Lady Bengals Make It a 4-Peat Enroute to Dominating the Final Division I Championship

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence —Saving their best game of the season for the third game tiebreaker in the SCISA AA softball finals, The Carolina Academy Bobcats defeated The Kings Academy 14-1 on the Florence Christian softball field to win their second straight state title. The Kings Academy had won game one in Lake City while the Bobcats won game two on the road, so a third game tiebreaker was needed. For Bobcat head coach Scotty Phillips, it was his 7 th state title in 27 seasons as the team’s head coach.  The Bobcats pounded out 16 hits, from 8 different players in their line-up, and their five- run spot in the first inning set the tone for the rest of the game. After the game, Coach Phillips told the HSSR, “I will tell you what we did on the way over here on the bus,” said Coach Phillips. “We sang to Jesus, one song was Gratitude, plus several others and this team truly believes in the Lord. I will tell you that this is a great group of girls who have a lot of faith and they also have a lot of faith in each other. “Getting five runs in the first inning was huge for us and I will take that every day,” said Coach Phillips. “ Carlie Ann ( Smith ) had a fire cracker tonight (went 5-for-5) and she played a great tournament along with EllaHam (3-of-4 & 2 RBI’s) played here tail off and came on strong late in the season and she was the tournament MVP in Sumter as far as I am concerned and she had a great game tonight. “I feel awesome for the team winning two in a row and they worked their tails off to have success,” said Coach Phillips. They have been up and down throughout the season, and we kept telling them that they could be an awesome ball club and they came over here (Florence Christian) and put it all together tonight.” Carolina Academy senior pitcher/center fielder Raeley Frye will be named the HSSR-SCISA AA Softball Player of the Year when the publication’s softball all-state team is announced around June 1. She has been the ace pitcher in the circle for the Bobcats the past two seasons. Coming into the game she had pitched 84.2 innings with 108 strikeouts with an ERA of 2.48. At the plate she batted .352 with a team leading 32 RBI’s and seven home runs. Frye was a happy senior captain after the game. “If you had told me years ago (7 th grade), when I first started playing softball under Coach Scotty, that we would be where we are today, I probably would have told you no way,” said Frye. “It has been a lot of hard work.” Frye was asked what the difference was between game one, when the team lost 5-2 to The Kings Academy, and this third game that they dominated? “In the past two games we just started playing better as a team, and we started trusting each other more,” said Frye. “You can’t have a team not trusting everyone and you can’t play well if you are divided. This team has been together for a long time and we trust each other.” Frye went 1-of-2 in the game including an inside the park home run that produced the Bobcat’s first two runs in the first inning after Smith led off with one of her four doubles and five hits during the game. In the circle Frye worked four innings, allowed five hits with three strikeouts before being relieved by Ham for the final two innings when the Bobcats had built an 8-1 lead. Other Bobcat hitters in the state championship win included center fielder Ham, a sophomore, who went (3-of-4 & two RBI’s) and in her two innings of relief in the circle Ham allowed one hit while striking out three batters. Sophomore third baseman Lauren Sims went (2-of-4 & 2 RBI’s). Sophomore first baseman Lexi McCutchion had a hit and two RBI’s, while freshman shortstop Paisley McCutcheon went (2-of-4). Freshman second baseman Natalie Brayboy contributed a hit and senior right fielder Savannah McCutcheon had a hit with two RBI’s. After the game, The Kings Academy head coach Jennifer John told the HSSR. “I am really proud of my team, and this was the first time we have been in the state finals,” she said. “Our two senior starters are our third baseman Lauren Mills and out first baseman Kate Buckley and our two senior subs are Maddie Cottrill and Maddie Creveling and we will miss all four of them. “ We really have a young team and with this game today it will fuel our returners to want to play harder and get back here again with a better result,” said Coach John. “We will have seven starts back including our sophomore pitcher Addison Bescher .” While the bobcats had perhaps their best overall game of the season this game was certainly not one of the better ones for The Kings Academy. “We got behind early and we just never recovered from the five runs they scored in the first inning,” said Coach John. “I feel like, you know what, that this game will motivate us to come back stronger next season.” The Lions got six hits in the game. Bescher led the team with two hits. She also had 9 strikeouts in the circle. Center fielder Emma Taflinger had a hit as did catcher Emma Atkinson . First baseman Kate Buckley and shortstop lead-off batter Ava Grace Keefe provided a hit. For the season, Carolina Academy had six starters bat .292 or better. Prior to the state championship game, the top hitter was Ham at .459 with 28 RBI’s. Smith was next on the hit index at .432 and 10 RBI’s. Fyre was at .352 with a team leading 32 RBI’s and seven home runs. Sims came into the final game batting .328 and 15 RBI’s for the Bobcats. Sophomore OF/Catcher Paisley Coker was batting .317 with 17 RBI’s while Braveboy was at .315 with 14 RBI’s. Paisley McCutcheon came into the final game batting .292 with six RBI’s. Other members of the Carolina Bobcat team include junior Katherine Holliday , left fielder Ema Amos , and 9 th grader Kaylee Lyerly . Ham had 53.1 innings with 78 strikeouts with an ERA of 3.41 coming into the final game.

