Barry Hatfield talks about his 17 years as Laurence Manning baseball head coach

        Manning – After 17 seasons as the head coach of the Laurence Manning Academy baseball

team, Barry Hatfield announced at the end of the regular season that he was stepping down.

        The last regular-season home game on Tucker Belangia Diamond was a 6-4 loss to Pinewood

Prep. It was questionable as if LMA would even make the SCISA AAAA state playoffs, and if it did it

would be a low seed. That meant Laurence Manning likely wouldn’t host a game so Hatfield’s final home

game would be a loss.

        Fate had other plans though.

        The Swampcats ended up getting in the playoffs, but they were the final seed in their 5-team,

double-elimination bracket.

        “From what I heard, we weren’t in the playoffs to begin with,” Hatfield said. “But one of the

teams was found to have had an illegal pitch count and had to forfeit a game and we got in.”

        LMA beat No. 4 seed Hammond 5-4 in their opening game before falling to eventual state

champion Hilton Head Christian Academy 10-0.

        Laurence Manning had to await the winner of an elimination game between Hammond and No. 3

seed John Paul II. When the Skyhawks beat JPII that meant Hatfield and the Swampcats would be at

home one final time. They made the most of it with a 6-4 win.

        Although LMA was eliminated by No. 2 seed Augusta Christian School 9-1, the moment’s

significance was not lost on Hatfield.

        “It was special to walk off somewhere that meant so much to me with a win,” Hatfield said. “I tried not

to get emotional, but I have to admit I got a little emotional before the game.

        “I was trying to fight back the tears and focus on what was in front of me. To have spent so much

time and have so many wonderful memories there, it was special to win the final home game.”

       That brought an end to a 38-year baseball coaching career, 31 of them as a head coach. Hatfield

was the head coach at Furman High School in its final year of existence and was the head at Lakewood,

which replaced Furman, in the first 13 years of its existence.

       Hatfield doesn’t know what his final career record is, but what is known is that he led the

Swampcats to back-to-back state championships in 2016 and ’17 and to one more in 2022.

      LMA finished with a 10-13 record, one of the few losing seasons over his 31-year head coaching

career. However, Hatfield was pleased with how the season turned out.

     “The kids played hard, and we went 2-2 in the playoffs, which is better than what was expected,”

he said. "As a coach, you want to see improvement as the year progresses. As far as what you want is to

be playing your best baseball at the end of the year. You couldn’t ask anything else out of them.”

     Payton Brown and Josh Niswonger were named to the All-Region 3-AAAA team and were

selected to play in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game along with Grainger Powell.

    Niswonger was the top pitcher, working 50 innings and posting a 3.36 earned run average. He had

69 strikeouts to 41 walks., Niswonger had a .294 batting average, but owned an on-base percentage of

over .490. He led the team in home runs with three and runs batted in with 17 to go with 10 runs scored.

    Brown batted .303 and had an OBP of over .360 and shared the lead in runs with 19. Powell

batted .343 with an OBP topping .420 to go along with 13 RBI and 15 runs. He also worked 11 innings

and had a 4.46 ERA.

      Connor Carter was the leading hitter with a .348 batting average and shared the lead in runs

with 19.

     Gavyn Mathis had a strong season on the mound, working 34 1/3 innings and posting a 3.06

ERA. He struck out 24 and walked just 10.

     Hatfield said he initially planned to step down following the 2025 season. However, with the

school’s coaching staff going through changes along with a new headmaster coming in, he decided it was

best to wait a year.

    “I love Laurence Manning,” he said. “There were too many transitions last year, and I felt if I quit

at that time it would look bad on the school.”

   Hatfield said his greatest joy as a coach was having his son, Dawson Hatfield, start for him at

second base on the back-to-back title teams. The saddest moments were saying goodbye to his senior

classes.

   Hatfield will still be teaching high school history but now plans to spend his after-school hours

with his family, including his granddaughter.

   5 LADY ‘CATS ALL-REGION SOFTBALL SELECTIONS

  A quintet of seniors who helped the Laurence Manning softball team to a third straight AAAA

state title – Lyza Prickelmyer, Ashley Rae Hodge, Marlee Black, Lily Wellborn and Caroline Welch

– were named to the All-Region team.

     Prickelmyer primarily played first base and had a .581 batting average and an on-base percentage

of .610, both team highs. She had 11 doubles, four triples and two home runs, including a 2-run shot in

the top of the eighth inning in the Lady ‘Cats 8-7 win over Pinewood Prep that gave them a sweep of the

best-of-3 state championship series.

     She also had 28 runs batted in and scored 38 runs to go with 13 stolen bases.

     Hodge, the shortstop, had a .429 avergage with an OBP of .458. She had 11 doubles, one triple,

one homer, 32 RBI and 26 runs.

     Black, the leftfielder, batted .418 with a .446 OBP. She had three doubles, three triples and two

homers to go with 15 RBI, 26 runs and seven stolen bases.

     Wellborn handled third base and had a .380 average and an OBP of .397. She had seven doubles

and two triples to go with 16 RBI and 19 runs.

     Welch was one of Laurence Manning’s pitchers. She had a 6-2 win-loss record in 58 2/3 innings

pitched. She had 27 strikeouts to 27 walks while posting an earned run average of 2.88.

     At the plate, Welch had a .375 average to go with an OBP of .394. She had eight doubles, two

triples, 19 RBI and 18 runs.