Pee Dee wins fourth consecutive SCISA softball state championship

Columbia – As the regular season progressed, Bamberg-Ehrhardt girls track coach Travis Wilson felt more and more confident about the chances of his team competing for a 2025 state championship. Wilson’s team peaked at the right time, winning the Class A state championship on May 15. It was the first state title in school history and came after two years of being a top five finisher in the state meet. “Been a long time coming but we just continued to build towards being a champion,” said Wilson, who is in his 14 th season as coach. “It took a total team effort. We had girls really step up and some performed better than they had all season. It takes that kind of effort to win a state title.” Bamberg-Ehrhardt edged out runner-up Dixie in the final team standings, finishing with 96 points to Dixie’s 92 points. Dixie did more of its damage in the distance events, led by Ansley Prescott’s individual wins in the 800, 1600 and 3200 meter runs. “I knew Dixie would be the team to beat because of their strength in the distance events,” Wilson said. “I told the girls all I could ask for was their best effort and we would see how it all ended up. We were able to get key points in a few events. Every point counts.” Bamberg-Ehrhardt had three individual state champions. Carmyn Folk won the 400 meter hurdles. Ezariah Williams won the discus and Briaunjunal McMillan was the javelin state champion. Depth, however was the key to the team victory, Williams gathered key points in the shot put (second), and Keshauna McMillan was third in the shot put. Folk finished fourth in the long jump while Jayna Sanders finished fourth in the 800. Daisha Etheridge was fourth in the 100 hurdles. “The goal was to finish in the top 10 in as many events as we could and see how it all ended up,” Wilson said. “Just do your best. Depth is so important. I was nervous going into the meet because I knew we had a chance if everyone did what we needed. It was a real blessing to see them compete at the highest level and be so committed to helping the team.” Wilson also credited the work of his assistant coaches for the win. Those include Rell Haynes, Marcus Cann, Shaniya McMillan and Z Sellers. Calhoun County won the Class A boys title, also using depth to earn key points. The Saints finished with 108 points. Abbeville finished as the runner-up with 77 points. The championship was the first for Calhoun County but coach Wayne Farmer has coached 10 state title teams. “This team continued to be consistent all season,” Farmer said. “For me, as a coach, I really enjoy the process and the grind that it takes. It’s very satisfying to see the kids perform at their best and earn the opportunity to celebrate. It was a total team effort. I’m so proud of these kids. They truly learned how to be champions and what it takes to become champions.” Leading the way for the Saints were individual state champions Kamari Kelly (800), Amerr Guinyard (triple jump ), Jamari Canty (shot put) and Elijah Glover (javelin). Clark Prochaska was second in the pole vault while Kelly was second in the 400. Guinyard was third in the javelin and Jayden Parker was second in the shot put. “They stepped up and we got some points that we may not have expected,” Farmer said. Lamar sprinter Xavier Jackson won two gold in the 100 and 200 meter events. Abbeville’s Karson Norman was second in the 100 and third in the 200. Class A individual results Girls 400 relay – Baptist Hill; Boys 400 relay – Ridgeland; Girls 3200 relay – Dixie; Boys 3200 relay – Calhoun County; Girls pole vault – Ivy Stroble, St. John’s; Girls long jump – Jade Exley, Ridgeland; Boys long jump – Jamarion Kirkland, Blackville-Hilda; Girls 100 hurdles – Janiya Fludd, Baptist Hill ; Boys 110 hurdles – Nykeis Btown, Abbeville; Girls 100 meter dash – Breyanna Williams, Blackville-Hilda; Boys javelin – Elijah Glover, Calhoun County; Boys shot put – Jamari Cantey, Calhoun County; Boys 100 meter dash – Xavier 0Jackson, Lamar; Girls discus - Ezariah Williams, Bamberg-Ehrhardt; Girls 1600 – Ansley Prescott, Dixie; Boys 1600 – Abram Suggs, Green Sea Floyds; Boys pole vault – Jayden Press, Governor’s School; Girls 400 – Breyanna Williams, Blackville-Hilda; Boys 400 – Karson Norman. Abbeville; Girls 400 hurdles - Carmyn Folk; Bamberg-Ehrhardt; Boys 400 hurdles – Nykeis Brown, Abbeville; Boys high jump – Xavier Jackson, Lamar; Girls 800 – Ansley Prescott; Dixie; Boys 800 – Kamari Kelly, Calhoun County; Girls high jump – Kandyce Mathis, St. John’s; Girls 3200 – Ansley Prescott, Dixie; Boys 3200 – Abram Suggs, Green Sea Floyds; Girls 1600 relay – Carver’s Bay; Girls Triple jump – Tanisha Myers, Green Sea Floyds; Boys triple jump – Amerr Guinyard, Calhoun County; Girls shot put – Mykeryah Holmes, Lee Central; Boys discus - Antaevion Donald, Dixie; Girls javelin – Briaunjenal McMillan, Bamberg-Ehrhardt; Girls 200 – Breyanna Williams, Blackville-Hilda; Boys 200 – Xavier Jackson, Lamar.

