Pee Dee softball makes it five state championships in a row
Golden Eagles sweep Colleton Prep to claim SCISA AAA state championship
Mullins – Will Eskridge and any of his assistant coaches who’ve been with the Pee Dee Academy softball team can now say it. For that matter, seniors Maddie Coward and Leah Nettles can as well.
What is it? They now have one for the thumb.
The Golden Eagles have now won five consectuvive SCISA state championships. The latest came with a sweep of Colleton Prep Academy in the best-of-3 AAA championship series.
“It is still a little surreal,” said Eskridge, the PDA head coach. “Any time you win a championship you’re excited to win the championship. Winning five in a row, it’s hard to comprehend. It doesn’t seem real that you can do that.”
Pee Dee finished the year with a 28-2 record, beating Colleton Prep 10-0 in the opening game and following it with an 8-1 victory to complete the sweep.
In the opening game, Coward tossed a 1-hit shutout. Coward, who has started in the circle for each of those five title teams, struck out nine, walked one and hit a batter. She threw 52 pitches, 43 for strikes.
Pee Dee scored two runs in the first inning, one in the second, three in both the third and fourth and closed it out with a run with one out in the fifth.
Dinah Johnson had a 2-run single in the first inning, while Lilly Grace Rowell had a sacrifice fly that scored Carly Carroll in the second.
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The Eagles scored three runs in the third before Addison Hasty had a 2-run double in the fourth followed by an RBI double by Azeleigh Arnette to make it 9-0. The game-ending run came on a triple by Carroll
Hasty and Arnette both had two hits to lead PDA’s 8-hit attack. Coward added a double, and Rowell had a single to go with her sac fly. Carroll and Johnson had the other hits.
Coward wasn’t nearly as effective in the second game. She again allowed just one hit, but she missed out on getting a shutout again.
PDA had 11 hits in the clinching game. Hasty had two of them, including a solo home run. Arnette had two hits as well, one of them a 2-run homer.
Coward, who will be playing collegiately at Wofford, went out in style a t the plate. She was 4-for-4 and scored four runs.
Carroll had two hits while Rowell had a hit.
Not only have the Eagles won fivd straight titles, they have played in nine consecutive championship series.’Eskridge said he doesn’t know exactly why PDA has been so successful.
“I don’t have a magic answer,” he said. “The Lord blesses me every day, more than deserve. I think we have fun, but I don’t know what the magic formula is. Whatever it is it’s working really well.”
