Lexington evens 5A Division 1 state championship series with 9-4 game two win over James Island

The Summerville vs Byrnes game is rescheduled for Saturday ! The neutral site, Game 3, is being played at White Knoll High School . First Pitch, May 31st at Noon White Knoll High School 5643 Platt Springs Rd Lexington, SC 29073

Updated: 5:30pm, May 30th  With the storms and resulting field conditions. Here are the SCHSL game changes and what we know. All Friday games are postponed and rescheduled for Saturday. Softball: Summerville vs Byrnes - Game 3 - rescheduled for Saturday , May 31st at White Knoll at Noon. Aynor vs BHP - Game 2 - now scheduled for Saturday , May 31st at 6pm York vs Gray Collegiate - now scheduled for Saturday , May 31st at 3pm East Clarendon vs Saluda - Game 2 - rescheduled for Saturday , May 31st at 7pm Baseball: Lexington vs James Island - Game 3 - scheduled for Saturday , May 31st, at Riley Park in Sumter at 1pm Lake View vs McBee - scheduled for Saturday , May 31st at Francis Marion University at 6pm Batesburg-Leesville - Game 3, Saturday , May 31st at USC Founders Park at 6pm Berkeley vs Catawba Ridge - Game 2 - rescheduled for Saturday, May 31st at 6:30p Seneca vs Airport - Game 2, rescheduled for Saturday , May 31st at 7pm

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.”