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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Jemison High School’s London Colton put the perfect ending together for the story about his pitching arm by signing a scholarship on April 1 to play college baseball at Huntingdon College. Colton endured every pitcher’s worst nightmare as a pop in his pitching elbow ended up becoming an extensive period of rehab and working back to full strength.

Colton saw limited time on varsity his freshman year but he became a starter as a sophomore. Colton’s junior year started with the hire of Jemison head coach Gabe Gunter, and he was excited for the opportunity to work with a new coach. However, in the first bullpen of the season, Colton felt the pop.

“Something popped in my elbow, and we thought it would be Tommy John (surgery),” Colton said. “It was actually that my elbow was broken, so I had to get screws put in and it set me back.”

The procedure sidelined Colton for his entire junior season in 2024 but he started playing and pitching again during summer ball. Colton’s senior season at Jemison has been his best across the four years — his velocity is back, command has been sharp, and he threw a no-hitter in the 2025 Chilton County Baseball Tournament,

“It really feels like a new arm, honestly,” Colton said.

Gunter was impressed with Colton’s drive to get back on the diamond during rehab after surgery. The second-year head coach said he believes getting surgery, and as early as Colton did, helped in him being able to get back for his senior year at full strength.

“Colton’s drive is huge, and I am grateful he made the decision for surgery,” Gunter said during the signing. “This is something we want to have happen again here (at Jemison) with players signing to play at the next level.”

During his visit to Huntingdon, Colton connected well with head coach D.J. Conville. Huntingdon’s winning tradition was also attractive to Colton — a program that has won 25 games in two of the last three seasons and is currently sitting at 16-10 during the 2025 season.

Now moving on from JHS, Colton is thankful he can say he left the program in a better place than where he found it his freshman year.

“Jemison had normally not been a winning program, but I feel like the seniors now have built up the program to what it is now — going to the playoffs, winning seasons and it means a lot we built it,” Colton said.

Colton hopes to dive into the weight program heavily at Huntingdon during his freshman year to boost his strength and velocity. The goal is to be sitting at 91-93 mph by the start of his sophomore season.