Jay Shadday ('16) and former baseball coach and associate athletic director Kent Harrison ('01, LD '15) were recently recognized with special awards from the Georgia Dugout Club. Shadday, Darlington pitcher and Georgia Institute of Technology commit, took home the Class AA Baseball Player of the Year honor, alongside Harrison’s Class AA Baseball Co-Coach of the Year award at the Coach's Clinic kickoff reception held at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest.
"The unique thing about Jay is that he isn’t a one-dimensional player—he is an unbelievable competitor at the mound, at the plate, and in the field,” said Matt Peal, assistant baseball coach. “Kent's best quality is that he is an excellent motivator. He gets kids to believe in themselves and to play to their ability level, and sometimes above it. The honors were certainly well-earned by both.”
It was in Harrison’s final season and Shadday’s junior year that the varsity baseball team finished as runner-up to Wesleyan School in the state championship in May—a season eclipsed only by Darlington's Class AA state title win in 1984.
As a result of the hard work and effort he put forth last year, Shadday, along with catcher Drake Frix ('16), was also named to the Dugout Club’s preseason All-State team.
Click here to view more photos from the awards ceremony.
