By Erik Harris
TRUSSVILLE — As Hewitt-Trussville head baseball coach Jeff Mauldin said, his senior shortstop Carter Pharis has “signed away the next four years of his life.”
After a record-breaking junior season with the Huskies, Pharis has decided to stay close to home and play for coach Brian Shoop at UAB. The senior put pen to paper in Hewitt-Trussville High School at the Husky Café in front of his coaches, parents and peers Wednesday night.
“I’m just incredibly blessed and humbled by the fact that I get to go play at the next level,” Pharis said. “I couldn’t thank my family, my teammates and coaches any more than I can.”
Carter Pharis with the Hewitt-Trussville baseball coaching staff
photo courtesy of Hewitt-Trussville Athletics
Pharis set multiple single-season school records in 2014, including runs scored (49), assists (81), stolen bases (33) and walks (38). The memorable campaign was good enough to land him on the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 6A All-State Honorable Mention team.
Although Mauldin will miss his shortstop’s highly efficient work in the batter’s box after this season (Pharis hit .372 as a junior), it’s the leadership provided by the soon-to-be Blazer that will be especially hard to replace.
“We lose a very, very good infielder and hitter, maybe one of the best baseball players that’s come through our community,” Mauldin said. “More than that, we lose a tremendous character guy, a tremendous student, tremendous leader.”
Shoop said he first met Pharis when he attended a summer camp with the Hewitt-Trussville baseball team.
“We immediately loved him as a player, then a sophomore shortstop at Hewitt-Trussville High School,” Shoop said. “The more we got to know Carter, we grew quickly to believe that he and UAB baseball would be a great match.”
Pharis said he knew UAB was the place for him after attending a Blazer intrasquad game.
“I could just tell that was going to be me in the future and that was where I wanted to be and I felt like that was home,” Pharis said.
