SCISA CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDUP

Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • May 15, 2025

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

              The softball teams from Carolina Academy and Holly Hill Academy and the baseball team from Lee Academy won SCISA state championships on Wednesday.

 

           Carolina topped Dorchester Academy 5-2 to complete a sweep of the best-of-3 AA softball series, and Holly Hill whipped W.W. King Academy 15-4 to win its second Class A softball title in three years. Lee scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to top Andrew Jackson Academy 11-5 and win the AA baseball crown.

 

           In the Class A baseball series, Holly Hill Academy defeated defending state champion Richard Winn Academy 7-2 to force a deciding game on Thursday.     The game will be played at Calhoun Academy in St. Matthews beginning at 6 p.m.

 

Two Game 1s were played with Ben Lippen beating Hilton Head Christian 5-1 in the AAAA baseball series, and Hilton Head Prep topping Orangeburg Prep 3-0 in the AAA baseball series. The Game 2s will be played on Thursday in Bluffton and Orangeburg, respectively, with both having 6:30 p.m. starting times.

 

           Game 2 of the AAAA softball series between Laurence Manning Academy and Wilson Hall scheduled for Wednesday was postponed due to rain. It will be played at Julie Skolar Field in Manning on Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. Defending state champion LMA leads the series 1-0.

 

           AA SOFTBALL

 

           Carolina 5

           Dorchester 2

 

           St. George – Carolina rode the pitching of Raylee Frye to a 5-2 victory at the DA field, giving the program its first state title since 2010.

 

           Frye scattered five hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out four. Both of the runs she allowed were unearned.

 

           CA, which finished the year with an 18-8 record, scored single runs in the second and third innings to go on top. It added three in the sixth to go up 5-0.

 

           Carolina finished with seven hits with Natalie Braveboy leading the way. She was 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in. Savannah McCutcheon had a hit and two RBI, while Frye had a hit, a run and an RBI. Carly Ann Smith and Ella Ham both had a hit and a run. Paisley Coker had a hit and Paisley McCutcheon had a run. Lauren Sims drew two walks.

 

           Rylee Matthews had a double and scored a run for the Raiders, who finished at 19-6. Lyla Owens scored the other run, both of which came in the seventh. Molly Blanchard, Lucy Varnadoe, Emery McClure and Lily Canady also had hits.

 

           Ava Higbe pitched the first five innings for DA, allowing three hits and two runs while walking three and striking out three.

 

           CLASS A SOFTBALL

 

           Holly Hill 15

W.W. King 4

 

           Batesburg-Leesville – Holly Hill exploded for eight runs in the top of the second inning and rolled to a 15-4, 5-inning victory at the WKA field to clinch the title.

 

           King led 3-1 after the first inning before the Raiders made it 9-3. They put it away with a 5-run fourth.

 

           Leading the way for HHA, which finished 16-4, was Taylor Wright. She was 2-for-3 at the plate with two doubles and five RBI. Wright was also the winning pitcher, allowing three hits while walking four and striking out four. None of the runs allowed were earned.

 

           Kaley Bell, Payton Strickland and Chloe Wren had two hits apiece. Bell had three RBI and two runs, Strickland had two runs and an RBI, and Wren had a run and an RBI. Kaylee Brabham had a double, a run and an RBI, Kloie Mizell had a hit, two runs and an RBI, and Milly Kate Prescott had a hit and three runs.

 

           Holly Rikard had a hit and an RBI to lead WKA, which finished 10-4. Emma Enlow and Blythe Buzhardt both had a hit and a run, while Claire Massey and Kenzie Morse scored a run apiece. Abby Aull had an RBI.

 

           AA BASEBALL

 

           Lee Academy 11

           Andrew Jackson 5

 

           Bishopville – Lee trailed through the first 4 ½ innings before tying the game in the fifth and winning it in the sixth at the LA field.

 

           AJA, which finished, scored two runs in both the first and second innings to open a 4-1 advantage. The Warriors led 5-2 after four before the Cavaliers rallied.

 

           Tyler Gilbert led 17-6 Lee, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and three runs. Brayden Davis was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBI. Myles Frye had a hit and two RBI, and Andrew Bowers had a hit, two runs and an RBI.

 

           Noah Brazell, Landon Olson and Tucker Rodgers each had a hit and a run, and Cash Holloway had a hit.

 

           Gilbert worked the inal two innings to get the win. He allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out three. Davis pithed the first five innings He struck out five while walking four and allowing five hits.

 

           Jack Walling had a big game for Andrew Jackson. He was 4-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI and a run. Hayden McClung had a hit and two runs, and Walker Terry had a hit. Channing Terry scored twice.

 

           Channing Terry started on the mound and worked five innings, allowing 10 hits and three earned runs. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. 

HSSR’s Top Rated 2026 Football Prospect, Timberland’s Desmond Green Chooses Florida As His College Choice From 21 Major Offers That He Had

By Billy Baker • June 27, 2025
Desmond Green with his Mom at his commitment announcement.

