Orangeburg Prep beats Thomas Sumter 23-5 to complete sweep of series

Dalzell – The Orangeburg Preparatory School softball team completed a 3-game sweep of Thomas Sumter Academy with a 23-5, 4-inning victory on Friday at the TSA field. Needless to say, Indians head coach Jan Stoudenmire was pleased with the result.

      “The girls are playing better,” said Stoudenmire, who is back in the OP dugout after being away from it the past three seasons. “We started off with not too much practice, but they are coming on strong. It doesn’t matter how you start, it’s how you finish. They’ll come on strong.”

      That statement pretty much applied to the SCISA Region 1-AAA series with the Generals. Orangeburg Prep won the first game of the series on Monday, scoring 10 runs in the top of the seventh inning to rally from an 11-5 deficit before holding on for a 15-13 win. It followed with a 16-6, 6-inning triumph on Wednesday before Friday’s blowout.

      The Indians are now 4-3 overall and 4-2 in region play, having lost two of three games to defending AAA state runner-up Clarendon Hall. With just four starters back from last season, Stoudenmire sees only good things ahead.

      “We’re going to get better,” she said. “We just want to get ready for the state tournament. We want to be playing good in May.”

      OP was swinging the bats pretty good on a warm March late afternoon. It plated 11 runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back.

      Orangeburg Prep was leading 4-0 after eighth-grader Allie Reese Tolbert’s sacrifice fly scored junior Calee Hartzog, one of the returning starters. That was the second out of the inning though, meaning Thomas Sumter could possibly get out of the inning with minimal damage.

      That didn’t happen. After eighth-grader Haley Williams was hit with a pitch. Freshman Marisa Griffith delivered a run-scoring single. Senior Hannah Lambrecht, another returning starter, then broke the game open with a 3-run home run to make it 8-0. Lambrecht’s line drive hit the yellow line at the top of the towering left field fence that is just 150 feet from home plate.

      After a TSA pitching change, senior Prestan Schurlknight and sophomore Natalie Hall, the other two returning starters, both singled. They scored on base hit by Hartzog. After sophomore Addison Nivens was hit by a pitch, senior Emma Grace Burleson singled to score Hartzog with the final run.

      The Generals, who fell to 1-9 overall and 0-6 in region play, got a run back in the bottom of the inning. Junior Lila Kate Stines hit a screaming line drive to the deepest part of the park – around 240 feet from home plate in center field – and scored on an inside-the-park homer.

      OP got the run back in the top of the second. Williams drew a leadoff walk and scored on a 2-out single by Schurlknight, who has signed to play collegiately with Lander.

Orangeburg Prep pushed the lead to 14-1 in the third. Hartzog led off with a double and Nivens followed with a walk. Both would eventually score.

      Thomas Sumter got the two runs back in the bottom of the inning. Stines drew a 1-out walk and sophomore Kason Carter followed with a homer into the tall pine trees behind the left field fence.

The Indians had a 9-run fourth. Schurlknight led off with a double and Hall was hit by a pitch. Hartzog followed with a 3-run homer to open the gap to 17-3.

      They would add six more runs with the final two coming in on a single by senior Audrey O’Neal.

      TSA scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by eighth-grader Aleigha Nelson and a run-scoring single by senior Ryann Stokes. However, Schurlknight, the OP shortstop, kept it from being an even bigger inning by sucking up a hard-hit grounder back up the middle by senior Chloe Isaac and turning it into a 6-3 double play.

      “That play that Prestan just made would have been a base hit,” Stoudenmire said. “Prestan turned it into a double play.”

      Hall, who is in her first season of high school pitching, allowed just three earned runs. She scattered six hits while walking one and striking out one.

      “She’s really come on strong, and she’s just going to get better and better and better because she’s only a sophomore,” Stoudenmire said. “She enjoys it, and she’s a competitor, so you’ve got to have that person in the circle.”

      Thomas Sumter is in its first year under head coach Duane Dykes. While Friday’s finale was far from pretty, he has seen the good side of this team as well.

“We’ve had our moments where we flashed really good,” Dykes said. “We’ve lost some close ball games. We’ve lost two by one run, two by two runs. We’re in ball games. We’ve just got to finish.”

The Generals lost to 4-time defending state champion Pee Dee Academy 3-2 and to region foe Calhoun Academy 5-4. They lost to defending AA state runner-up Dorchester Academy 8-6 with their only win coming against the Raiders by an 8-2 count.

       “They’re working,” Dykes said. “We’ve got a good squad. They want it, they keep fighting, and we’re going to improve.”