Catawba Ridge Outlasts St. James 7th Inning Rally in 9-6 Win
Larry Gamble • May 27, 2025
Catawba Ridge freshman Keira O’Brien gets the win in game one.
Larry Gamble
HSSR, Photo Editor

Murrells Inlet – With the rain threatening on Memorial Day, the SCHSL AAAAA Div. 2 Softball State Title game commenced with the Catawba Ridge Copperheads traveling to play the St. James Sharks for Game 1 of the series. The game started out a classic pitching duel for the first two innings.
Pitching for Catawba was freshman Keira O’Brien for all seven innings allowing 8 hits, 3 walks, and got 10 strike outs. For St. James, junior Reagan Tibbitts pitched all seven innings allowing 12 hits, 4 walks and got 10 strike outs.
In the third, senior Aloni Hogan singled to start the inning. Next up, junior Jaidyn Harris triples on a flyball to center field that scores Hogans. With a runner at third, seventh grader, Brynlee Yates gets a walk on a wild pitch that scores Harris. Yates works her way to third with the next batter, then she tags up on a sacrifice fly and scores the third run of the inning. The third inning ends with the Sharks down 3-0.
The fourth inning went back to small ball game by both sides. Freshman Peyton Batot gets walked to start the inning then advances on a sacrifice single by freshman Charli Burney, followed by a single by Hogan to reach third. Harris hits a fly ball into an out, but Batot tags up and scores for the Copperheads fourth run.
This inning also saw some spark in the Sharks offense. Tibbets gets a walk to start the inning, Khloee Barton gets hit by pitch, then S Allen is hit by pitch to load the bases, and L Daniels gets hit by pitch to score Tibbets. The inning ends with the next batters striking out stranding three base runners.
The game saw the Sharks have two bad innings where they gave up three runs in each. The Copperheads 6th inning saw senior Sarah Rocheleau (Clemson softball commit) triple to score Harris from second. Then, senior Kendra Murray (Wingate softball commit) broke her school’s single season home run record with her homerun to right field which scores Rocheleau. This gives the Copperheads an 8-2 lead.
Going into the 7th, the Copperheads held the lead 8-2. A wild pitch allowed Burney to score on a mishandled ball after a sacrifice bunt. With the score 9-2 starting the bottom of the 7th, the Sharks needed a miracle, and they almost got it.
Playing an excellent small ball game, the Sharks junior McKenzie Kraus singles to get on base, followed by Neveah Sacchetti with a line drive single, then junior Raegan Tibbets smacks a dropping fly ball to load the bases. With a batter hit by pitch followed by two walks, and suddenly the Sharks are closing the gap to 9-5. The Copperheads traded an out for a run to make it 9-6 before getting their last outs to secure their Game 1 win.
After the game, Catawba’s head coach Michael Mayak had high praise for his team. He had this to say about his team’s performance. “It was important for us to stack some runs, play some small ball, … so that we can build a cushion so if we have an inning like this, we don’t have worry about scoring we can just trade outs for runs and that’s a great position to be in.” He gave credit to the St. James crowd, they were into the game as he called it “a rowdy crowd, that was phenomenal” at one point his pitcher was having difficulty hearing his calls. When asked about game two on Wednesday, he says that will be another test against a St. James team that doesn’t give up. “I didn’t anticipate a 9-2 game and I’m anticipating a one run game on Wednesday. We are expecting their best.”
Catching up with St. James head coach Paula Blackwell, “I was proud of our kids, they never gave up”. Looking forward to Wednesday, she said “it’s state championships, you going to get their best. “It’s been 18 years since St. James has been in state championships, I think tonight was good. The girls got to experience it, the hype and the energy.” When asked about her team being seasoned or young, she said “there are no seniors, we’re from 8th grade to 11th grade.” When asked about tonight and looking forward to Wednesday, coach Blackwell said. “Of course we want this outcome to be different. Our job Wednesday, we want to push it to a game three."
Next up is Game 2 of the series, Catawba Ridge is at home hosting St. James.
