Gray Collegiate Softball in familiar position; baseball
Gray Collegiate sophomore shortstop Aspen Boulware has a .608 batting average, 14 HRs and 33 RBIs.
By WORTHY EVANS
Contributing Writer
Columbia - Besides moving up to the 4A classification, Gray Collegiate softball remains the same: dominant.
The War Eagles, ranked atop the High School Sports Report’s 4A Softball Top 10, won their second 2A state championship in three years in 2024 and returned everyone except Mackenzie Mathis. Mathis now pitches for the College of Charleston.
This year they are playing in Region 4-4A and are off to a 20-1 start and are 11-0 in the region.
Even so, longtime head coach Doug Frye said he’s still waiting for his team to play their best game.
“We’re doing good, not as good as I think we could be, and I know that’s funny to say because we’re 20-1, but we haven’t gelled yet,” Frye said. “We’re not where we want to be, we’re not consistent in every game. We’ve got great kids, we’ve got outstanding pitching, a great catcher. We’re just solid, I guess I’m spoiled because I expect more. The girls know me, and they know that they need to bring it every day. You can’t just turn the switch on.”
Frye’s comments are not so dismissible when one considers that right on the heels of Gray Collegiate is perennial 4A power Gilbert, ranked third in the HSSR’s 4A top 10 behind second-place Hartsville. This year the Indians are 15-1 and 11-0 in the region, and the two teams take the diamond for two games after Spring Break, at Gilbert April 21 and at Gray April 24.
“They’re having a great year and we’ll see what happens,” Frye said. “They’re a good team, and we’ve played some good teams this year, Byrnes twice, Clover twice, Seneca twice, Flora twice. We’ve seen good pitchers pitching slow stuff as well as fast stuff. We’ve been hitting pretty good but we could be better at the plate.”
Maybe not much better. Everyone on the roster with more than 20 at-bats is hitting well over .300. Among the leaders, sophomore shortstop Aspen Boulware has a .608 batting average, 14 home runs and 33 runs batted in. Senior third baseman and Converse signee Kaley Anderson is also batting .608 with five homers and 26 RBI. Senior catcher and Tallahassee State signee Kaylan Boudreau is batting .441 with five doubles, a home run and 23 RBI. Senior pitcher Maddox Long is hitting .368 four homers and 17 RBI. Senior centerfielder and Columbia International signee Na’Veah Matthews is hitting .400 with a home run and 12 RBI.
As a team, Gray is batting .411 while the War Eagles Earned-Run Average is 1.80. So while Coach Frye leans toward a more perfect War Eagles team by the playoff round, the team at present is probably not far off.
“I said last year that I think we’re a top 5 team in the state in all classes,” Frye said. “Ever since the day I started coaching, I’ve never looked at number one or number two or 1A or 2A or 3A or whatever. I always want us to be the best we can get. I think we can beat anybody, and I think we can get beat by anybody. I have a good solid team and when you go 34-2 and return nearly all the players from that team, you’re still going to be pretty good.”
The Gray Collegiate baseball team (8-8, 6-6) have gone into Spring Break with a 4-game region losing streak, losing two one-run games to Brookland-Cayce April 1 and April 3, and dropping two close games to Airport April 7 and April 10.
In between those games, the War Eagles notched a non-region 10-0 win over Augusta Christian.
Gray heads to New York State for a tournament, then returns to take on Gilbert April 22 and April 24 to close out the region. The War Eagles face Augusta Christian April 26 and Dreher April 28 to finish the regular season.
Junior centerfielder J.P. Sweat leads the team in hitting with a .480 average, hitting two doubles. Junior shortstop M.J. Hornsby is hitting .395 with three doubles and 11 RBI. Junior first baseman Cole Adams is hitting .357.
