DECATUR -- Two Decatur High baseball players were recently named to the 2A 4West all-district baseball team.
Jason Porter, Jr., and Leng Lee where named to the team at the conclusion of the district tournament in Hackett April 30.
Jay Porter possesses a real passion for baseball. From an early age, his father Jason Porter, Sr., who is also the Decatur baseball coach, began instilling love for the sport.
"What can I say about Jay, I taught him everything he knows," chuckled Porter. "He has taken a leadership role on this team. He is a vocal leader, something these guys seemed to respond to."
Jay Porter is the mainstay in the pitching department for the Decatur Bulldogs. He led the 2A 4West conference with four wins this season, as well as being second in strikeouts, taking down 53 batters at the plate.
"Most teams have more than one arm that they can put into the game," Porter said. "With this team, we have Jay and a couple of other guys (Tyler Riddle and Troy Flood) that filled in throughout the season."
This is the third all-district team on which Jay Porter has been selected, something the elder Porter proudly conveys.
"As a father and a coach, it is nice to have your son play the way that he has." Porter said. "The guys really rallied around and aided him in his success this season."
Leng Lee originally played as a defender for the soccer team. But Jay Porter and his father, with the help of a few others, convinced him to go out for baseball. Eventually, he quit soccer and played as Decatur's short stop, a move that propelled the Bulldogs to one of the best regular season baseball finishes in a long time.
"He came out with a 100-percent commitment and wanted to learn more about the game," said Porter. "He would ask questions, and I could see him trying these things with great results."
By the end of the season, Lee held the top spot in three of five categories in the 2A 4West conference, including batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He led the Bulldogs with a batting average of .643 and a slugging percentage of .928, much to the delight of Coach Porter.
"The first game against Watts, Okla., he was hitting that ball and ended up hitting around a .600 batting average, which is a great accomplishment for the team," said Porter. "For a kid that hadn't played baseball in three or four years, however long it has been, to be able to pick it up and become one of the team leaders is something that we will lean on next season."
Lee possesses a natural sporting ability that is unlike many of his fellow athletes at Decatur. In any sport, be it football, basketball, track, soccer or baseball, he puts 100 percent into that sport with positive results for the Bulldogs.
With Jay Porter and Leng Lee returning next year for their senior year, the Decatur Bulldog baseball season promises to be more exciting than this one.
Regular season conference stats
Bating Averages: 1 Lee .643, 2 Porter .600
Slugging Percentage: 1 Lee .928, 2 Porter .880
Runs Batted In (RBI): 5 Porter with 5
Runs: 5 Lee with 13
On Base Percentage: 1 Lee .667, 2 Porter .643
Pitching:
Strikeouts: 2 Porter with 53
Wins: 1 Porter with 4
Sports on 05/18/2016