Breaking News: Check your Baseball games due to weather conditions. Philip Simmons vs. Batesburg-Leesville, moved to Wednesday at 6p Mcbee at Lake View, moved to Wednesday at 6p  Oceanside Collegiate at Southside Christian, moved to Wednesday at 7p
Shortstop Katie Guilliam scored two of Summerville’s three runs May 26.
James Island – Game one of the Class AAAAA Division baseball state championship series lived up to the hype as James Island defeated Lexington , 5-4, in eight innings to move within a game of clinching a state title for the second straight year. Both teams are defending state champions. James Island won the AAAA state title last season while Lexington won the AAAAA championship. Both schools were bumped up to the new division by the South Carolina High School League. Senior Stow Rogers delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth to lift James Island to a 5-4 win. The 29-3 Trojans will look to win the title at Lexington on Wednesday night. “We obviously felt good with Stow coming to the plate in that situation,” said James Island coach Matt Spivey . “He’s a senior and seniors do what seniors do. He’s a kid that works really hard and it’s good to see the hard work pay off in a big situation.” Rogers’ single to left with the bases loaded and no outs ended a back-and-forth battle that both teams had chances to win. Lexington got going early against James Island freshman starting pitcher Brayden Easterling , a surprise starter by Spivey. Lexington catcher Toby Sobieralski opened the game with a homerun to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Sobieralski finished the night with three hits. “It worked out for us,” said Spivey of the decision. “The freshman gave us three innings and kept us in the game early.” The Trojans answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, getting a two-out RBI double from sophomore second baseman Trip Ostergard . A line drive double down the left field line scored Jake Amman , who reached on a walk. Another solo homerun, this from sophomore Christian Spivey , gave Lexington a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. James Island had another answer in the bottom of third. After Amman tripled to left, Taj Marchand delivered a sacrifice fly to tie the game 2-2. The Trojans earned their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Amman doubled in a run to make it 3-2 but the Trojans left the bases loaded. This time it was Lexington’s chance to answer and the Wildcats did in the top of the fifth on a Lincoln Hill sacrifice fly to center, tying the game at three. In the top of the seventh, Lexington loaded the bases with no outs. Sobieralski singled, his third hit of the game, and reached second on a passed ball. He then reached third on a ball in the dirt, leading to Intentional walks to load the bases. A ground ball to Marchand resulted in the first out at home but Landon Blight delivered a single to right to score a run and give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead. Ostergard relieved Cooper Jones on the mound and got his team out of further damage. Marchand led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the line in left and moved to third on a wild pitch. Ostergard tied the game with a single to left. After a flyout, Ostergard was picked off by Lexington southpaw Brayden Studebaker. In the eighth, Lexington put two runners on with an out for Spivey, who was struck out by Colt Hernandez, James Island’s fourth pitcher of the night. Hernandez got USC signee Brandon Cromer to flyout to center, ending the threat. “Big moment there,” Spivey said. “Really proud of the way he responded.” Braden Deprill opened the eighth for James Island with a single. Brady Dantzle r bunted for a single. Pinch-hitter Collin Anderson walked to load the bases, bringing up Rogers. The College of Charleston signee ripped a single to left for the game-winner. “The bottom of the order came through for us,” Spivey said. “We felt good about our chances if we could get back to the top and we did. If we leave the bases loaded and don’t score there, we don’t win the game.”