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia - Rainy conditions in the Midlands Saturday kept J.L. Mann and Wando off the courts for the 5A Division I championship. While championships at the other classifications were hashed out at the University of South Carolina’s indoor tennis facility that day, the Patriots and Warriors opted to play another day, considering that the other six teams battled each other until 6 p.m. Thursday afternoon at the USC indoor tennis facility, J.L. Mann and Wando finally engaged in a rematch of last year’s 5A title match. Just as last year’s outcome, the Patriots came through with a victory. J.L. Mann (27-0) got wins in doubles and in No.2 – No.5 singles to claim a 5-1 victory and win their fourth straight state championship. Wando No.1 Owen Griffiths defeated Christian Holloway 6-3, 5-4 (retired), but J.L. Mann No.2 Sebastian Hyjek defeated Benny Bonavito 6-2, 6-3; Nolan Curran defeated Graham Anderson 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3; James Parker defeated Nacho Oria 6-3, 6-2 at No.4; and Aaron Kumar defeated Vijay Pandey 6-1, 7-5 at No.5. The Patriots doubles team of Miles Vogt and Holden Lucas defeated Nico Oria and Ethan Gawryluk 6-3, 6-1. “My seniors have been here between five and six years total, I’m losing my 1-3 next year,” J.L. Mann head coach John Armstrong said. “For them to come out here and be a part of four state titles is pretty incredible.” J.L. Mann’s No.1 player, Holloway, and No.2 player, Hyjek, signed to play tennis for The Citadel last November. The No.3 player, Curran, has not yet signed. While those three move on, Armstrong said the rest of the team is pumped to try for a fifth straight state crown. “We’ve got a really promising young group of guys,” Armstrong said. “We’ve been talking about it a little bit. We’re going with ‘Fear the Thumb.’” Wando (18-1) had been state runner-up the last six times it reached the state final. Head coach Bob Lang hoped that the seventh time might be the charm. While the Warriors fell again, Lang said the season won’t be diminished because of a loss to a top-notch team. “I’m really proud of the boys. They’ve had quite a season,” Lang said. “This was a rough finish, but we just played a really, really good team. We put up a good fight today and were in a few matches here and there, but they just came up with the shots they needed, when they needed to, and they’re a class team.” Wando loses five seniors, including No.1 player Owen Griffiths, No. 2 Ben Bonavito, who signed to play for Coker, and doubles players Nico Oria and Gawryluk, and Aidan Norman .  “All of them have started at one time or another,” Lang said. “But in the top five, we should have three coming back. We’ve got a good nucleus coming back and we’re going to try to get here again. It’s hard to get here, and we appreciate that and understand that. But it wouldn’t shock me if this team (J.L. Mann) just reloads and gets back here again.

Game 3 in SCISA AAA baseball championship series to be played Monday at Dorchester Academy beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Holly Hill – It was a sour taste that lingered for a year in the mouths of every player on the Holly Hill Academy softball team. Winning is better than mouthwash. The 2025 Raiders completed a 16-4 season by winning the SCISA Class A state championship, defeating W.W. King in two games (6-4, 15-4) in a best-of-three championship series. Holly Hill won their last seven games of the season. The victory makes Holly Hill state champion for the second time in three years but it was not winning the championship in 2024 that fueled the fire this spring. Though heavily favored last season, the Raiders were upset in the state tournament, eliminated by Jefferson Davis Academy. “We didn’t get it done last year but we still felt we were the best team in the state,” coach Kally Knight said. “Losing last year was all the motivation this team needed. They had a great focus all through the offseason and it carried over into the season. We weren’t perfect by any means but the four losses came to good teams and it helped us stay focused.” In the game one win, Holly Hill banged out nine hits. Kaylee Brabham collected three hits and Kloie Mizell had three runs batted in to lead the offense. Pitcher Taylor Wright had two hits and threw a complete game while allowing four runs. The bats stayed hot in game two as the Raiders totaled 12 hits and took advantage of six King errors. King took a 3-1 lead after the first inning but Holly Hill posted eight runs in the second inning and had a five-run fourth inning to close the deal in five innings. Wright had five RBI on three hits, including two doubles. She again tossed a complete game inside the circle. Kaley Bell had two hits and three RBI while Peyton Strickland and Chloe Wren each added a pair of hits and each had an RBI. “We were a good hitting team really all season and a lot of girls contributed from game to game,” Knight said. “We knew if we cut down walks and played good defense, we were going to be tough to beat. “This team deserves this. They worked hard and they built a strong chemistry. It’s great to see them celebrate being champions again.” Rounding out the roster were Milly Kate Prescott , Ariel Stanley , Abby Burleson , Shelby Hanson , Bethany Martin and Kaylee Cuttino . Brabham and Wren are the only seniors on this year’s team so expect the Raiders to be a contender once again.