By Dennis Brunson Hssr.com Associate Editor Manning – The Dorchester Academy baseball team came into the SCISA AA state playoffs with a 7-13 overall record. The Raiders’ run in the playoffs came to an end on Thursday with them sporting a 13-15 record – oh, yeah – and the state championship trophy. DA beat defending state champion Lee Academy 9-5 in the third and deciding game of the best-of-3 championship series at Laurence Manning Academy’s Tucker Belangia Diamond . “These guys here we struggled all season long, but we never lost our composure,” said Dorchester head coach Brent Jackson . “We just came out here in the playoffs and started playing baseball like we should have.” The Raiders won their second title in three years, claiming the 2024 crown. Jackson pointed out an important distinction. “We just had one guy back from that (’24) team,” he said. “This was a new bunch of guys who did it.” The Cavaliers, who finished the season with an 18-6 record, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. However, DA broke through for four runs in the third. LA got within 4-2 in the fourth only to see Dorchester match the run in the top of the fifth. Lee put up two in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to 5-4. That set the stage for Raiders senior third baseman Wyatt Byrd . DA’s Reed Almers reached on an infield single to start the top of the sixth. He was forced out on a fielder’s choice, and it appeared Cavaliers relief pitcher Myles Frye had the second out when he got Landon Holly to pop up in foul territory down the first base line. The ball wasn’t caught though, thus extending the at-bat. That would be fatal for LA. Holly came through with a single before Warren Judy struck out for what would have been the third out. Instead, it was just the second and that brought the right-handed swinging Byrd, the No. 5 hitter, to the plate. He lofted a fly ball right down the right field line. The outfield on Tucker Belangia Diamond is pretty spacious with the exception of down the two lines, with right reaching 295 feet. Byrd’s poke ended up clearing the fence for a 3-run home run that made it 8-4. “When I hit it I thought I had a double,” said Byrd, who not only hit his first homer of the season but also hit a homer in his final high school at-bat. “I just got very excited when I saw it was a homer.” Lee head coach Danny Price couldn’t undersell the significance of that scenario. “If we make that play we’re getting out of the inning without them scoring,” Price said. “If we do that, then we really have the momentum going for us. But baseball can be a funny game.” Dorchester would add another run as John Quattlebaum drew a walk, went to third on an Abe Shuler single and stole home to make it 9-4. Lee got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but Judy retired the side in order in the seventh to get the complete game. “I was just out there competing,” said Judy, who finished the game with 90 pitches. “I wasn’t getting a lot of strikeouts. I was just relying on my defense, and they did a great job.” Judy allowed seven hits, but didn’t walk a batter while striking out four. “Warren pitched a heck of a game,” Jackson said. “He just went out there and battled.” The Raiders finished with 12 hits, all of them coming over the last five innings. Shuler led the way in terms of hits, going 3-for-4 with one run batted in. Byrd was 2-for-4 with four RBI and one run scored. Holly was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Judy was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Austin Varn had a hit, two runs and an RBI, Carter Beeks had a hit and two runs, and Almers had a hit, a run and an RBI. “We got the clutch hits when we needed them,” said Jackson, whose team didn’t hit a home run in the regular season but hit four over the course of the eight playoff games. Olson had two of LA’s seven hits to go with a run and an RBI. Chance Entzminger had a hit, two runs and an RBI, Andrew Bowers had a hit and an RBI, and Cash Holloway had a hit and a run. Tucker Rogers and Aiden Fitzgerald each had a hit, while Frye scored a run and picked up an RBI. “We had a great season,” Price said. “We hit and pitched well most of the season, but we just didn’t seem to play our best in this series. You have to tip your cap to them (Dorchester). They played well.” Lee got out to the 1-0 lead in the first when Entzminger reached on a 1-out error, stole second and scored on an Olson single. Tyler Gilbert started on the mound for the Cavaliers. He walked Almers to open the game before retiring