Oceanside Collegiate rising junior QB Aiden Manavian - Class of '27
SCHSL Championship Series got started on Saturday with 12 teams in each category striving to earn a state title. It's looking to be a wet week for most of the state, we'll see how the forecast holds up for these games to be completed. Softball 5/26 - Class 5A Div 1. - Byrnes @ Summerville 5/26 - Class 5A Div. 2 - Catawba Ridge @ St. James 6p 5/27 - Class AAAA - York @ Gray Collegiate 6:30p 5/27 - Class AAA - BHP @ Aynor 6p5/27 - 5/27 - Class AA - Saluda @ East Clarendon 7p 5/27 - Class A - Latta @ Lewisville 6p 5/28 - Class 5A Div 1. - Summerville @ Byrnes 5/28 - Class 5A Div. 2 - St. James @ Catawba Ridge 6p 5/28 - Class AAAA - Gray Collegiate @ York 5/29 - Class AAA - Aynor @ BHP 6p 5/29 - Class AA - Lewisville @ Latta 5/29 - Class A - East Clarendon @ Saluda 7p Game 3s (if needed) on 5/30 Baseball - Games Started Saturday, May 24 th with games 5/27, 5/29, and 5/31 5/24 - Class AAA - Southside Christian 14 , Oceanside 1 5/24 - Class AA - Philip Simons 5 , Batesburg-Leesville 3 5/24 - Class A - McBee 5 , LakeView 3 5/27 - Class 5A Div. 1 - Lexington @ James Island 6:30p 5/27 - Class 5A Div. 2 -Catawba Ridge @ Berkeley 5/27 - Class AAAA - Airport @ Seneca 5/27 - Class AAA - Oceanside @ Southside Christian 5/27 - Class AA - Philip Simons @ Batesburg-Leesville 5/27 - Class A - McBee @ Lake View 5/29 - Class 5A Div. 1 -Lexington@ James Island 6:30p 5/29 - Class 5A Div. 2 -Berkeley @ Catawba Ridge 5/29 - Class AAAA - Seneca @ Airport Game 3s (if needed) on 5/31
McBee comes back and holds on to win Game 1 in the Class A title series 5-3
By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Mt. Pleasant – Through the first three innings Saturday night’s first game of the AAA championship series was looking like it would a pitcher’s duel between Oceanside Collegiate’s Aiden Culler and Southside Christian’s CJ Aubuchon but that changed in the fourth and fifth innings as Southside Christian erupted for 13 runs to win game one 14-1 in five innings. Game two will be Tuesday at Southside Christian. The Sabres can claim their fourth consecutive state championship with a win. An Oceanside win would force a deciding game three for the AAA state championship. “We swung the bats well tonight. We struggled in the third a bit, made some adjustments in the fourth and were able to jump on them and put seven on the board. They made a few mistakes and we were able to take advantage. I’m just proud of our guys and their approach to the game,” said Southside Christian’s head coach Scott Freeman. Oceanside Collegiate’s head coach Britt Reames said, “I told our guys we have another game so forget this and move on. This was a poorly executed game all around; we didn’t play defense, we didn’t hit, we didn’t pitch. It is hard to win a game when you don’t execute.” The Sabres were able to manufacture a run in the first thanks to a Landshark error. Tyler Bolemon singled up the middle with one out. Bennett Candler came in as a pinch runner and then got caught by Culler on an attempted pick off move, however, first basemen Aiden Brusman threw the ball into left field and Tyler Bolemon ended up on second base. After Culler struck out the next better before Aubuchon singled to right driving Tyler to score the game’s first run. Culler then took over the next two innings as he struck out five of the six batters he faced. The Landsharks had a chance to get on the board in their half of the second as they loaded the bases on three walks with one out. Aubuchon struck out the next batter and then third basemen Cole Atkins made an outstanding play as he dove left and snagged the hard-hit ball and threw it to first for the third out of the inning. The score was 1-0 Sabres heading into the fourth inning as Culler and Aubuchon had settled down to strike out 12 batters between them. In the top of the fourth the state’s top ranked junior player Carson Bolemon led off with a single to left. Carson went to second on wild pitch before Aubuchon walked. Jacob Wiggs singled to drive in Carson. Mike Hotinski walked to load the bases. Atkins kept the inning going as he singled in Aubuchon. Matt Cauthen walked to reload the bases for the Sabres. An Oceanside error scored Atkins before Tyler and Carson Bolemon drove in two runs each with a single and double respectively to give the Sabres 8-0 lead. Oceanside attempted a comeback in the bottom of the fourth as Charlie Johnson led off the inning with a walk