Breaking: Timberland's Desmond Green Commits

By Billy Baker • June 26, 2025
HSSR's #1 rated 2026 football prospect Desmond Green!

Numerous Transfers Add To The Depth Of Gaffney Football Entering The 2025 Season Under New Head Coach Donnie Littlejohn

By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Senior running back Jaiden McDowell also returns and he recently ran a 4.47 at a skills combine camp.

Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month

By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month Lake View — Kaylynn Turner is a senior who plays softball and volleyball at Lake View High School . Turner said she started playing volleyball in the seventh grade, but softball is her favorite sport, which she started playing in the 9 th grade. On the volleyball court, she played all around as a utility player and played left field in softball. Being a two-sport student athlete brought opportunities. Turner says this about team play, “My favorite part is being on a team with friends, forming new friendships, and the support from family.” In the classroom, she carries a 4.07 GPA, and she says that after high school she plans to major in Exercise Science with an end goal of a career in Occupational Therapy, or as an athletic trainer. While she has not ruled out continuing softball at the next level, if she gets that opportunity, her favorites teams are Coastal Carolina , USC , and Florence Darlington Tech .  For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Turner has been chosen the “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits, in various subjects, that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The NETC is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Currently, Turner is enrolled in two dual credit online courses offered by NETC. She already completed many basic requirements for her freshman year of college. She has focused on taking key classes for her major, like Medical Terminology, History, and Spanish. She added that she “already took care of many first-year classes and hopefully this puts me a semester ahead when I start college.”. When asked about what NETC did to help her, Turner said it “helped her develop important time management skills, especially while playing sports, attending high school, and taking college level classes online through the NETC. “Dual-enrollment classes really taught me the difference between in-person classes, versus online classes which prepared me for what’s I should experience in in college,” said Turner. When asked about the online class experience, Turner said the experience was a “confidence boost” that enhanced her time management skills. “The online classes were doable when I thought they weren’t,” she said. “Before taking online classes, I was more of a procrastinator, and I learned to be more on top of my work.” Turner recalled her favorite time playing softball “In the first game of the lower state playoffs this past season, I played a long ball off the fence and I was able to throw it back to the infield and we got the lead runner out.”

Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month

By Larry Gamble • June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month  Lake View — Kason Herlong is a senior two-sport athlete at Lake View High School , where he earned all-region honors in two seasons as the starting quarterback on the football team. He was recently named the Class A Baseball Player of the Year by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association and Herlong has signed a baseball scholarship to attend North Greenville College . He has also earned Class A all-state honors in baseball by the “The High School Sports Report” for the past three seasons. Herlong batted .418 with two home runs and 17 RBI’s this past season. On the mound he was 7-1 with 80 strike-outs in 50.1 innings of work. He had a .556 ERA also. Of the two sports, Herlong favors baseball. Baseball is a sport he has played since he was first enrolled in T-Ball. Herlong was also chosen to represent Lake View in the 2025 North-South all-star baseball game. He has a very bright future ahead of him in the sport of baseball. In the classroom he carries a 5.23 GPA. He has been taking dual credit online courses through the NETC since he started the ninth grade. Just a sample of his completed college course work includes College Algebra, Biology, English 1, English 2, Computing, and Economics. For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, Herlong has been chosen the “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. With his high diploma earned, and numerous college level courses completed with NETC, Herlong should start college as a sophomore when he reports to campus at the end of the summer. He plans to major in Accounting in college. “Taking NETC online courses had a huge impact, including being better at prioritizing my time,” said Herlong. “How you do one thing, is how you do everything. And it helps keep me focused on meeting priorities and deadlines in both academics and athletics,” said Herlong. When asked about the impact on starting his collegiate career, he commented, “By taking these online classes now, I’ve got extra credits completed to put me one step ahead. I’ve been very blessed to have this opportunity.” Herlong said that while baseball is his favorite sport, he also enjoyed playing football. As a two-sport athlete in high school, and dual enrolled for online college classes through the NETC, he feels better prepared to meet the challenges ahead of him as a student athlete at North Greenville University. Herlong has a favorite memory from his baseball career. ”This season, we won against Latta for the Lower State Championship,” he said. “Last season, we got beat by Latta for the lower state championship. We came back this season and turned that around by beating them twice on their field. Those two wins advanced the team to play for a State Championship.”

Cavaliers Return Eight Offense Starters to Grid Iron This Fall

By Neill Kirkpatrick • June 18, 2025
Cav’s head coach Quinn Hatfield.

Athletic Success Encompasses Many Factors at Colleton Prep

By David Shelton • June 18, 2025
Colleton Prep rising senior Ava Murray batted .543 with six homers, 31 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in her junior season.

