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.

HSSR 39th Straight Prep Football Media Day on July 23rd

By Larry Gamble • July 12, 2025
Dillon Wildcats at the 2024 HSSR Media Day.

Daniel Island Wins Third Summer CCAA Swim Meet In A Row On July 6 At The North Charleston Aquatics Center

By Billy Baker • July 9, 2025
Summer recreational league swim growth boosted when the South Carolina High School League started high school swimming program.

Boulware, Bennett, Coward & Wells Leads 2025 HSSR-SCHSL-SCISA All-State Team

By Staff Reports • July 1, 2025
Pee Dee Academy's Maddie Coward.

HSSR's SCISA Softball Superlatives

By Billy Baker • July 1, 2025
Clarendon Hall Academy's Mandy Wells the 2025 HSSR-SCISA Career Miss Softball.

HSSR's SCHSL Softball Superlatives

By Billy Baker • July 1, 2025
Gray Collegiate's Aspen Boulware 2025 HSSR Miss Softball.

HSSR’s Top Rated 2026 Football Prospect, Timberland’s Desmond Green Chooses Florida As His College Choice From 21 Major Offers That He Had

By Billy Baker • June 27, 2025
Desmond Green with his Mom at his commitment announcement.

Breaking: Timberland's Desmond Green Commits

By Billy Baker • June 26, 2025
HSSR's #1 rated 2026 football prospect Desmond Green!

Numerous Transfers Add To The Depth Of Gaffney Football Entering The 2025 Season Under New Head Coach Donnie Littlejohn

By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Senior running back Jaiden McDowell also returns and he recently ran a 4.47 at a skills combine camp.

Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month

By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month Lake View — Kaylynn Turner is a senior who plays softball and volleyball at Lake View High School . Turner said she started playing volleyball in the seventh grade, but softball is her favorite sport, which she started playing in the 9 th grade. On the volleyball court, she played all around as a utility player and played left field in softball. Being a two-sport student athlete brought opportunities. Turner says this about team play, “My favorite part is being on a team with friends, forming new friendships, and the support from family.” In the classroom, she carries a 4.07 GPA, and she says that after high school she plans to major in Exercise Science with an end goal of a career in Occupational Therapy, or as an athletic trainer. While she has not ruled out continuing softball at the next level, if she gets that opportunity, her favorites teams are Coastal Carolina , USC , and Florence Darlington Tech .  For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Turner has been chosen the “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits, in various subjects, that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The NETC is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Currently, Turner is enrolled in two dual credit online courses offered by NETC. She already completed many basic requirements for her freshman year of college. She has focused on taking key classes for her major, like Medical Terminology, History, and Spanish. She added that she “already took care of many first-year classes and hopefully this puts me a semester ahead when I start college.”. When asked about what NETC did to help her, Turner said it “helped her develop important time management skills, especially while playing sports, attending high school, and taking college level classes online through the NETC. “Dual-enrollment classes really taught me the difference between in-person classes, versus online classes which prepared me for what’s I should experience in in college,” said Turner. When asked about the online class experience, Turner said the experience was a “confidence boost” that enhanced her time management skills. “The online classes were doable when I thought they weren’t,” she said. “Before taking online classes, I was more of a procrastinator, and I learned to be more on top of my work.” Turner recalled her favorite time playing softball “In the first game of the lower state playoffs this past season, I played a long ball off the fence and I was able to throw it back to the infield and we got the lead runner out.”

Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month

By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month  Lake View — Kason Herlong is a senior two-sport athlete at Lake View High School , where he earned all-region honors in two seasons as the starting quarterback on the football team. He was recently named the Class A Baseball Player of the Year by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association and Herlong has signed a baseball scholarship to attend North Greenville College . He has also earned Class A all-state honors in baseball by the “The High School Sports Report” for the past three seasons. Herlong batted .418 with two home runs and 17 RBI’s this past season. On the mound he was 7-1 with 80 strike-outs in 50.1 innings of work. He had a .556 ERA also. Of the two sports, Herlong favors baseball. Baseball is a sport he has played since he was first enrolled in T-Ball. Herlong was also chosen to represent Lake View in the 2025 North-South all-star baseball game. He has a very bright future ahead of him in the sport of baseball. In the classroom he carries a 5.23 GPA. He has been taking dual credit online courses through the NETC since he started the ninth grade. Just a sample of his completed college course work includes College Algebra, Biology, English 1, English 2, Computing, and Economics. For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, Herlong has been chosen the “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. With his high diploma earned, and numerous college level courses completed with NETC, Herlong should start college as a sophomore when he reports to campus at the end of the summer. He plans to major in Accounting in college. “Taking NETC online courses had a huge impact, including being better at prioritizing my time,” said Herlong. “How you do one thing, is how you do everything. And it helps keep me focused on meeting priorities and deadlines in both academics and athletics,” said Herlong. When asked about the impact on starting his collegiate career, he commented, “By taking these online classes now, I’ve got extra credits completed to put me one step ahead. I’ve been very blessed to have this opportunity.” Herlong said that while baseball is his favorite sport, he also enjoyed playing football. As a two-sport athlete in high school, and dual enrolled for online college classes through the NETC, he feels better prepared to meet the challenges ahead of him as a student athlete at North Greenville University. Herlong has a favorite memory from his baseball career. ”This season, we won against Latta for the Lower State Championship,” he said. “Last season, we got beat by Latta for the lower state championship. We came back this season and turned that around by beating them twice on their field. Those two wins advanced the team to play for a State Championship.”
More Posts