Carolina Academy, Holly Hill win softball titles; Lee Accademy wins baseball crown

Game 2 of the SCISA Class AAA Softball Championship series, Pee Dee Academy at Clarendon Hall Academy for the decisive conclusion to a fantastic year for both teams. Enjoy this sample of images, click the link here for the full gallery.

Lady 'Cats can win second straight title with victory at home on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Ehrhardt —Despite being out-hit 6 to 2, the visiting Lee Academy Cavaliers took advantage of several errors to defeat Andrew Jackson Academy 6-5 in game one of the SCISA AA state finals on May, 13 th . The two teams will meet again at 7:30 p.m. today at Lee Academy (Bishopville) and if the Cavs win it will be their first state baseball title since 2019 when they were head coached by David Rankin who is now at Carolina Academy . Lee Academy is now head coached by Danny Price , who was an HSSR All-State selection in 1991 when he graduated from Lee Academy and he also played in the HSSR- SCISA Challenge all-star game after graduation. Lee Academy is expected to throw left-handed pitcher Braydon Davis today. He is 6-0 with 57 K’s in 40-1 innings of work. AJA is expected to throw Channing Terry who is 2-0 with 45 K’s in 42.2 innings of work. After the game on Tuesday, Coach Price told the HSSR, “Other than the 6 th inning I felt like we played fairly well on both sides of the ball,” said Coach Price. “All season long we have pitched Fyre earlier in the week and then our lefty (Braydon Davis) pitches the next game and that is what we plan to do at home on Wednesday. “I was an assistant with David Rankin when we last won a state title back in 2019 when my sone was on the team,” said Coach Price. “We hope to play well at home tomorrow and win a state championship.” AJA head coach Jason Mathys told the HSSR after the game, “Other than that one bad inning I felt like Landon (Johnson) pitched well enough for us to have won the game,” he said. “The errors hurt for sure. We have scored a lot of runs on our aggressive base running this season and our speed on the base paths have been one of our strengths on the season. However, it caught up with us in the 6 th inning. Those two outs in the bottom of the 6 th hurt our chances for sure. “We will pitch Channing Terry at Lee on Wednesday and we hope he pounds the strike zone,” said Coach Mathy’s. “We must also cut out these errors also.” Against AJA, Lee Academy scored one run in the first inning after Noah Brazell reached on an error, stole second and moved to third base on a ground-out by Brayden Davis . Brazell scored on a single by Andrew Bowers . In the top of the 4 th inning the Cavaliers plated four runs to go ahead 5-0 as they sent 10 batters to the plate against starting pitcher Landon Johnson . After Landon Olson and Tyler Gilbert began the inning with back-to-back walks. A two-base throwing error scored Olson and Gilbert on a mis-handled bunt put down by Tucker Rodgers to make it 3-0. The next two batters struck-out. Then Carson Davis singled in Rogers to make it 4-0. After two back-to back walks to Brazell and Braydon Davis a single by Bowers made it 5-0. In the bottom of the 4 th , AJA pushed across a run. Johnson reached on a hit-by-pitch and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Eli Mathys to make it 5-1. In the top of the 5 th Lee Academy added a very important insurance run that ended up being the difference in the game. Rodgers reached on a hit-by-pitch, stole second, and scored on a throwing error to make it 6-1. In the bottom of the 5 th AJA plated two runs to trail 6-3. Kaiden Kinard struck-out, but the catcher dropped the ball and he was able to reach first safely ahead of the throw. Kinard then stole second and scored on Jack Walling’s single. Walling stole second and third and scored on a fielder’s choice RBI by Channing Terry to cut the deficit to 6-3. In the bottom of the 6 th inning, it was a picture of good and bad for the Warriors. Brad Hightower and Mathys led off with back-to-back singles, and then Hall Sease drew a walk to load the bases with no-outs. Hayden McClung singled in Hightower to make it 6-4 and then Kinard then drew a bases loaded Rbi walk to bring in Mathy’s and a heads up play by Sease made it 6-5 when he ran in right behind Mathy’s on a throwing error. Then two AJA runners got hung-up between second and third and first and second (on the same play) and both were tagged out by an alert Cavalier defense resulting in two- outs when the situation could have been a score of 6-5 with runners on second and third with no-out. The next AJA batter grounded into the third out and the 6-5 score help up for a Lee Academy victory.

Game 1 of the SCISA Class A Baseball Championship series, Andrew Jackson Academy at home facing Lee Academy . Enjoy this sample of images, click the link here for the full gallery.