By Billy G. Baker Publisher Manning - Game two of the SCISA AAAA state championship softball series, between rivals Laurence Manning Academy (24-3) and Wilson Hall (15-12), appeared to be going the Barons way, as they held a 4-2 lead going into the 5 th inning of the game, hosted by the Swampcats on May, 15 th , one day after a hail storm delayed game-two. In sports, when adversity comes, we use terms like “the wheels fell off” or “things went South” to explain when negative things happen to the team we admire, and follow, at the worse moment in a game, especially with a state title hanging in the balance. Wilson Hall, committed three throwing errors on the same play, in the bottom of the 5 th inning, that led to LMA scoring three runs as the Swampcats went on to win the game, 5-4. It was their second straight SCISA AAAA championship. It was the 4 th straight year these two power-house SCISA teams had made it to the goal medal round. The Barons claimed Gold in 2022 and 2023. Laurence Manning finally broke through on their rival last season, when they earned a state title against the Barons. LMA had won game one of the 2025 series at Wilson Hal on Monday, 5-1. Minutes after the big come-from-behind win, head LMA coach Buddy Truett said, “All year long, when we have been down, we have come back; like when we came back from being down 10 runs against Orangeburg Prep,” said Coach Truett. “Our goal was to keep the pressure on them and when you put the ball in play anything can happen. “This team believes in themselves,” said Coach Truett. “Winning never gets old, absolutely not. I will take winning every time. Every kid on this team can hit it out.” Junior center fielder Lyza Pricklemeyer, who hit a home run to dead center field in the third inning . She has now played in four straight state championship games. “It feels great to have now won two titles in a row, and not everyone gets to experience this, and this is my 4 th year playing in the state finals.” said Pricklemeyer, a truly talented player on both sides of the ball. “I have seen both sides in the past four seasons and winning feels a lot better for sure. We came in very focused today, and we couldn’t do anything about the bad weather yesterday anyway. We were totally focused on winning the game today.” Pricklemeyer talked about her home run, in the third inning, to dead away center field. “I had been struggling at the plate the last couple of games, and their pitcher was throwing a lot of rise balls, and honesty, I was just trying to put the ball in play on the home run,” said Pricklemeyer. “I swing as hard as I can on every pitch and it felt good to see it go over the fence.” Pricklemeyer will play for the Lady Lighting Sumter legion team this summer. Senior pitcher Laini Kosinski possesses a lot of poise in the circle. “The one-day weather delay did not bother us at all,” said Kosinski after the win. “I pitch with the same focus whether runners are on base or not. I just stay in my tunnel and give it all I have.” Late in the season, with fellow pitcher Kaylee Parmenter Avins out with an injury, did that add a little pressure to her game? “I really didn’t feel any pressure, but I did feel some nerves on occasion,” said Kosinski. “When it came to this game, I felt focused and ready to help my team win a championship. It is a great feeling to help my team win two state titles in a row.” Kosinski said her curve ball was her best pitch during the game. ”My goals entering college will not change and that is to win, win, win,” she said. “Even when we got down today, we did not panic. We are all caring and loving teammates and we stick together no matter what.” Wilson Hall head coach, Teresa Alexander, told the HSSR after the disappointing loss, ”We came ready to battle today and I am really proud of the team for that,” said Coach Alexander. “We felt like we had prepared well for the game, but in in the end it didn’t happen. We had that one bad inning on defense, but all-in-all, we made it to the finals against a very talented Laurence Manning team, and my team put it all on the line. “We start one senior, Abby Bradley, and she just played the defensive game of her life along with only one junior our left fielder Addie Griffin,” said Coach Alexander . “ Our two pitchers’ tonight were an 8 th grader and a 9 th grader ( Marsha Kate Skey & Lilly Grace Przybyla ) and I was very proud of their efforts tonight. We are thankful to have them back, and the majority of our player’s back next season.” Coach Alexander put the three errors her team made in the bottom of the 5th into perspective. “What you saw was a team wanting to win really bad, and they make those routine plays 99 per cent of the time, but in the heat of the moment our players put everything into trying to get the third out. They tried hard to make the plays and it just didn’t happen. “We’ll bounce back, learn from our unintended mistakes, and be a better team going into next season,” said Coach Alexander. “We had a very young team this season, and our players kept working and grinding. I could not be prouder of them right now. We won some hard-fought games in the state tournament to get to the finals and this team never quits.” Coach Alexander said coming into this season, the Barons had graduated virtually all 9 starters “who had been a part of the team’s repeat run” prior to the 2024 season. “We have been working hard to figure out a way to get better with each game, and I think the fact that we made it to the finals this season, with a young team, should help go into next season with a lot of confidence.” Coach Alexander is closing out her 18 th season at Wilson Hall. She has coached teams to 10 state finals appearances, with six state titles won over this period, an