six batters in a row. However, he walked Beeks to begin the third and wasn’t as lucky this time around. Gilbert struck out Bryce Marchant before getting Almers to hit a ground ball. All hands were safe on an error, and Varn and Holly followed with RBI singles to make it 2-1. Judy had a ground-rule double to drive in a run, and Byrd followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1. LA cut the lead to 4-2 in the fourth. Olson singled with one out, reached third on an Aiden Fitzgerald single and scord on a sacrivifce fly by Frye. Dorchester got the run back in the fifth when Judy and Byrd started the inning with singles. Shuler followed with a 1-out single to score courtesy runner Graham Varnadoe . Holloway led off the Lee fifth with a single and was sacrificed to second by Cary Privette . Entzminger delivered Holloway with a 2-out single, and Bowers followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-4.

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Orangeburg – The Orangeburg Preparatory School girls track and field program has now started putting state championship rings on the other hand. The Indians won their sixth consecutive state championship on May 1, winning the SCISA Division II crown at the Orangeburg Prep Athletic Complex . Orangeburg Prep head coach Brooks Smith said bringing home state title trophies never gets old. “tt’s always nice to win,” Smith said. “This one was a little tougher for as coaches because we knew we had a strong team. It was hard for us to lose on paper, so that made it more stressful for us as coaches whereas we were able to use the underdog role the last couple of years.” The Indians won with 130 points with First Presbyterian of Shannon Forest finishing second with 112. Spartanburg Day School was third with 91while Thomas Sumter Academy finished fourth with 40 and Greenwood Christian School fifth with 28. Orangeburg Prep used its depth to pick up the victory as 13 athletes scored points. The Indians were led by junior Mary Legare Delaney , who was the high point scorer in the state meet for the second consecutive year. Delaney won two events and finished second in two others to score 36 points. She won the 400-meter dash in a time of 1 minute, 00.48 seconds and won the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 1 inch. She finished second in the 200 in 26.61 seconds and second in the triple jump in 33-05. “Mary Legare brings a lot of points to the table,” Smith said with a laugh. “She’s just such a competitor. She trains hard and expects to go out and win.” Smith said Delaney’s victory in the 400 along with sophomore Naomi McCutchen’s fifth-place finish were pivotal in Orangeburg Prep coming away with a comfortable victory. “When we were trying to figure out who to put where, we the 400 is where we decided she needed to be,” Smith said of Delaney, who owns the school record in the 400 but didn’t run it as much this year as in years past. “The coaches said, ‘We need you there.’ We have a vigorous 400-meter program that we do. “Picking up 12 points (10 for Delaney and 2 for McCutchen who also had a fifth-place finish in the javelin at 88-09)) in that event was huge. It took the pressure off of when it came to the final even of the 4x4(00-meter) relay.” Freshman Blakely Garrick had the Indians’ other first-place finish. She won the 400 hurdles in 1:09.80. She finished second in the 100 hurdles in 17.88 and fifth in the triple jump at 29.05 1/4 to finish with 20 points. Sophomore Gee Gee Riley finished second in points with 22. She finished second in the 400 hurdles (1:10.31) and third in both the long jump (16-02 7/8) and the triple jump (31-08). She also ran a leg on the second-place 4x100-meter relay team (52.53) along with seventh-grader Carson Cue , McCutchen and junior Emmaline Dangerfield . “Gee Gee is like our Swiss Amry knife,” Smith said. “We’ll try her at one event this week and have her in our back pocket when we might need her for something else.” Morgan Newsome was the lone senior to score points. She finished second in the pole vaul with a height of 08-06. Eighth-grader Jordyn Baldwin was fourth at 06-11 7/8 and freshman Ella Sarvis was fifth (06-11 7/8). Eighth-grader Kennedy Lawtson finished third in both the 100 hurdles (18.15) and the 400 hurdles (1:14.19. Cue finished fifth in the 800 run (237.22). The 4x400 relay team of McCutchen, eighth-grader Erika Martin , Lawton and Cue finished second (4:26.16) and the 4x800 team of Cue, Laston, eighth-grader Delilah Howe and eighth-grader Hannah Bair finished third (11L01.56). Smith said the secret to Orangeburg Prep’s success is how it works together as a unit. “There is no doubl that this is a team that works together,” he said. “These girls all pulled for each other, believed in each other and helped each other out.”jUNI LIVINGSTON, WILLIAMS, JUDY BASDEBALL ALL-REGION Junior Marshall Livingston , junior Maxx Judy and sophomore Cholly Williams were selected to the All-Region 1-AAA baseball team. Livingston led the Indians in hitting with a .360 batting average. Judy finished with a .325 average and Williams finished at .320. After losing its entire starting lineup from last year’s AAA state runner-up team, Orangeburg Prep finished the year with a 13-13 record. The Indians went 1-2 in the state tournament. They lost to Hilton Head Prep , the team they lost to in the championship series, 5-0 in their first game. Orangeburg Prep rebounded to beat Patrick Henry Academy 5-4 in an elimination game. Freshman Cam Jolley hit the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning for a game-winning home run. The Indians were eliminated with a 4-3 loss to Spartanburg Christian Academy . SCHURLKNIGHT, LAMBRECHT, HARTZOG SOFTBALL ALL-REGION PICKS Senior shortstop Prestan Schurlknight , senior catcher Hannah Lambrecht , junior second baseman Calee Hartzog and sophomore pitcher Natalie Hall were named to the All-Region softball team. Schurlknight, who will be playing collegiately at Lander, was chosen as the Co-Region Player of the Year. She finished with a .521 batting average. Lambrecht batted .491, Hartzog hit .449 and Hall batted ,421, Orangeburg Prep finished the season with an 11-14 record. The Indians went 1-2 in the state tournament. They beat Spartanburg Christian 10-6 in the opener before falling to now 5-time state champion Pee Dee Academy 12-2 in five innings and fell to Williamsburg Academy 8-7.

By Rob Gantt Special to The HSSR HANAHAN - Making solid contact at the plate and, with it, winning games has become contagious for Hanahan High School's softball team. The Hawkettes completed a dominant run through the district tournament Wednesday, May 13, with a 10-0 victory over visiting Georgetown High School . Hanahan took control from the outset, plating eight runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Hawkettes, who won for the 11th time in 12 games, finished off the victory by mercy rule with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. "We've been talking about it since Friday, that we need to get right on it from the start," Hanahan coach Katrina Bezdek said. "I think it took us a little bit more time in our other games because we hadn't played for a while. Now that we're playing more consistently, they were really fired up. They jumped on it first thing." The Hawkettes, who have tallied 60 runs in their past five games, recorded six hits in their initial set of hacks. Infielder Camryn Fowler sparked the scoring with a RBI single. After going up 3-0 on a wild pitch and fielder's choice groundout, Hanahan pitcher Maggie Priddy dropped a RBI single into shallow right field to make it 4-0. Outfielder Briar Mros and infielder Dria Tolbert then connected on two-run triple to make the home team's advantage a very comfortable 8-0. "That first inning, it felt like it was everyone pretty much," Bezdek said. The uprising was plenty of run support for Priddy, who hurled a one-hitter for the Hawkettes with five strikeouts. "We decided to go with Maggie because they hadn't seen her yet, and I thought she threw really, really well," Bezdek said. "She was hitting her spots. She was moving the ball, and then our defense backed her up." First baseman Aubrey Cribb singled in Hanahan's ninth run in the bottom of the fourth inning and Tolbert ended the game with a RBI double in the fifth inning. Mros, Tolbert and Riley each collected two hits for Hanahan. Mros scored three times from the leadoff spot. The Hawkettes also blanked Marlboro County (14-0) and cruised by Georgetown (12-5) in their first two district games. The postseason district title was the eighth for Bezdek. Hanahan (19-6) hosts Dillon High School in the first game of the Lower State tournament Friday, May 15. "It feels like every year we play Dillon," Bezdek said. "They're always good competition. The way we're playing right now, I feel like our confidence is growing. That's going to be the key going into the next round." Dillon secured its district crown with a 3-0 win over Waccamaw Wednesday. The Wildcats (14-12) also knocked off Battery Creek (8-0) and Silver Bluff (9-6) in their district.

