Four Hornets win track and field state championships; Westfield baseball finishes regular season strong

The GIAA hosted its state track meet last week from April 30 to May 2 at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove, Georgia.

Four Westfield football players placed at the top of their respective races, earning the state championship crown.

For the 4×100 meter relay, Stone St. Clair, Sheldon Benton, Brock Johnson and Win Hoots won as a team.

Hoots came away with a couple extra pieces of hardware; he was the 100 meter and 200 meter state champion, too, with times of 10.84 and 22.24 respectively.

Congrats to these Hornets!

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It’s been an up and down season for Westfield baseball, but they finished their regular season on a good note as they look ahead to the GIAA postseason.

Last week they played the final two games of a four-game road trip, both victories.

The first was a 21-0 demolition of Central Fellowship Christian Academy, the second time the Hornets have scored 21 runs this season.

As a team they batted 17-for-25 (.680), drove in 18 runs and drew seven walks. Brock Johnson and Rhoades Bledsoe each hit a home run and four players finished with multiple hits.

Cooper Kennedy threw the first two innings and finished with no hits, no runs, one walk and five strikeouts.

Freshman Trey Sumner closed the third and final inning with three strikeouts. Westfield only saw 10 batters in the game.

The Hornets finished the regular season with a 3-2 victory against Stratford, the third-ranked team in the GIAA 4A classification.

Carter Black’s double to center field put two runs on the board for the visitors, and Stratford responded with one of their own in the bottom of the second to tie the game at two.

In the ensuing side Westfield singled, advanced Win Hoots to second on a sacrifice bunt and Johnson brought home what ended up being the go-ahead run in the top of the third.

From then on both teams struggled to put players on base, and though Stratford threatened in the sixth after drawing two walks and a hit-by-pitch, Kennedy finished the side with a strikeout to preserve the lead.

The GIAA seeds their 12-team playoff bracket with the MaxPreps rankings, which as of the last update (April 30) has Westfield ranked seventh.

If this ranking holds the Hornets will host Lakeview Academy in the first round starting Friday, May 8 in a doubleheader. If a third game in the series is needed, it will be played on Saturday, May 9.

If Westfield wins in the first round they are scheduled to go up against Deerfield-Windsor (ranked second), who will have a first-round bye.