Williams the lone bright spot in Rams' dismal season

Williams shines for Bluefield

Date published: 5/10/2006

By KURT NICOLL

E IGHTH-PLACE CLUBS rarely are considered when player of the year honors are handed out, no matter how deserving an athlete might be.

A case in point is senior outfielder Stephen "Blake" Williams (Essex) of Bluefield College. The Rams finished with a 6-12 mark against Appalachian Athletic Conference opponents (12-27 overall), but their lack of overall success hardly diminishes what the four-year starter achieved this year.

In capturing AAC first-team honors, Williams led the team in triples (12) and slugging percentage (.772), was second in batting average (.452) and 10th in RBIs (33).

"Blake has good gap power and runs the bases well," Rams head coach Mike White commented. "I think being a year older and a little more mature, he knew how pitchers worked him and he was able to make adjustments."

Twice collecting triples in the same game (against Bluefield State and Roanoke), Williams fell two triples shy of tying the NAIA single-season record set 28 seasons ago by William Carey's Ricky McMullen.

Williams occasionally worked on the mound as a spot starter, but was much too valuable to the Rams as a center fielder. He recorded 74 putouts and seven assists to finish with a .976 fielding percentage.

Williams, who attended Liberty University for a semester prior to transferring to Bluefield, is slated to graduate in December.

The Christopher Newport track teams enjoyed victory margins of 85 and 86 points over runner-up Salisbury University to win both the men's and women's titles at the Mason-Dixon Conference championships.

Captain standouts included Tiffany Jones (North Stafford) with a first in the women's long jump (17-2), second in 400-meter relay (48.43) and sixth in 100 hurdles (15.24); Rachael Clark (Liberty) with a first in the shot put (45-4), and Colandra Rollins (Culpeper) with a second in the shot put (37-6).

On the men's side, Frostburg's James Pruitt (Stafford) captured fourth in the shot put (42-0) and fifth in the discus (121-4), and Salisbury's Marcus Tines (Liberty) was fourth in the 100-meter dash (11.19) and sixth in the 200 (22.60).

The Bridgewater baseball team achieved its first-ever 30-win season Saturday and in the process boosted its chances for a sixth appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs, sweeping York College, 9-4 and 13-6.

Follow us on

Date published: 5/10/2006