and then stole second base. Charlie Becker singled to move Johnson to third before he scored on a fielder’s choice. Aubuchon then got the next two batters with a fly out to center and he struck out his sixth batter. The top of fifth inning started well for the Landsharks, after Wiggs walked he was thrown out attempting to steal by Oceanside catcher Scott Henry. The next hitter struck out for the second out but then disaster struck for the Landsharks. Third basemen Cade Griffith lost a high fly ball in the lights and dropped the ball allowing Reeves Israel to reach base with two outs. Then Landsharks relief pitcher Tyler Mellison could not find the strike zone as he walked six of the next seven batters he faced. During that stretch Cauthen had the only hit for the Sabres. When the dust settled, Sabres had but six more runs on the board to break open the game at 14-1. Southside Christian brought in Chandler to finish the game SC - 1 0 0 7 6 14 OC- 0 0 1 0 0 1
By Billy Baker Publisher Berkeley County — Batesburg - Leesville head baseball coach Rob Bouknight got right to the root cause of his team’s 5-3 loss, against host Philip Simmons in game one of the SCHSL AA state baseball finals, played on May, 24 in Berkeley County. “When you have 8 walks, and your defense makes three costly errors, you usually don ‘t win a baseball game, and that is what happened to us today, against a quality opponent who took advantage of those two things,” said Coach Bouknight. “Our challenge on Tuesday, at our place, is to throw strikes, and don’t make errors. If we improve on those two things we will be a much better team for sure.” Philip Simmons, on the other hand, got six innings of stellar pitching from senior lefty Nolan Clifford. He scattered five hits, allowed one earned run, and had seven strike-outs. Clifford came into the game as the school’s all-time strike-out leader (around 172). Philip Simmons was founded 8 years ago. After the game, Philip Simmons head coach Josh Kubisz shared some thoughts on his team’s game one win. “The fact that they had that many walks, and a few errors, and we only won by two runs let’s you know that they are a real good baseball team,” said Coach Kubisz. “Clifford had a good game on the mound, but honestly I do not think he had his best stuff today, but he still managed to get a bunch of outs and get his curve ball over for strikes,” said Coach Kubisz. “I still think he has a little more in him.” One concern for the Iron Horses is a freak injury to number two pitcher Pierce Mullen who tripped and fell as he rounded first base, on his solo home run, as the lead-off batter in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mullen did not return to the game and he was replaced by junior Braden Ward. “We fully expect Mullen to be ready to start the game on the mound on Tuesday,” said Coach Kubisz. “His injury appears to be minor and he should be ready to go in game two.” Mullin is 6-2 on the year. In 57.1 innings on the bump he has 76 strike-outs with a 2.93 ERA. “This was also Charlie Helm’s second save of the year and I can not think of a bigger one,” said Coach Kubisz. “He’s been a step-up leader for us his entire career with us.” Coach Kubisz hopes his teams improves on not popping up the ball so much in game two. “I think we can improve on not popping up the ball so much for easy outs like we did early in the game today,” said Coach Kubisz. “We were underneath the baseball on a lot of swings earlier in the game and we hope to correct that on Tuesday.” The Panthers are expected to throw ace pitcher Carter Bouknight on Tuesday. He is 7-1 on the season with a 1.80 ERA with 75 strike-outs in 57.1 innings of work. “He’s been one of our best guys all year so we need for him to have a good outing on Tuesday,” said Coach Bouknight. “Hopefully, we can catch some breaks on Tuesday that we did not get today. We left too many runners on base today.” B-L led 1-0 after the first inning. Right fielder Reese Boehnke led of the game by hit by pitch and he advanced to second on a stolen base. Two batters later Boehnke scored on an RBI single by Braydon Hallman to give the Panthers an early lead. Philip Simmons tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third. Center fielder Alex Romanski drew a one-out walk and then Charlie Helms reached on a hit by pitch. Then a two-base error on an over-throw to first base on a ground ball hit by Kyle Bachmann brought Romanski in to tie the score. In the bottom of the 