outstanding achievement. Wilson Hall scored all four of their runs in the second inning, when 8 batters went to the plate. Addie Griffin led off with a double, and advanced to third when the ball got pass the catcher. Caroline Andrews generated a one-out single that put runners on first and third. Jenna Green then had an uncontested single, without a throw to first, on a ground ball as LMA held the runner at third from advancing home. Abby Bradley brought in Griffin on an RBI single through the middle. With two-out, Caroline Moorman ripped a double down the third base line scoring three runs to make it 4-0. The early momentum in the game belonged to Wilson Hall. In the bottom of the second, Caroline Welch put LMA on the board with a line drive home run over the left field fence that was caught with one hand by an LMA fan from the back of his pick-up truck. Then in the bottom of the third inning Pricklemeyer launched a solo home run to dead center field to cut the deficit to 4-2. LMA was down 4-2 in the bottom of the 5 th when they rallied to take a 5-4 lead that held up for the win. LMA’s first two batters of the inning were retired, but the momentum of the game was about to shift Swampcats. Ashely Rae Hodge reached on an error, and then Kosinski walked. Lilly Wellborn then hit a routine ball in the infield, and it appeared Wilson Hall might escape the inning still ahead 4-2. However, the throw to first base went over the head of the first baseman for the first error, and the next throw to second base was also over-thrown, resulting in two LMA runners crossing the plate. Then a third errant throw allowed Wellborn to score to give LMA a 5-4 lead. Needless to say, the momentum of the game shifted back to LMA as their fans aplenty cheered the moment. Kosinski did her best pitching for LMA over the final two innings of the game. In the WH sixth inning the Barons were three-up and three down on three balls hit to the outfield. Then in the WH 7 th Kosinski retired the side on three straight ground outs as the home fans started to celebrate. For the game, Wilson Hall out-hit LMA 7-to-4. Center fielder Abby Bradley had two hits and one RBI while Moorman, the catcher, had a hit that resulted in three RBI’s. Shortstop Mary Paisley Geddings had a hit while Griffin had a hit and scored a run. Green added a hit and Andrews had a hit and scored one run. Wilson Hall used two pitchers in the game. Marsha Kate Skey started the game and worked three innings, allowing two earned runs, four hits and she had four strike-outs. Lilly Grace Przybyla worked the final three innings, giving up no runs, no hits, and she had four strike-outs. LMA made the most of their four hits. Pricklemeyer and Welch each homered with one RBI each. Hodge contributed a hit with one RBI and she scored a run. Kosinski had the final hit and Wellborn scored a run during the contest. Kosinski pitched a complete game for LMA allowing 7 hits, just one walk and she had one strike-out. For the season, LMA had an impressive .406 team batting average. Leading the team in batting was Kosinski, a senior headed to Francis Marion to play softball. She batted .557 with 34 RBI’s, including six doubles and one triple. In the circle she went 12-0 with an ERA of 2.67. In 86 innings she had 82 K’s. Pricklemeyer, a top junior prospect with major college defensive skills, and a sweet swing from the left side to make any college coach smile. The top 10 rated junior in South Carolina, finished with a .548 average, including 37 RBI’s, 10 doubles, six triples, four home runs and she stole 10 bases. She also had a fielding percentage of .976, playing in center field and first base. Next on the hit index is junior Marlee Black , a lead-off batter with a .482 average including 23 RBI’s and 12 stolen bases. Hodge, a junior, batted .434 with 37 RBI’s and she stole 13 bases. Senior second baseman Carol Ann Briggs batted .382 with 9 RBI’s with a fielding percentage of .964. Other top LMA batters included senior pitcher/utility play Kaylee Parmenter Avins (.396 & 19 RBI’s) who battled injuries towards the end of the season. In the circle Avins worked 46.1 innings with 50 K’s and she had an ERA of 2.62. Welch, a highly regarded freshman batted .341 with 13 RBI’s. Junior Maggie Welch finished at .339 with 17 RBI’s and four home runs. Senior catcher Lila Kate Mathis battled though injuries for a good part of the season and her 1.000 fielding percentage behind the plate will be something talked about at future LMA class reunions. Mathis batted .333 with five RBI’s also. Wellborn, a junior, finished at .299 with 15 RBI’s and veteran senior Jessica Griffith hit .274 with 20 RBI’s including four doubles and one triple. Other members of the LMA team included senior Anna Lewis Burke , junior Emma Jean Casselman , and junior Ashlym Holmes . Wilson Hall’s stats leaders included Skey who led the team with a .357 average including 26 RBI’s and a home run. Geddings was next on the hit index with a .379 average with 15 RBI’s. Moorman was next at .338 with 15 RBI’s and a .982 fielding percentage. Przybyla hit .323 with 21 RBI’s and Bradley was at .321 including a fielding percentage of .957. Grace McArthur batting .300 with a fielding percentage of .974. Andrews was at .289 with 19 RBI’s and one home run. Griffin was at .275 with 25 RBI’s and two home runs while Emmie Williamson hit .269. Madelyn Davis was also a member of the team who had a double six RBI’s on the season. Green contributed 9 RBI’s on the season. In the circle, Skey worked 81.2 innings with 98 K’s and an ERA of 3.42. Przybala had 75.1 innings of circle duty with 55 K’s with a 2.69 ERA. Both these teams will come into the 2026 season heavily favored to meet once again in the SCISA AAAA state softball finals.

