East Clarendon edges Saluda 2-1 in AA softball state championship series opener

Head Coach Kip Herlong with four senior starters after recent 6-2 win over McBee.

By Joel Beachum Special to the HSSR LATTA - As with any good championship softball game, there are two key components - clutch pitching and timely hitting. That is exactly what Latta (20-5, ranked No. 14 in SC) got on Wednesday night in a 5-2 victory over Lewisville to capture the Class A state title at home. Maddie Berry , the Wofford commit, started the game in the circle for Latta, but got injured in the fourth inning. She was replaced by Paisley Jackson , who normally plays right field. Jackson provided the energy to shut down the Lewisville (21-11) bats. Berry finished with nine strikeouts. Jackson added five strikeouts. Latta head softball coach Anna Rogers commented on how elated she was of the team's performance. "I'm so proud of these girls. We've definitely played some tough competition, even in our region," said Rogers. "That prepared us for this moment and we knew Lewisville was a good team. Their pitcher ( Sarah Owens ) is really strong." Junior catcher Samantha Townsend was the catalyst for the Lady Vikings, going 2-for-3 in the win with two singles, a Run Batted In and a run scored. She also added a stolen base and was hit by a pitch in the contest. "Samantha always brings energy. She's so aggressive," Baker said of Townsend. "We are just thankful for her getting things started and pushing us to get all that we could." This came after Latta lost a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Both Owens and Aubree Smith added a hit. Kyleigh Fletcher of Lewisville added the needed RBI. Latta got things going in the bottom half of the fourth after Sarah Bryant drew a walk and then stole second. That was followed by Madison Kersey making it first on a passed ball and then she added a steal. Rylan Hunt then came through with a key sacrifice bunt. Townsend then went to work with a single up the middle for Latta. "It didn't start off how we wanted it to, but in the end we came through. We weren't trying to drive it hard, but just get good solid contact out of the infield," Townsend said after the win. That put the Lady Vikings ahead 3-2 going into the top of the fifth inning. With two more runs in the sixth to increase their lead to 5-2, that was all the offense needed. Jackson, who had come into the game, quieted the Lewisville bats for the win. "It feels great to win the game. When I came into the game, I was ready because I knew my defense was there behind me," Jackson said. "My team was backing me up all the way." Berry allowed one hit and two runs in three and a third innings. Jackson pitched three and two thirds innings allowing no runs. Owens allowed four hits and five runs in the loss. Berry commented on the win and how amazing it felt to win the state title. "First of all I want to give all of the glory to God. We have prayed so hard for this very moment from day one. We have worked so hard, day in and day out. There's no other team that I would want to win this with," Berry said about the accomplishment. "We came so close when I was a freshman - just to have this full circle moment as a senior just means everything." She also praised Jackson for her performance coming into the game in relief. "I've always known Paisley was going to be something special," Berry added. "When I went out, I had so much confidence in her and I knew she was going to be great." For Latta at the plate, Hunt had two walks in the contest for the Lady Vikings. Latta had five walks for the game. The team finished the contest with five stolen bases. Townsend also praised Jackson and her team while expressing her elation in the victory. "I can not express to you in words what it means to me (to win states). It was our whole team and a total team effort," Townsend added. "Paisley really came through for us (coming in after Maddie went out)." Lewisville finished the game with two hits, two runs, one RBI and one walk. Lewisville coach Jerry Thomas spoke after the game. "We started out the year great, but then we lost a couple of players. We got back one and then we finally got another back before the end of the season. It has been an up and down season with injuries that we've had," Thomas said. This was their (Latta) year. My hats off to them. I'm proud of our girls making it to the state finals. That's a tradition that we started."

Gray Collegiate sophomore Peyton Hendrix pitched all seven innings in their 4-0 win over York in game 2.

Byrnes players celebrate as Maddie Wiant (#14) comes down the third-base line on her fifth-inning home-run trot.

Berkeley courtesy runner Gavin Barb just gets back to third base bag before Catawba Ridge's Alex Downes tag.

York senior Sullivan Littleton makes the catch at first base against Gray Collegiate.