4 th inning the Iron Horses pulled away for a 4-1 lead. Mullin led off with a home run to make it 2-1. Second baseman Blake Johnson then drew a walk. Clifford reached safely on a bunt. Romanski reached safely on a fielder choice as Johnson was out trying to advance to third. Helm then drew a walk to put two runners on. Clean-up batter Daniel Scarth then delivered a single RBI, scoring Helms to make it a 4-1 lead for the Iron Horse. In the top of the 5 th the Panthers cut the deficit to 4-2. Second baseman Landon Soper reached on a one-out error and then right fielder Boehnke reached on a hit-by-pitch. Two batters later Hallman delivered an RBI single to score Soper to make it a 4-2 game. In the bottom of the 6 th Philip Simmons added an insurance run to the make the score 5-2. Helms delivered a one-out single and then stole second. Bachmann drew a walk to put runners on first and second with one-out. Scarth came through with an RBI single, scoring Helms to make it a 5-2 game. Helms relieved Clifford in the top of the 7 th . The Panthers got a lead-off single by Soper and then Boehnke walked to put two on with no-outs. Two batters later a single RBI by Jack Bouknight brought in Soper to cut the deficit to 5-3. The next B-L batter flew out to left field to end the game. For the game the Iron Horse collected five hits. Scarth led the way at the plate with two hits and two RBI’s. Other hitters were Helms, Bachmann, and Mullen each with one hit. Mullen had the big home run. B-L had seven hits. Hallman led the way going 3-for-four with two RBI’s. The other solo hits were contributed by J Bouknight, first baseman John Sawyer, center fielder Tanner Watkins, and Soper. Starting B-L pitcher Tyler Kneece worked 3.1 innings giving up two hits and four runs while striking out one batter. Other pitchers for B’L were Soper and Brody Lephart who combined to limit the Iron Horses to just one run while striking out two batters in the 2.2 innings they worked. Clifford was the winning pitcher for Philip Simmons and he allowed five hits and two runs while striking out seven. Helms worked one inning and picked up the save.
J.L. Mann’s Nico Ortiz and Ashley Ridge’s Joshua DeSouza battle for possession May 23
Columbia – The 2025 state championships for boys soccer were contested May 22-24 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. Two titles in class AAAAA, as well as titles in AAAA, AA, AA and Class A were decided. The championships included one team finishing with an undefeated season and another win its first title in school history. Here’s a recap of the weekend. (will be updated) Dixie coach Brian Gamble expects a slow start to most seasons. Many of his players participate in basketball and wrestling so time is needed early on to get the team chemistry right. The chemistry was right in 2025 as Dixie won the Class A state title with a 2-1 victory over Hardeeville. It was Dixie’s first title since 2019. “We graduated eight seniors from the team last year so we knew we needed some time to get these kids some experience,” Gamble said. “We definitely got better as the year went on and we thought we had a shot to have a great finish.” Garrett Atkins gave the Hornets a 1-0 lead, finishing off a nice pass from Josh Beiler . Hardeeville tied the game with six minutes gone in the second half but Beiler broke the tie with his game-winner just two minutes later. Both teams battled cramps as the temperatures began to rise and Dixie had just enough to hold off a frantic Hardeeville finish. “We were hanging on by a thread, running on fumes at the end,” Gamble said. “I remember thinking we’d be in trouble if they got the equalizer. But we were able to hang on and survive.” Riverside made history in the AAAAA Division II championship, winning their fifth consecutive state title, 3-1, over Lucy Beckham . It was Riverside’s 17 th boys state title, which tied Bishop England for the most in SC prep history. Will Knight scored two goals inside a minute of each other to break a 1-1 tie about 15 minutes into the second half to give the Warriors the lead for good. Lucy Beckham scored first as Thomas Smith gave the Bengals a 1-0 lead with six minutes left in the first half but Riverside’s Gavin Weidman tied the game with :42 left in the half. Riverside was just 10-8 during the regular season but won five playoff games to win the title. Riverside's history-making win lasted only a few hours. Bishop England defeated Daniel, 2-1, in two overtimes to break