Lady 'Cats can win second straight title with victory at home on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Sumter —You can always count on a highly competitive game when SCISA AAAA region softball foes Laurence Manning (19-2) and Wilson Hall play each other, and their game on May, 1 was another such game as the Swamp cats rallied for five runs in the top of the 7 th inning to earn a 7-3 win. “This is our first game coming back from Spring break, and we spent most of the day today at the State House where the team was recognized for our state championship season last year,” said head coach Buddy Truett . “These two factors contributed to our slow start today but I was pleased with our late rally that got us the win. I was worried about us playing a little dead today.” In the bottom of the third, with the scored tied at one, there was a collision between WH batter Mary Paisley Geddings and LMA first baseman Lyza Prickelmyer on a towering pop up just inside the first base bag. Pricklemyer laid on the ground for a few minutes as a hush came over what had been a vocal crowd for both teams. The runner was called out and Coach Truett helped Prickelmyer off the ground, and they began walking down the first base line. “Lyza told me she was not coming out of the game, no matter what,” said Coach Truett after the game. “I have coached her since rec ball days and it would have taken a stretcher being called in to have got her out of the game. She is a competitor, a real baller. “I was also very proud of Kendall coming in and giving us a spark with her RBI single,” said Coach Truett. “Lainia did her job in the circle once again also. “We have come back from being down earlier in the season also,” said Coach Truett. “We trailed Orangeburg Prep by 10 and we came back and won that game when we scored 22 runs. “I would say the biggest difference in this year’s team and last year’s team is that when this group gets down, or something bad happens early in the game, they do not panic, and they stay focused,” said Coach Truett. After the game, Wilson Hall head coach Teresa Alexander, in her 18 th season , told the HSSR, “Even we lost this game I feel good about where we are now entering the play-offs,” said Coach Alexander. “What we need to improve on is getting one-or-two timely hits with runners in scoring position. “This team has performed well to have only have three returning starters from last season,” said Coach Alexander. “LMA is a talented team. I anticipate we will be playing them again in the play-offs.” Wilson Hall went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Junior left fielder Addie Griffin reached on an error and later scored on a throwing error off a ground ball hit by Lily Grace Przybyla .  In the top of the 4 th LMA ties the game when Prickelmyer singled and made it all the way to third on a Barron throwing error. Kaylee Parmenter Avins came up next and hit a ground ball that was over-thrown scoring Prickelmyer to tie the game. WH went up 3-1 in the 5 th inning. Caroline Andrews led off with a single. Center fielder Abby Bradley then bunted safely to put runners on first and second with no-outs. Geddings then singled in Andrews to make it 2-1. Two batters later, 8 th grade third baseman, Marsha Kate Skey , brought Bradley in on a ground-out RBI to make it 3-1. In the top of the 7 th LMA’s first four batters all singled. Pitcher Laini Kosinski led off with a ripped single to center, followed up by Lily Welborn’s hit. Then Coach Truett entered 8 th grade pinch hitter Kendall Tanner , who had just been called up from the junior varsity for her first time batting as a varsity player. Tanner will have fond memories of the moment as she delivered an RBI single to right field that scored Kosinski to cut the deficit to 3-2. Maggie Welch came up next for LMA, and her infield single brought in Welborn to tie the game at three. Two batters later gold glove senior catcher Lila Kate Mathis’ ground-out RBI brought in Tanner to give LMA their lead for good at 4-3. Carol Ann Briggs then singled to advance a run in from second to make it a 5-3 game. Then Marlee Black and Prickelmyer reached on consecutive infield bunts to load the bases. Ashley Rae Hodge then delivered an RBI single scoring Hodge to make it 6-3. The final run of the game was brought in on an RBI single by Kosinski who batted twice in the final inning. For the game LMA was led at the plate by Kosinski who went 3-for-four with two RBI’s. Welch was three-for three with an RBI, and Prickelmyer had two hits and scored two runs. Welborn and Tanner each had a hit and Tanner also had an RBI. Hodge and Mathis had one RBI each while Briggs contributed a hit and one RBI. In the circle, Kosinski pitched all seven innings for LMA, allowing two earned runs and with six strike-outs. Wilson Hall was led at the plate by Andrews who had two hits and scored a run. Geddings had a hit and one RBI. Griffin had a hit and scored a run. Skey added a hit and one RBI. Grace McArthur contributed a hit and Bradley had a hit and scored a run. Lily Grace Przybyla was the starting pitcher for WH and she left the game after the 5 th inning but she reentered in the 7 th inning. She had one strike-out.

