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North Lenoir baseball star Bryce Grady is heading to campbell
LA GRANGE — Under new leadership, the Campbell University baseball team is looking for talent to rebuild its program.
On Tuesday, the Camels found themselves an excellent player to build around.
North Lenoir senior shortstop Bryce Grady signed his national letter of intent to play for new coach Greg Goff.
“They have a good program and they are looking to rebuild,” Grady said. “I want to help them get a good start there. I want to grow as a player, both mentally and physically.”
Goff’s push to bring Grady to Buies Creek.
“The new coaching staff really influenced my decision,” Grady said. “They’re a good group of guys and they’re looking to win. Coming from North Lenoir, I’m used to winning and I expect to win.”
Grady, one of the hardest working players for NL coach Jim Montague the past couple of years, helped lead the Hawks to the 2006 state championship and the 2007 runner-up finish.
“Bryce has done an excellent job and showed a lot of colleges that he has the fundamen-tals that they’re looking for,” Montague said.
Grady said he wants to become a pharmacist and that Campbell affords him that opportu-nity.
“I’m not just looking at baseball, I’m looking at my educational opportunities I’ll have there,” Grady said.
He also considered offers from UNC Wilmington and the U.S. Naval Academy, but said he’s glad to have the decision out of the way three months before practice for the 2008 sea-son begins.
“It’s a huge relief, because I spent two or three weeks just stressing out,” Grady said. “I think I made the best decision with the material I had in front of me.”
Grady said he was proud of the 2006 title and last year’s finish.
“I can’t describe how winning a state championship made me feel,” Grady said. “Last year was very special, too, although we finished a game short. A bunch of players want to have just one of those kinds of seasons, but to have two or three of them is amazing.”
Despite the loss of one of the best senior classes in county history, Grady doesn’t think there will be a dropoff this year. Nine seniors will suit up for the Hawks in February.
“We lost a lot of seniors last year, but we have a lot of talented seniors coming back this year,” Grady said. “Like last year’s team, all of us seniors have played together since we were little. We’ve gelled as a team and we’ll be OK.”