the tie with their 18th state championship. It was the first title for second-year coach Brandon Costa. “We’re a defensive team,” said Costa, a 2010 graduate of Bishop England. “The strength of this team is the backline. We have three all-state defenders on this team. We had to change what we do some after we fell behind but the guys did a great job of keeping Daniel off the scoreboard again to give us a chance.” Rowan Pennell’s g oal with 1:06 remaining in the second overtime proved to be the game-winner. Jonah Cooker sent the game into the extra 10-minute sessions, scoring with six minutes remaining to knot the score at one. Earlier this season, Bishop England lost a regular season matchup with Daniel on penalty kicks so Costa expected a defensive battle in the finals. Daniel’s Luka Gasic gave the Lions an early lead, getting a goal five minutes into the contest. After falling behind, the Bishops dominated the play, turning up the offensive push and keeping constant pressure on the Lions. “We name our plays after our coaches and Costa is all-out attack mode,” the coach said. “The guys really did something special.” Despite dictating the pace of play for most of the game, Bishop England trailed, 1-0, after Daniel's :Luka Gasic scored in the fifth minute of play. The Lions, seeking a fourth consecutive state title, opted to play defense for the rest of the night and it worked until late. The Academic Magnet boys team capped a 23-1 season with an impressive 4-0 win over Andrew Jackson in the Class AA finals. Coach Jason Hamil won his fourth state title with the program, their first since 2018. “It’s incredible, these seniors and what they overcame after Covid and all the restrictions, this is the group that sort of brought us back,” Hamil said. “ I can’t say enough about this senior class in particular, batting through all and culminating with this.” Jaden Daley scored six minutes into the match and later added a second goal in the first two minutes of the second half. Cesar Ramirez added a goal off a free kick 21 minutes into the match. Aiden Ruggiero closed out the scoring late in the match. Two-time defending state champions Oceanside Collegiate was unable to capture a third crown as Powdersville won their first title in school history with a 1-0 victory in the Class AAA boys finals. Powdersville was in their first final after losing in the Upper State championship twice prior to this season. The play was physical as both teams battled for an edge. The lone goal of the contest came with 12 minutes remaining in the contest as Ethan Piel found success. Piel also had the only goal in a 1-0 win of the Upper State championship. Powdersville was 23-3 this season. “I am super proud of this group,” Coach Jeremy McCall said. “These boys, they deserve it. It’s a dream come true for them and for me.” OCA appeared to have scored the equalizer as time expired but the goal was waved off by the official, who said the ball touched a player’s hand. The Patriots also lost a goal in the first half when J.P Spearman’s header was nullified due to offsides. “It was a good season,” said OCA coach Collin Phillips . “We didn’t have our best game today but that’s what the game is. You have to show up every day. I wish we could have sent our seniors off with another championship but that’s the way it goes.” Seeking a perfect season, the J.L. Mann Patriots took on Ashley Ridge for the AAAAA Division I title. Ashley Ridge was seeking its second state title in three years after winning their first title in school history in 2023. The Patriots were impressive throughout, building an early lead on their way to a 5-3 victory. The Patriots finish with a 26-0 record while Ashley Ridge was 22-4. Mann scored two goals in the first 18 minutes to take early control of the contest. Timmy Reardon tallied two of those goals and Pietro Bono added a score as the Patriots led 3-1 at halftime. Josh DeSouza scored two goals for Ashley Ridge to keep his team within striking distance but the nation’s third-ranked Patriots had an answer each time. Austin Fuller found the net late to bring Ashley Ridge closer but Smith Darby sealed the deal for J.L, Mann. It was Mann’s first state title since 2015. “All credit to the boys. They worked hard all season,” said J.L. Mann coach Brendan Jones , a former player at Mann. “They don’t quit and that’s something they can hang their hats on. This is something historic for this program, something these kids will never forget.”