Joanna Hornets back in action after nearly 70 years

NEWBERRY — The Joanna Hornets return back to action after 70 years of being in hiatus. The Hornets are apart of the Southern Shores Baseball League that gives NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA and NJCAA baseball players a chance to play in the summertime. The league supports North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

The Hornets will play a 30-game schedule from May 25 to August 1 that includes league play, out of league play and the playoffs. They opened their season on May 31st against the East Coast Iron Horses, and fell 12-1. Then, loss a tight ball game against the Tar Heel Kings by the score of 4-2.

Joanna(0-3) had their home opener against the Carolina Yankees on Tuesday, June 3rd at Newberry High School, where all of their home games will be played this season until the construction of their next stadium is complete in 2026.

The Hornets are led by Mid-Carolina High School’s head baseball coach Lindsey Stribble. Unfortunately, the Hornets couldn’t shake their winless streak to start the season and fell 4-9 to the Yankeess.

The game was tied 1-1 after one inning, but the Yankees took control of the game at the top of the second inning with two runs scored to take a 3-1 lead.

Then, the Yankees created a bigger gap ont he scoreboard at the top of the fourth and fifth innings. They scored one run at the top of the fourth inning and five runs at the top of the fifth inning to extend their lead, 9-1.

The Hornets showed some fight at the bottom of the sixth and eighth innings by scoring three runs, but didn’t clean their plates and left some runners stranded on base.

Brady Davenport, Owen Pridgen and Jaedon Goodwin all had good nights at the plate with each of the three players having a multi-hit game. Pridgen had the best night by going three-of-four at the plate. Hayden Lake also had a solid evening with two runs scored and a huge single to start the game off at the bottom of the first inning.

The Hornets will return to action on June 5th against Klutch Collegiate on the road. They will return back home on Tuesday, June 10 to face Klutch Collegiate again for their second home game this season.