Lady Gators’ Horne Finishes Season On Top Of Podium

By Rob Gantt • June 18, 2025
By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR GOOSE CREEK – Goose Creek High School track and field coach Jason Winstead said hurdler Kourtney Horne was at her best in the Class 5A Div. II state track meet. Horne believed she was going to be challenged in the 100-meter hurdles May 15 at Spring Valley High School. Horne ran like it, too, making it look easy on the way to her first track and field state championship for the Gators. Horne cruised across the finish line in 14.2 seconds, 18 hundredths of a second ahead of the runner-up. “We saw her best,” Winstead said. Horne placed eighth in the event in 2024, more than a full second behind her winning time at state. “Her future is as bright as it possibly can be,” Winstead said. “Watching Kourtney run the last month or so has been fun. She’s such a competitor. She does a great job of getting ready to run. She just got off to a great start.” Horne became the third Gators hurdler in a row to win a state championship. Faith Jones finished first in 2024 and Robert Wheatley reached the top of the podium in 2023 for the Goose Creek boys. “We’ve had pretty good hurdlers around here for a while,” Winstead said. Horne also placed second by two hundredths of a second in the 400-meter hurdles. Wisdom Johnson added a runner-up finish for the Goose Creek boys in the 110-meter hurdles. More notable finishes for the Gators were turned in by long jumpers Julian Whitfield and Trevor Smalls . They placed second and third in the boys event. Kaprice Manigualt-Garrett finished second for the Gators' girls in the 400-meter dash.

Panthers Continue To Thrive On The Pitch

By Roger Lee • June 18, 2025
Sophomore Briggs Gwozdo was named the SCISA 3A Boys All-State Team.

Spartanburg Day Starting Junior Varsity Football Program This Season

By Billy Baker • June 18, 2025
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Spartanburg —It’s not often you get to build a football program from the ground up, but that is exactly what Spartanburg Day football coach Partick Moffitt (actually the Director of Football) has been experiencing for the past year as the school transitions from a middle school program into a varsity program by the Fall of 2026. This past May Coach Moffit worked out 36 candidates for the junior varsity program that the school will have in the Fall. By 2026, the Griffin’s will be playing varsity football likely at the AA level. “We went 3-3 in the six games we played with a group of middle schoolers in the fall and we were mildly shocked at the fan support we got at games and how unity starting a football program was bringing to the school,” said Coach Moffitt. “Having some success in the early going helped everyone’s confidence also.” Spartanburg Day played games against Christ Church , Southside Christian and St . Jospeh’s last season. “Our numbers have picked up in a year from 20 kids playing on our 5 th to 8 th grade team last year to now having 36 players competing to play at the junior varsity level and that is very positive,” said Coach Moffitt. “When we had May football drills it was like teaching some kids real basic fundamentals of the game because many of them had never played the sport before,” said Coach Moffitt. “It is a really hands on experience for sure.” Coming all of the May drill period into June Coach Moffitt has a really good idea of who his better players come August when the team plays even more competitive games. He starting quarterback will be Rutledge Hall described as a dual threat with a high football I-Q. He was a starting free safety on the middle school team last year. “Rutledge has a good arm and he uses his feet when he has to escape pressure also,” said Coach Moffitt. The likely starting running back out of the spread offense is likely rising freshman Bennett Johnson . Johnson gained 163 yards and scored two touchdowns last season as a middle schooler. The offense uses four receivers. Camden Teal , who recently won the 800 meters run at the SCISA State track meet, will be one starting receivers. He had seven catches for 99 yards last season. He will be joined by Tyler Fermanders , Chandler Wilson , and the team is still seeking that 4 th receiver. The offensive line will be comprised of left tackle Nicholas Quinn , right tackle Charlie Birch , center Sammy Crain , right guard Cale Willoughby and left guard Gibbes Montgomery. Many of the offensive players will flip to defense and play both ways. Quinn and Birch flip to defensive ends while Willoughby flips to defensive tackle. Newcomer Lawson Robinson will start at defensive tackle. “Lawson is an 8 th grader with a high motor and he plays a very physical type game,” said Coach Moffitt” The Griffins defense will consist of four linebackers. They are Charles Wilson , Mike Bennett , Heath Boyd , or Rutledge. Ben Visk could also see some action at linebacker. The three deep secondaries will consist of Fermanders, Camden Teel , and a flip between Rutledge and Visk. Charles Wilson is the place kicker and Charlei Birch is handling punting duties. “Our goals are to keep kids engaged in the sport and hope that they fall in love with practice,” said Coach Moffitt. “We just hope our young players continue to develop and build off our successes of our first season. We hope everyone of them develop into good football players.” Right now, Coach Moffitt has one assistant coach and he is Justin Crain who works with both lines. A little later this summer Chris Cormier will be joining the program as the defensive coordinator. Coach Cormier was a top athlete who played in the highly successful St. Aquinas Florida prep football program in the late 1990’s. The team will begin the season on August, 29 against the Greenville Hurricanes.
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