Pee Dee Wins Fifth Straight Softball State Championship

Dennis Brunson

hssr.com Associate Editor

Walterboro – It’s official. The Pee Dee Academy softball program can now say it has been able to bear the title of state champion for the past half decade.

           The Golden Eagles won their fifth consecutive state crown on Tuesday, beating Colleton Prep Academy 8-1at the CPA field to sweep the best-of-3 SCISA AAA championship series.

           PDA, which beat the War Hawks 10-0 in five innings on Monday in Mullins, finished the season with a 28-2 record.

           This is the ninth straight season Pee Dee played in a state title series. It also claimed a championship in 2017.

           In Monday’s win, senior Maddie 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 pitcheas, 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 Careoll

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.

Carolina Academy beats The King's Academy 8-7 to force deciding game in AA

Carolina 8

The King’s Academy 7

Florence – Carolina Academy kept alive its hopes of defending the SCISA AA title with an 8-7 victory over The King’s Academy on Tuesday at the TKA field.

The deciding game in the best-of-3 series will be played at Florence Christian School on Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. 

Raeley Frye and Ella Ham did the work in the circle for the Bobcats, who improved to 15-10. Ham smacked a home run, while Paisley Coker had two multiple-run hits.

Addison Bescher had 12 strikeouts in the circle for the Lions. Bescher also had 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in The King’s Academy’s 5-2 Game 1 win on Monday in Lake City.

TKA head coach Jennifer John said Emma Atkinson had a great game catching Bescher, and that Emma Taflinger, Scarlet Rose Rivers and Chloe Ritter backed her in the field with great catches.