9-run second lifts Clarendon Hall to 11-7 softball win over Orangeburg Prep

        Summerton – With the four softball teams from SCISA Regio 1-AAA playing 3-game series against each other, Clarendon Hall head Jeffery Bays figures if his team, wins each series the odds are pretty good it will claim the region crown. It’s mission accomplished for the Lady Saints in regards to Orangeburg Prep.

       CH, the 2-time defending AA state champion and the Class A champion the year before that, scored nine runs in the second inning and held on to beat the 2-time defending AAA state runners-up Indians 11-7 on Friday at the Clarendon Hall field.

       The Lady Saints won the series 2-1 to improve to 4-2 on the season OP dropped to 2-3 overall.

       “We’ll move on,” said, Bays, whose team is in AAA after reclassification. “We’ve got Calhoun (Adademy) next (beginning on Monday, March 31). My goal is to win every series. If you win every series you should be able to win the region.”

       The only way CH couldn’t win the region title even if it won all three series (the other region foe is Thomas Sumter Academy) is if it won all three series 2-1 and one of the other teams swept its other two series. That team would finish 7-2 while Clarendon Hall would finish 6-3.

       The Lady Saints picked up 17 hits on Friday. That made Bays happy after the first two games. CH was shut out for the first five innings on Monday in Summerton before scoring eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to win the first game 8-5. Orangeburg Prep won Game 2 in Orangeburg on Tuesday by a 3-2 count.

       “I was really proud of them the way they responded after the last two games,” Bays said. “We took the game here Monday, but I wasn’t really happy with our hitting. The girls responded well after the loss. On Wednesday and Thursday we had two of probably the best practices we’ve had all season. They put in a lot of hard work in the cages and off the tees.”

       Orangeburg Prep took a 1-0 lead in the top of the firt inning. Prestan Schurlknight hit a 2-out triple off of CH starting pitcher Calli Yount with two outs and scored on an infield error.

       Clarendon Hall didn’t score in the first inning against Schurlknight, who started and was making her first appearance in the circle for the Indians. However, the floodgates opened up in the second.

       Skylar Dymond started the inning with a single before Yount smacked a 2-run home run. The Lady Saints then peppered the middle with singles rom AC Martens, Ashlee Berry and Sunshine Brown and one to right from Ava Cribb to produce one run. Another run scored on a dropped fly ball before a Mandy Wells single scored a run to make it 5-1.

OP head coach Shaniya Thomas decided to change pitchers at this point, bringing in McKenzie Johnson, who tossed the five shutout innings on Monday. She was greeted with a 2-run double by Maggie Harrington and a-run scoring single by Dymond to make it 8-1. She got a sacrifice fly from Yount for the first out and got out of the inning with no further damage.

       Johnson ended up working five innings, allowing just thee runs despite giving up nine of CH’s hits. She walked one batter with no strikeouts.

       “I thought Prestan pitched a good game. The balls were just finding the holes,” said Thomas, who is in her first year as head coach. “We put McKenzie in and they struggled with her. They struggled with her on Monday I believe. She pitched a great game and the defense was behind her.”

       Orangeburg Prep immediately got back into the game with four runs in the top of the third. Hannah Lambrecht led off with a triple and scored on the second of four Clarendon Hall errors. After a Schurlknight single, Jane Walker Yonce smacked a 3-run homer to make it 9-5.

       Yount allowed 10 hits but only three of the runs were earned. She finished with 10 strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter.

       “Calli wasn’t at her best, but she still had 10 strikeouts,” Bays said. “I think she’s had at least 10 strikeouts every game. She was hanging her curveball a little bit. Her rise ball looked good tonight. It was breaking really well. They’re a good hitting team. OP’s hit the ball really well this whole series.”

       The Lady Saints got a run back in the bottom of the third when Brown led off with a double and scored on a Brynli Brewer single. The Indians made it 10-6 in the fifth when Schurlknight led off with an infield single, stole second base and scored on a 2-out error.

       CH got its final run in the sixth when Harrington led off with another double and scored on a Dymond single. OP’s final run came in the seventh as Schurlknight led off with a double and scored on a Yonce single.

       Schurlknight and Yonce were responsible for seven of Orangeburg Prep’s 10 hits. Schurlknight went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, while Yonce was 3-for-4 with four runs batted in and a run.

       Lambrecht, Jayme Culler and Emma Grace Burleson all had a hit and a run. Natalie Hall scored a run and had an RBI.

       Each member of the Clarendon Hall batting order had at least one hit. Dymond led the way, going 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Brewer and Wells were both had two hits with a run and an RBI, while Harrington was 2-for-4 with the two doubles, two runs and two RBI. Berry was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, Brown was 2-for-3 with two runs, and Martens was 2-for-3 with a run.

       Yount was 1-for-3 with three RBI, while Cribb had a hit and a run.

       Thomas believes once the Indians solidify what they’re doing pitching-wise, the rest will take care of itself. They are having to replace Payton Schurlknight, who is now pitching collegiately at Lander.

Our biggest thing right now is pitching,” said Thomas, who saw Lauren Ballew pitch a complete game in Tuesday’s win. “We don’t have that one starter we can just go to like we have the past two years. We’re just working our rotation and see what works and make sure our defense plays behind her.”

OP, which plays TSA in its next region series on March 31, turned three double plays and committed just one error.

While Clarendon Hall has four longtime starters back for their senior years in Wells, Harrington, Yount and Dymond, Bays said this team is still a work in progress

       “They’re a young team still,” he said. “We’ve got five seniors (the other one being Berry), but we’ve got a lot of young girls moving up and they’re still getting used to it. The important thing is to have them ready by the end of the season.”