Berkeley baseball, softball win district titles
Moncks Corner – With the first week of the SCHSL baseball and softball playoffs in the books, the Berkeley High squads look to continue their strong postseason starts.
The baseball and softball teams at Berkeley enter the first full week of May in solid position to claim a district title and move into the Lower State phase of the 2024 playoffs.
The baseball team, coached by Landy Cox, posted two wins early, beating Fort Dorchester and St. James in impressive fashion. The 12-0 road win at St. James was especially solid as the Sharks had been a top 10 AAAAA team for most of the season.
The Stags have been without ace starting pitcher Cole Greer since spring break. Greer injured his ankle and had surgery which will keep him on the sidelines for the postseason.
Cox has seen other pitchers step up, namely senior Connor Barham and junior Gavin Gaskins. The duo has been very good in the latter stages of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Offensively, senior catcher Mason Salisbury and senior shortstop Gavin Edens have heated up at the plate down the stretch. Salisbury had two doubles and four RBI in the win over St. James and had two hits and two RBI in the win over Fort Dorchester.
Edens tallied five hits in the first two playoff games, scoring five runs. Sophomore second baseman Hudson Clark also has scored five runs in two playoff games from the leadoff spot in the order.
Berkeley was set to host Fort Dorchester in the district finals on May 6, needing to lose twice to not advance to the final four Lower State series.
Coach Kelly Dillon’s softball team won the region 6-AAAAA title and opened with playoff wins over White Knoll and Ashley Ridge to improve to 16-8 on the season.
Junior Reese Watson has been a mainstay inside the pitching circle this season. In the 5-0 win over White Knoll, Watson struck out 16 hitters and allowed just one hit. Berkeley defeated Ashley Ridge, 15-1, in their second district playoff game.
“I’m just so proud of her for her work ethic, her mentality, her graciousness,” Dillon told Rob Gantt of the Berkeley Independent. “She’s just a hard-working kid and you don’t see a lot of those all the time. She earns every out she gets.”
Offensively, some key producers during the playoffs include catcher Riley Guerry, second baseman Courtlyn Cox and shortstop Rileigh Ballentime. Designated hitter Brooklyn Moon belted two doubles and drove in three runs in the win over Ashley Ridge. Outfielder Savannah Scott has been a strong leader offensively and defensively as well.
“Every playoff win is important,” Dillon said. “It’s all one game at a time now. It doesn’t matter who you’ve seen before and what you did in the regular season.”
Stags compete in region 6-AAAAA track meet
Berkeley’s track and field program recently competed in the region 6-AAAAA meet with several athletes performing quite well.
On the girls team, Brianna Bennett was a top performer with a second-place finish in the 400 meter run. Christiana Robbins finished fifth in the 400. Jada Ellison finished fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 100 while Alana Everette was sixth in the 100 and seventh in the 200.
Kaysey Cooper ran well in the hurdles, taking third-place in the 100 and third in the 400 hurdles events, Amera Forest was fourth in the triple jump. Imani Levey finished fifth in the discus and Zaryah Scott placed fourth in the shot put.
Jeffery Jefferson was the runner-up in the long jump and was fourth in the triple jump for the boys team. Kamren Jenkins was third in the high jump and Isaiah Nelson was fifth in the long jump.
Gavin Doty and Thaddeus Richardson were second and third, respectively, in the pole vault.
