Blacksburg High junior Sam Szefc was presented the Ray Bellamy Award by the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame prior to the Salem RidgeYaks Carolina League game against the Augusta GreenJackets at Salem Memorial Ballpark Saturday evening.
The award is given to the high school baseball Player of the Year in the area served by the Hall of Fame, which includes the counties of Alleghany, Roanoke, Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin and Montgomery and the independent cities located within the boundaries of those counties.
Szefc had an outstanding spring season with the Bruins, both pitching and playing shortstop. At the plate Sam batted .625 with 40 hits, of which 21 went for extra bases. He hit five home runs and drove in 42 runs. He was named first team All-State in Class 4 at shortstop.
On the mound, the Virginia Tech commit had a 5-2 record with a 1.93 earned run average and 85 strikeouts in 51 innings. He was named to the All-Region 4D first team as both a pitcher and a shortstop.
In addition to Szefc finalists included Tristan Lange of North Cross, Brody Hensel and Matthew Altizer of Auburn, Zach Bocock of Salem, Alex Crowl of Franklin County, T.J. McLaughlin of Jefferson Forest, Kai Rowland of Alleghany and Wynn Womeldorf of Hidden Valley.