By: Jay Hendrix Special Writer Batesburg - The Batesburg-Leesville bats were kept in check until a three-run rally in the sixth inning turned a 1-0 Philip Simmons lead into a 3-2 B-L victory in game two of the Class AA State Championship series at Batesburg-Leesville. The win forces a decisive game three at Founders Park in Columbia on Saturday at 6pm. The pitching duel between B-L’s Carter Bouknight and Philip Simmons’ Peirce Mullen saw the two players go back and forth with only one run through five innings. Carter Bouknight would give way to Braydon Hallman who allowed a run in the seventh but struck out three as he claimed the win in relief. In the first inning the leadoff batter for Iron Horses, Alex Romanski , was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice and scored on a single from Daniel Scarth . That 1-0 lead would hold up until the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Mullen was perfect through three innings and then managed to strand three runners over the next two innings. B-L Head Coach Rob Bouknight stated “it was a very frustrating game for our guys. We didn’t strike out one time the whole game. We didn’t hit a lot of balls hard but everything was right at them and they were frustrated. We kept going and stayed the course and we found a hole here and there.” Carter Bouknight, a senior who has been the Panthers’ ace all season, battled through five innings and allowed just the one unearned run before turning the ball over to Hallman. Coach Bouknight stated “you can’t say enough about what he (Carter Bouknight) has done all year. He has been that guy all year. He told us in the third inning his arm was bothering him a little bit and we were ready to go to Hallman and he said ‘I’m not going to college to play ball, I want to finish it’ and he bought us two more innings.” In the critical sixth inning the Panthers jumped out quickly as the top of the order produced against Mullen on their third trip through the order. Reese Boehnke lead off with a walk. Tanner Watkins then laid down a bunt back to the pitcher but the throw to first was wide and Boehnke and Watkins ended up at third and second respectively. Hallman was then intentionally walked to load the bases. Jack Bouknight then battled back from an 0-2 count to rip an RBI single to centerfield to tie the game. John Sawyer followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score another run and give B-L a 2-1 lead. With one out Tyler Kneece laid down a bunt to the pitcher who got the out at first but the throw home wasn’t in time as Hallman just beat the tag to make it 3-1 at the end of six innings. Head Coach Rob Bouknight pointed to the bunt as the biggest play of the night, stating “the bunt when we made the pitcher get off the mound and they threw it away would have to be the biggest moment.” The Iron Horses wouldn’t go away without a fight in the top of the seventh. Tajaun Gibbs singled to centerfield before Hallman retired the next two batters. The top of the order then came up and Romanski and Charlie Helms singled to leftfield, with Helms driving in Gibbs to make it 3-2. The final out came on a sharply hit line drive to centerfield with Watkins gloving it to seal the victory and force game three. Coach Bouknight, an alumnus of Batesburg-Leesville, is in his 13 th season as head baseball coach at B-L. When asked about how special it is to lead his alma mater to the state championship series he stated “it means the world. This program and the guys I played with meant the world to us. The community has always backed us. I hope our guys are realizing these guys they are playing with a truly their brothers and the support they get from the community is outstanding.”

