Latta’s Mason Weatherford, BW Berry, Fischer Richardson Class A baseball All-State picks
Vikings softball reaches lower state title round; Samantha Townsend All-State selection
Latta – Mason Weatherford, BW Berry and Fischer Richardson of the Latta High School Class A baseball state championship team were all selected to the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association Class A All-State team.
Weatherford batted .365 with five doubles, five home runs, 29 runs batted in and 12 runs scored. Berry batted .341 with 31 runs, 21 RBI and a homer. Richardson hit .358 with 39 RBI and 40 runs.
Berry and Weatherford were the team’s top two pitchers. Berry had 62 innings pitched and finished with an 8-2 win-loss record and a 1.60 earned run average to go with 69 strikeouts. Weatherford went 6-3 with a 3.05 ERA and had 56 strikeouts in 39 innings.
They were selected to the All-Region 6 team along with Logan Byrd, Zach Lane and Josiah Durant. Byrd batted .346 with 11 doubles, two homers, 24 RBI and 22 runs while pitching 37 innings and going 3-2 wtih a 3.41 ERA. Lane batted .286 with an on-base percentage of .441 to go with five doubles, three triples and 42 runs. Durant had a .301 OBP.
SOFTBALL TEAM REACHES LOWER STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Defending its Class A state championship wasn’t in the cards for the 2026 Latta softball team. However, the Vikings did a pretty good job pushing their defense to the limit.
No, Latta didn’t reach the state championship series, but it did push eventual state champion Hannah-Pamplico to the if game in the lower state tournament. That came after the Vikings plowed through the District VII tournament.
“We have a talented group, and I’m proud of how they battled through adversity all season,” said head coach Abby Rogers, who led Latta to the title last season after taking over late in the year. “Hannah-Pamplico is a great team and this was their year, but our girls continued to improve, came together when it mattered most and finished the season strong. We’re looking forward to building on that momentum next year.”
The Vikings, who finished the year 15-12, beat Bethune-Bowman 17-0 and Carvers Bay 13-4 and 12-2 to claim district. They did it the hard way in the lower state tournament.
Latta lost to Green Sea Floyds 2-0 in the lower state opener. It then beat Branchville 7-1 in an elimination game and knocked off GSF 9-4 in a rematch to reach the championship round.
The Vikings beat H-P 6-5 in the opener before falling 13-3 in the deciding game.
Senior shortstop Samanta Townsend was a Class A All-State selection by the South Carolina Association for Women’s Sports. She was also named the Region 6 Defensive Player of the Year and was joined on the first team by junior pitcher Paisley Jackson and sophomore second baseman Adlay Hyatt.
Junior catcher Chayse Walters was a second-team pick.
