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Shaw signs for Eagles baseball

The pipeline from Person High School’s baseball team to Rockingham Community College delivered its most recent player signing Monday night when PHS senior outfielder Camden Shaw inked his letter of intent to join the Eagles next season.
Shaw will reunite with former PHS teammate Levi Strader, currently in his freshman season with RCC, under Eagles’ head coach Daniel Huff, also a PHS alum.
“Since seventh grade, I’ve put my whole life into this sport and played and practiced day in and day out,” Shaw said. “I got a membership at the HitLab [training facility] and I go there as much as I can to hit off the tee or bring a friend and hit soft toss. I put a lot of practice into it and it means a lot to be able to play at the next level. Not a lot of people get to play varsity, let alone go on to play college ball, so it means a lot to me and I’m super stoked for it and ready.”
Shaw started in centerfield and batted leadoff in the Rockets’ season-opening, 3-0, no-hitter at Northern Durham Feb. 29. Shaw drove in the go-ahead run in with a clutch double in the top of the eighth.
Shaw’s role increased in the second half of his junior season, starting more games in the field and consistently displaying his speed, athleticism and high energy and effort levels.
He batted .269 with 14 hits, seven runs, five RBIs and two stolen bases last season.
PHS head coach Kyle Boyette is high on Shaw as the new season picks up.
“Camden, as a person which is what we worry most about, is an awesome kid who does what you ask,” Boyette said. “He works hard, puts his head down and doesn’t cause any trouble. He wants to get better at whatever it is he’s doing. On the field, he’s made huge strides since he got here as a freshman. I remember talking to him after a middle school game and he said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play in high school. Luckily he did. He’s been a big piece for us the last half of last year and he’s going to be a big piece this year.”
After starting baseball as soon as he could walk and run, Shaw quit the sport and focused on basketball for a few years before middle school.
“Then I came back [to baseball] because one of my friends begged me to come back and play,” Shaw said. “I quit basketball, came back to this sport and just fell in love with it ever since.”
Shaw credited his Southern Middle School baseball coaches Michael Stacey, Richie Blackwell, Chris Phillips and Jason England.
“They made big impacts in my life and pushed me really hard to actually play baseball, saying, ‘Hey, take this seriously. You have a good chance of going somewhere one day,’” Shaw said.

~By SILAS ALBRIGHT, salbright@roxboro-courier.com, March 7, 2024