KFDM COOP Posted May 15, 2008 Report Posted May 15, 2008 Hales, Stalbaum top 21-4A honorees By Michael Pineda Baytown Sun Published May 16, 2008 - Updated 59 minutes ago The season has come to a close for many schools and it is time for the individual accolades to begin. One of those that will be highly decorated in the postseason is Barbers Hill senior Ross Hales, who has been named the District 21-4A Most Valuable Player. Hales, who has signed with Texas A&M, posted a 5-1 record on the mound and led the district in hitting with a .513 average to lead the Eagles to their first district championship since 2005. The Barbers Hill season came to an end last week when it fell to Bay City in the area playoffs. “It’s a team sport but in every team sport there are individual honors,†Barbers Hill coach Gil Stalbaum said. “We did have some ups and downs this year. When we suffered some injuries we had to move some people around. When we got our injured players back I was concerned about how long it would take for us to come together. And then we had some grade problems in the playoffs. “Overall we had a bunch of team players that did what they had to do.†One of those players that had to bounce back from injury this season was junior Jake Ponder, who was named 21-4A Co-Offensive Most Valuable Player along with Jose Ayala of Galena Park. Ponder posted a .469 batting average and hit five home runs in district play. The Defensive Most Valuable Player was Jeff Schmidt of Huffman and the Newcomer of the Year was junior Cody Clifton of Barbers Hill, who hit .450. Stalbaum was named Coach of the Year. The Eagles placed Hunter Silva and Kendall Thamm on the first-team pitching staff. Silva posted a 3-0 record in district and Thamm went 2-0. Crosby’s Ronnie Newell was named first-team catcher as a sophomore with a .400 average and junior Frank Rangell was named first-team utility with a .419 average to help lead Crosby to a 6-8 record in district play. “In light of what was a disappointing season, it was good to have some kids gain some superlatives,†Crosby coach Marcus Thompson said. “The glimmer of light in a gloomy season is everyone that received an honor is an underclassman.†Heading the second team was Barbers Hill pitcher Johnathan Kelley, who posted a 2-0 record in district. Senior Clay Garner was named to the second team as a shortstop after hitting .344 and Crosby’s junior Sam Malchar was named to the second team as a shortstop with a .439 batting average. Barbers Hill’s Tony Carmona hit .366 on the season and was named to the second team as a utility player. Thompson’s biggest disappointment was the omission of Cade Ramirez from the first and second team. Ramirez hit .425 this season and was named honorable mention along with Crosby teammate Alan Sailors. Heath Padgett and Alex Rocha were named honorable mention for Barbers Hill. The Eagles placed five on the All-District Academic team. Those named were Garner, Thamm, Silva, Taylor Johnson and Josh Presnall. Malchar, Caleb Mangum and Ben Skinner were named All-Academic for Crosby.
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