Dorchester Academy sofball team hoping to make a run at SCISA AA state title
Raiders return most of team that was state runner-up last season
St. George – The Dorchester Academy softball team just missed out on bringing a state championship trophy home last season. The Raiders advanced to the best-of-3 SCISA AA title series before falling to Carolina Academy.
DA head coach Justin McClure believe that being that close is serving as motivation this season.
“Overall, I feel really good about our team,” said McClure, who is in his second season in charge. “We came very close to winning the whole thing last year, and we have carried over that momentum into this year.
“We are starting to play our best ball right now, and I really like our chances come playoff time.”
The state tournament is scheduled to be played in Sumter in the middle of May. The two bracket winners will then play in the title series.
Dorchester is 9-5 on the season with most of its action coming against AAA schools since it has no region foes.
“It has been much more challenging, but we are playing well and have won five of our last six games against Calhoun Academy and Orangeburg Prep, including a 3-game sweep of Orangeburg Prep,” McClure said.
The Raiders lost just two starters from last season. The starting lineup has sophomore Emery McClure leading off and primarily playing shortstop. Freshman utility player Lily Canady bats second, while eighth-grader Molly Blanchard bats third and pitches.
Batting cleanup is junior third baseman Kinsey Bates, who returns after missing all of last season with an injury. She was the team’s offensive player of the year in 2024.
Junior catcher Alyssa Grooms is back batting fifth, while senior Rylee Matthews returns in left field and bats sixth. Rounding out the order are senior Lyla Owens returning in right, eighth-grade newcomer Ella McClure at first base and junior Palmer Kiser, a returning starter at second.
Emery McClure is the offensive catalyst as she had a .469 batting average. She had seven triples, 12 runs batted in, 24 runs scored and 15 stolen bases.
Blanchard has hit the ball well with a .390 average and 11 runs. Canady was batting .319 with 16 RBI and 12 stolen bases. Bates was batting .375 with six doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI, while Grooms was batting .295 with four doubles and two triples.
Matthews was batting .310 with an on-base percentage of .510. Owens had a .375 OBP, and Kizer had a .297 OBP.
Blanchard had seen most of the time in the circle, starting nine of the 13 games. She had a 6-2 win-loss record with a 3.91 earned run average and 70 strikeouts in 59 innings pitched.
Emery McClure, last year’s primary pitcher, was 2-3 with a 4.72 ERA in 22 innings.
