ALL-AREA -- Howell selected baseball player-of-the-year

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 15, 2014 12:14 PM

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Reed Howell doesn't mind joking around with his teammates during batting practice or while the other team warms up on the baseball diamond.

Once Howell stepped onto the field, his demeanor changed and he emerged as a leader through his experience and maturity. Without his determination along with his four senior teammates -- Jordan and Corey Lynn, Brent Breedlove and Daniel Herring -- the Eagles could have easily repeated last year's seven-win campaign.

They didn't.

In fact, they went several steps further.

Rosewood claimed the Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season title and advanced to the N.C. High School Athletic Association eastern regional championship series. Eventual state champ Whiteville swept the Eagles in two games.

"We had a feeling we were going to be good, but we had to show people," said Howell, who has been selected the 2014 News-Argus All-Area baseball player-of-the-year.

"Our hitting and defense was kind of shaky at times, but me and Jordan (Gurley), we held it down pretty good when we needed to (on the mound)."

Howell showed improvement in all three phases of his game -- pitching, hitting and defense. He led the team in numerous offensive categories from his No. 2 spot in the batting order.

Most notable was his maturity.

"Last year we were young, not only age-wise, but experience-wise," RHS head coach Jason King said. "Having that core back and having him step up like he did was a big deal. Reed is not a rah-rah type of guy who is going to give any (spirited) pre-game speeches.

"He kept the team loose and that's good because you don't want a young team to play tight. They really responded to that this year."

Howell claimed all three playoff wins on the mound, including a relief performance behind Gurley in eastern semifinal-round play against state-ranked Perquimans County.

The victory pushed the Eagles' win streak to 16 games and propelled them into the eastern finals for the first time since 2010.

"As a team, obviously, we expected to be in the playoffs and go far," said Howell, who has received a national letter-of-intent to play at Appalachian State University.

"I felt like we proved to a lot of people that we wanted it and were a legit team. We showed a lot of fight."