After an 18-6 season, Gates County High School’s Lady Barons Softball Team was ranked second in the Four Rivers Conference and played in the state conference for the first time in recent memory.

Ultimately, the Lady Barons tied for second place in the state after playing North Johnston and North Lincoln.

The team’s performance was strong enough to carry the Lady Barons through three rounds of the state playoffs, and one round was played on the same afternoon that the five seniors on the team graduated from GCHS.

The team was led by Coach Lulu Eure and Assistant Coaches John Wood and Jennifer Dean.

&uot;Most Valuable Player&uot; of the year, Whitney Perry, is proud of the team’s history-making success.

&uot;We have a good team but our weakness was hitting slow pitches,&uot; said Perry. &uot;Overall, I feel we did pretty good, though.

There were 106 teams in the district and I think we can be proud to end up in second place in the Four Rivers Conference.&uot;

Perry pitcher in all except one of the Lady Barons games. Along with being named Most Valuable Player, she was also awarded the Female Sportsmanship trophy for the second year in a row.

The awards were presented during the Spring Athletics Awards Banquet, an event sponsored by the Gates County Athletics Booster Club.

Now that she’s graduated from GCHS, Perry will continue to play softball. She will attend Roanoke-Chowan Community College this year and will enter the tryouts for their softball team.

Two other Lady Barons, Jenna Wood and Ashley Rowsey, will also attend RCCC and no doubt they will also tryout for the softball team.

&uot;It’s great having my teammates continue school with me,&uot; said Perry. &uot;We all started school together and we’ve been friends all our lives. We truly are a team in every sense.&uot;

Perry is the daughter of Steve and Tammy Perry, and she has one brother, Wayne. The family lives in Eure and attends Cool Spring Baptist Church.