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Swampcats complete a three-peat in SCISA AAAA softball.

Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Walterboro – It’s official. The Pee Dee Academy softball program can now say it has been able to bear the title of state champion for the past half decade. The Golden Eagles won their fifth consecutive state crown on Tuesday, beating Colleton Prep Academy 8-1at the CPA field to sweep the best-of-3 SCISA AAA championship series. PDA, which beat the War Hawks 10-0 in five innings on Monday in Mullins , finished the season with a 28-2 record. This is the ninth straight season Pee Dee played in a state title series. It also claimed a championship in 2017. In Monday’s win, senior Maddie Coward tossed a 1-hit shutout. Coward, who has started in the circle for each of those five title teams, struck out nine, walked one and hit a batter. She threw 52 pitcheas, 43 for strikes. Pee Dee scored two runs in the first inning, one in the second, three in both the third and fourth and closed it out with a run with one out in the fifth. Dinah Johnson had a 2-run single in the first inning, while Lilly Grace Rowell had a sacrifice fly that scored Carly Carroll in the second. e The Eagles scored three runs in the third before Addison Hasty had a 2-run double in the fourth followed by an RBI double by Azeleigh Arnette to make it 9-0. The game-ending run came on a triple by Careoll Hasty and Arnette both had two hits to lead PDA’s 8-hit attack. Coward added a double, and Rowell had a single to go with her sac fly. Carroll and Johnson had the other hits. Carolina Academy beats The King's Academy 8-7 to force deciding game in AA Carolina 8 The King’s Academy 7 Florence – Carolina Academy kept alive its hopes of defending the SCISA AA title with an 8-7 victory over The King’s Academy on Tuesday at the TKA field. The deciding game in the best-of-3 series will be played at Florence Christian School on Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. Raeley Frye and Ella Ham did the work in the circle for the Bobcats, who improved to 15-10. Ham smacked a home run, while Paisley Coker had two multiple-run hits. Addison Bescher had 12 strikeouts in the circle for the Lions. Bescher also had 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in The King’s Academy’s 5-2 Game 1 win on Monday in Lake City . TKA head coach Jennifer John said Emma Atkinson had a great game catching Bescher, and that Emma Taflinger , Scarlet Rose Rivers and Chloe Ritter backed her in the field with great catches.

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Winnsboro – It wasn’t an easy path, but Holly Hill Academy is the 2-time defending SCISA Class A softball state champion. The Raiders tied the game in the top of the sixth inning and then scored four runs in the seventh to defeat Richard Winn Academy 12-8 on Tuesday at the RWA field to sweep the best-of-3 series. “I’m worn out,” said a happy HHA head coach Kally Knigh t. “We had two crazy games (winning the opener on Monday 11-8), and it was wild on Saturday (in the state tournament. I’m just proud of this team and the way it battled and fought back, really all season long.” Holly Hill tied the game at 8-8 in the sixth. Senior Shelby Hinson came on in relief of starting pitcher Taylor Wright in the bottom of the inning and held the Eagles scoreless the rest of the way. Senior Kinlee Steigler had the go-ahead double in the 4-run seventh. Wright was 2-for-3 with three rusn batted in. In the circle, she worked into the sixth before being relieved by Hinson, who got the victory. Senior Kayley Bell was 2-for-3 with a triple. On Monday, Hinson got the victory as well. She started and worked the first four innings, allowing two hits and one earned run. Wright worked the final three innings, giving up three hits and three runs while earning the save. Milly Kate Prescott led the offense, going 4-for-4 with three RBI. Senior Abbigail Burleson had a hit and three RBI. Freshman Kaila McLean and sophomore Megan Guzzi led Richard Winn, both going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Freshman Hayley Ann Prevatt was intentionally walked five times.

Pee Dee, Laurence Manning, Holly Hill softball, Calhoun baseball win titles on Tuesday.