Richmond Hill alum finishes out summer with Bananas to head to UGA

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Savannah Bananas have just passed the halfway mark of the season in the Coastal Plain League, but summer in Banana Land is coming to a close for one player.

Richmond Hill stand-out Leighton Finley, a right-hand pitcher and utility guy, is the youngest on the team having just graduated high school in May.

Saturday night he played his final game of the season in Savannah. On July 7, he leaves to join the Georgia Bulldogs for summer workouts.

Finley’s older brother, Jackson, played for the Bananas in 2020. This year, his younger brother joined the bunch and said he learned a lot of valuable things from the older players before heading off to college.

}“Really just to keep your composure, and to have fun out there, you know, and work hard,” Finley said. “I mean, a bunch of these guys, I mean, they work their butts off every day and seeing that kind of gets me ready for the next level , and you know, always going against better competition helps too.”

Saturday night Finley took the mound in the 5th inning against the Lexington County Blowfish. The Bananas notched a 8-0 win to improve to 22-8.

Throughout the summer, Finley pitched 11.1 innings through 10 games allowing 4 hits. He had 15 strike-outs. For the Wildcats, he broke the single-season strikeout record with 104.

Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.