Lady 'Cats gearing up for another run at SCISA AAAA state title

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Manning —Two of the better teams in SCISA baseball, for the 2025 season, Laurence Manning (10-1) and Orangeburg Prep (11-2) faced each other in a non-region game on March, 27 th and the Swampcats took advantage of five errors to claim a 8-2 win. Both teams will be in action 24 hours later. LMA travels to play at Hilton Head Chrisitan while O-P will host Colleton Prep . After the game, veteran LMA head coach Tom Hatfield shared his thoughts with the HSSR, “We are starting to get some kids back who have been dealing with injuries, our pitching staff is solid and out hitting coach Rodney Mooneyham works every day with our hitters and he does a good job. “We just need to be more consistent and I thought we took too many fastballs tonight,” said Coach Hatfield. “Orangeburg Prep is a fine ball club and they came into the game tonight at 10-1. We like challenges in mid-week games. “We used three pitchers tonight, and had them all on pitch counts so we can use them, if needed against Hilton Head Christian tomorrow,” said Coach Hatfield. “I thought they all performed well tonight. “The potential of this team, with the depth we have in our pitching staff, I feel like we can make a serious run in the play-offs,” said Coach Hatfield. “One of our main pitchers ( Braydon Barnhill ) is not back yet but we expect to have him back soon and he was one of our main pitchers last year. I think we can make a run at it (state championship) if we can keep everybody healthy.” Orangeburg Prep head coach Tate Jameson also talked with the HSSR after the game. “We have a packed schedule this season (26 games) and I always like to play more then we practice,” said Coach Jameson. “We have a group of veteran guys whop just love to come to the ball park and play baseball and that is what we are about.” Coach Jameson was complimentary of pitcher Hunter Judy going all seven innings for the Indians giving up 8 hits with five strike-outs and no walks. “We could have brought someone in later in the game but I wanted to give Hunter the peace of mind that I was not giving up on him. I just wish we could have hit better behind him and scratched out a run or two every inning but it didn’t happen. “We talked about not letting errors get the best of you before the game,” said Coach Jameson. “Unfortunately, errors early in the game hurt our chances for a win tonight.” The Indians have seven senior starters, including one junior ( T Riley ) and one 9 th grader ( Landon Kuck ) along with Charlie McCutchen who pitches and catches for us. Bryon Williams is a pitcher, catcher, middle infielder, Judy is a pitcher, catcher, middle infielder, and Riley is in center with Tadd Jameson in left, and Mo Burroughs is at first, and Eli Pantaleon is at short and pitches also. Kuck is our third baseman. “Tonight was a half-way night because we have now played 13 games with 13 more to go in the regular season,” said Coach Jameson. “Hopefully, we can bounce back from this game. Coach Hatfield has an excellent squad and I am glad we were able to compete against them, even though we did not quite measure up to them. I hope we learn something from this game and move on.”  LMA was led at the plate against O-P by Brenston Rembert who had two hits, three RBI’s, including a triple. Starting pitcher Ray Weston had two hits and two RBI’s while working 3.2 innings on the mound. First baseman DJ Balls had one hit and one RBI, Center fielder ZY Dennis had one hit and one RBI and catcher Cade Mooneyham had one hit in the win . The other two LMA pitchers in this game were Seth Witherspoon and Grayson Thornton who had four K’s in two innings of work. Other LMA starters against O-P included shortstop Grainger Powell , second baseman Payton Brown , right fielder Rory Carter , and left fielder Pierson Gamble . O-P was led on offense by Mason Tyler who had two hits, one RBI and two stolen bases. Riley, a gold glove center fielder who has 9 major college football offers to date, contributed one hit, while Jameson had a hit and one RBI. McCutchen, who hopes to play baseball at The Citadel , had one hit, while Williams also had one hit.

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LMA's junior CB/WR Zy Dennis