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia - Coming off a 5-4 walk-off loss in eight innings to James Island Tuesday night in game one of the 5A Division 1 state championship series, the Lexington baseball team wanted to leave no doubt Wednesday at the Wildcats stadium. Christian Spivey , Logan Blight , and Graham Coleman all doubled off of James Island junior pitcher and Ole Miss commit Taj Marchand in Lexington’s 4-run first inning, and the Wildcats never looked back in a 9-4 victory over the Trojans in game two. “That’s an incredible arm we faced tonight,” Wildcats head coach Brian Hucks said. “I told our guys that it was an amazing show of grit and toughness to lose a heartbreaker like we did the night before and know you’re facing that guy and come back and swing it like that.” The best-of-three series concludes Saturday, as Lexington (22-10-1) and James Island (29-4) will battle it out in Sumter’s Riley Park at 1 p.m. “We’ve got everybody available except Grant ( Kisner ), I believe. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of managing our pitching staff and our pitch counts. Reidar ( Carlson , the starting pitcher for game one) will be available to go, I’m not sure if we’re going to start him or not, but we’ll figure out how to piece it together and see what we can do.” Wildcats fans and Trojans fans packed the perimeter of the Lexington ballfield Wednesday, and everyone saw what the home team could do at the plate. James Island opened the scoring in the first inning with Connor Dantzler’s 2-out RBI single. That hit scored Luke Maxwell , courtesy runner for lead-off man and catcher Stow Rogers , who was hit by a pitch to get on base. With Trip Ostergard at third base and Dantzler at first, Hayden Little struck out to retire the side and bring Lexington to bat. The Wildcats wasted no time. Lead-off man Toby Sobieralski drew a walk, and with Sobieralski’s courtesy runner Jonathan Waldrop on base, Spivey hit a line drive double into centerfield to put runners at second and third. Marchand struck out Brandon Cromer and Lincoln Hill , but Blight’s double into centerfield scored Waldrop and Spivey to give Lexington a 2-1 lead. Kissner drove in Blight with a single to rightfield, and Coleman’s double into rightfield scored Kissner to make it 4-1. Coleman got stranded when Allen Hegler struck out to end the inning, but the Wildcats hits kept on coming in the second inning. Brandon Mobley led off the bottom of the second with a double to left field, and Sobieralski promptly singled him home to make it 5-2. Marchand struck out Spivey, but Cromer’s single put Waldrop at second, and Hill drew a walk to load the bases. Blight was ruled out on the infield fly rule, but with two out, Kissner’s base hit into centerfield scored Cromer and Waldrop to make it 7-1. By then Marchand left the mound in favor of Colt Hernandez , but the James Island reliever didn’t last the inning. Bishop Nixon came on the mound for the Trojans to face Coleman, butHill bolted home from third and was picked off to end the inning. “You knew this was coming, Lexington is too good of a team to lay down,” Trojans head coach Matt Spivey said. “Coach Hucks and his staff do a great job and they’ve got some really talented players, and you’re coming into a tough environment. A couple of things didn’t go our way early on and we didn’t make a couple of routine plays that I thought would have gotten us out of the inning, and all of a sudden you’re staring at a 7-1 deficit.” Marchand was off the mound but stayed in the game, and in the top of the third inning he led off with a solo home run over the fence in leftfield to cut the lead to 7-2. Lexington got two more runs in the third inning. Spivey led off the frame with a solo homer, and later Kissner’s 1-out RBI single scored Cromer to give the Wildcats a 9-2 lead. Kissner, Lexington’s starter, lasted into the fifth inning. He gave up four hits over 4-plus innings. Jack Cooper came on early in the fifth and gave up two earned runs in the sixth inning, but lasted till one out in the seventh. Ahead 9-4, Jake Epps took the mound for Lexington with one out and two men on. He struck out Collin Anderson for the second out and closed out the game getting Finn Pratt out on a flyball to centerfield. While Wednesday didn’t go the Trojans way, Coach Spivey said the team will shake it off and get down to business on Saturday. “We’ll shake this as soon as we get back to the bus,” he said. “We’ll get back to James Island and regroup and we’ll be ready Saturday.” Saturday’s game between Lexington, the 2024 5A champion, and James Island, the 2024 4A champion, will likely electrify Riley Park. “I’m just incredibly proud of our toughness and our grit, and we forced a game three,” Hucks said. “They held serve at their place and we held serve in our place, now let’s play for it all.” Game 1 Lexington 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 – 4 7 1 James Island 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 – 5 9 0 WP : Colt Hernandez, 0.2 IP, 1K L – Toby Sobieralski 3-4, HR. Christian Spivey HR. J –Trip Ostergard 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI. Jake Amman 2-3, 2B, 3B. Taj Marchand 2B. Game 2 James Island 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 – 4 9 0 Lexington 4 3 0 2 0 0 x – 9 11 1 WP: Grant Kissner, 4 IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K. J – Taj Marchand 2-4, HR, 2 RBI. . L – Grant Kissner 3-4, 2B, 4 RBI. Christian Spivey 2-4, 2B, HR. Logan Blight 2B. Bryce Mobley 2B. Graham Coleman 2B.

Seneca - The Airport Eagles moved a step closer to a state baseball title after beating Seneca , 4-3, in game one of the Class AAAA state championship series. The Eagles, 26-6. will look to sweep the best-of-three series at home on May 29. Cash Epps turned in a solid pitching effort, allowing one run on four hits in five innings work. Hunter Epps earned the save and had two hits in the game. Airport scored single runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings to take a 4-0 lead before the Bobcats struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Airport got RBI's from Landon Jeffcoa t, Braden Gross and Justin Sightler .