Belton-Honea Path finishes second in AAA softball upper state tournament
Bears just miss out on third straight state title appearance, finish 23-11
Honea Path – The Belton-Honea Path High School softball team may have finished third in Region 1-AAA, but came oh so close to reaching the state championship series for a third consecutive season.
The Bears won their district tournament to advance to the upper state tournament for a third straight year. They were there along with Region 1 champion West-Oak, Region 1 No. 2 Crescent and Mountain View Prep. BHP played a string of four 1-run games iin the tournament.
The Bears knocked off Mountain View Prep 1-0 in the opening game. BHP, which finished with a 23-11 record, lost to eventual state champion Crescent 3-2 on May 18 berfore beating West-Oak 4-3 in nine innings to advance to the championship round against Crescent. BHP dropped a 7-6 decision.
“It was a pitcher’s duel for sure,” BHP head coach Jarad Jennings said of the triumph over Mountain View. “We had three hits and they had four.”
Belton-Honea Path got the game’s only run in the top of the fifth inning. Carsen Foster led off with a double and Ari Willbanks put down a sacrifice bunt to move her to third. Foster came home on an Addi Vaughn sacrifice fly.
Mountain View didn’t go quietly, but the Bears rose to the occasion defensively.
Vaughn, the BHP pitcher, walked the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the seventh. She then gave up a hit before the Stars used a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third.
The next batter followed with a fly ball to center field that Madi Boggs pulled in for the second out. The runner on third tagged up, but Boggs’ throw to the plate was on the money and the runner was tagged out for the game-ending double play.
