Herndon, Salisbury

Player of the Year – Kluttz, East

Pitchers of the Year — Shulenburger, West and Perkins, East