Sands traded to Pittsburgh

Jerry Sands’ stint as a member of the Boston Red Sox was a short one The Smithfield-Selma High grad was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier this week, part of a six-player deal that sent Pirates’ closer Joel Hanrahan to the Red Sox to assume the same role in Boston.

Sands went to the Red Sox after the completion of the season, completing the blockbuster deal from earlier in the summer that sent Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzales and Carl Crawford to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sands hit .296 with 26 home runs and 107 RBIs in Triple-A last season. He also played in nine games with the Dodgers, hitting .174. In his 70-game MLB career, he’s a .244 hitter with four HRs and 27 RBIs.

He is expected to vie for playing time at a corner outfield position with the Pirates, who went 79-83 last season.

Pirates name fall team standouts

Corinth Holders recognized its fall sports team individual standouts recently at an awards night.

Kenneth Collins (offensive) and Butler Collins (defensive) took home the MVP awards in football. Other football honors went to Brandon Woodard (offensive lineman of the year), Elion Ijames (defensive linemen of the year), William Floyd (offensive back of the year), Kelvin Dunn (defensive back of the year), John Holzer (coaches award) and Hampton Smith (most improved).

Brock Waynik, an all-region player as well, was named the boys soccer team’s offensive MVP. Jamie Schap was the team’s defensive MVP. Coaches awards went to all-state and all-regional team selection Melecio Rubio-Villagran and Dominic Eannarino.

The Pirates’ volleyball team advanced to the third round of the state playoffs. Cole Narron picked up the best all-around award for the team, while Lexi Consiglio was the best defensive player. Lindsay Alford received the coaches award.

Jordan Heiner was the girls tennis team MVP. Ashlynn Coelho-Allen was the coaches award winner and most improved honors went to Tayah Hichue.

Girls golf awards were presented to Lana Wang (most improved) and Sarah Bain (coaches award).

Eberwein picks up honors at Campbell

Former Clayton High placekicker Sam Eberwein was one of eight Campbell University players named to the Pioneer League’s all-academic team. Eberwein, a senior, was also a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation’s Scholar-Athlete Award this season. He owned a perfect 4.00 GPA during his undergraduate work, and holds a 3.67 in his graduate program.

Eberwein was also an all-conference team selection, going a perfect 21-for-21 on extra point attempts this season and 3-of-9 field goal tries with a long of 41.