The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Orangefield High School had three of its student athletes sign scholarships on Wednesday, May 8, to play their sports at the college level. Abigail Curphey, Brycen Tait, and Colton Myers signed at the Orangefield Gymnasium.

Tait and Myers are both pitchers on the Orangefield Bobcat baseball team. Curphey is a softball pitcher for the Lady Bobcats.

Baseball coach Tim Erickson pointed out Brycen and Colton are hard workers. "One thing I will say about these two guys is they know how to work. Whether it's in season, off season, weight room, bull pen these guys know what it takes to get themselves ready to be at their best. The main thing is they're self-motivated. A lot of that stuff they do on their own. They don't need a whole lot of coaching to get them ready to go. I think when you combine that and then the fact they do a great job in the class room and they're great teammates, I know they're going to go with all the tools they need to not only play at the next level but have success at the next level," Erickson emphasized.

Colton Myers and Brycen Tait at the table are surrounded by their Bobcat teammates during the scholarship signing ceremony

Curphey has played for the Lady Bobcat softball team under Coach Rebekah Ragsdale all four of her years at Orangefield High School. Ragsdale described, "Abigail is someone who embodies everything we want to be a part of the Lady Bobcats softball program. You don't have to ask her to work hard. I trust her to do things on her own. She's somebody who has been very special to me and to my program. Abigail has given us and me personally some of my favorite moments in my career over the past four years being a part of two district championships, making it to the fourth round of the playoffs last year, and hopefully make it to the fourth round in the next few days. She just had her five hundredth strikeout of her career, and you don't accomplish those things without working hard, buying into the process, and buying into a program. I am just so thankful for her, I'm so excited for her, and she's going to represent Orangefield in some of the best ways at Kilgore."

Curphey is heading to Kilgore College in north Texas. Tait will be going to Kansas City, Missouri to attend Avila University. Myers will study and play baseball at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri.