Spartanburg tops Blythewood, lands in District 2 tournament championship game

A.C. Flora captures the Class AAAA boys state championship title at the Cayce Tennis Center.

Scores, schedules, start times from each of the eight series.

Summerville pitcher Daphne Frady has more than 300 strikeouts this season. (Photo by Roger Lee)

By Rob Gantt Special to The HSSR HANAHAN - Gratification delayed is certainly better than gratification denied.  The Hanahan Hawks baseball team needed a second game May 11 to finally put away Aynor High School , 10-6, for the district championship in the Class 3A playoffs at HHS. Following Aynor's 6-3 victory in game one that forced a decisive clash, Hanahan came out hot in game two. The Hawks erupted for five runs in the bottom of the first, then added a single run in the second inning and added four more in the bottom of the third inning to seize control. "It's been a long day for sure," Hanahan coach Skylar Hunter said. "I've been out here since 8 a.m., doing field work the whole time. And we lose game one, and really lose it in a way where we gave them a bunch of free passes. They didn't find a lot of barrels. We gave them a bunch of runs from errors, passed balls and walks." In game two, the Hawks came out and swung the bats like they were supposed to, Hunter said. "I'm just proud of them for competing," he said. Hanahan (16-14) loaded the bases in its first at-bat and infielder Richard Atencio delivered a two-run single to right field to open the scoring. Outfielder Tripp Gallus , who reached on a bunt single earlier, scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. Hanahan pitcher Chris Polm kept the uprising going and helped himself with a two-run home run through the wind to left field as the lead grew to 5-0. That was plenty of run support for Polm, who earned the win on the mound. The hard-throwing righty hurled three one-hit innings with seven strikeouts. He only threw 59 pitches so he is available to pitch Thursday at Dillon if the Hawks opt to use their ace. In the second inning, Atencio's bases-loaded walk gave the Hawks a 6-0 lead. In the third, RBI singles off the bats off Brendan Moll and Gallus, and a two-run double from Will Muirheid made it 10-0. "It's easy for young teams to fold and they didn't fold at all," Hunter said. "They kept working, kept fighting, kept grinding and got the job done." Aynor (21-7) continued to battle, though, and refused to go away. The Blue Jackets plated four runs in the top of the fifth inning to avoid being mercy ruled, then tallied single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. "I want to make sure I give props to Aynor," Hunter said. "They're a very good team and very well-coached. They're a tough matchup for us every time we play them." Gallus, Atencio, Muirheid and Moll collected two hits each for the Hawks. Outfielder Layton Suggs and infielder Brady Lavin led Aynor with two hits in game two and third baseman Heath Huggins knocked in two runs. In game one, designated hitter Nolyn Nickels ,Gallus and Atencio had two hits for the Hawks. Atencio drove in two runs. Outfielder Xavier Dukes powered Aynor, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a RBI. Suggs and Lavin chipped in two hits.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Lake City- During the 2026 softball season “The Carolina Academy ” Bobcats defeated region rival “The Kings Academy” Lions twice (7-3 and 1-0), so when the two teams won their respective SCISA AA brackets in the post-season tournament at Lexington (May 8-9), fans of both teams knew the best-of-three finals that began in Lake City on May, 11 was going to be like a prize fight, likely to extend to all three rounds. The Lions took advantage of numerous Bobcat errors, including 8 walks, to take game one 5-2. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday (May 12) in Florence for game two. TKA is hoping to sweep and earn a state title. “The Carolina Academy” are the defending SCISA AA state champions so this is not their first rodeo, and in all honesty, they did not play one of their better games of the season on Monday. The difference in this game was TKA sophomore pitcher Addison Bescher who recorded 12 strikeouts, while allowing just five hits. Her best stat might have been “no walks.” After all you need base runners to score runs and free passes glare at you in the stats totals. Ater the game, TKA head coach Jennifer John shared her thoughts. “Addison is pitching with a lot of confidence, and she knows exactly where she is locating her pitches,” said Coach John. “I also think like our girls were really disciplined at the plate. They waited for their pitch, and when they put it in play, they were smart about it. I think that made a huge difference in getting the runs we needed to win. “Addison and Emma (catcher Emma Atkinson ) have been a great pitcher/catcher combination all year and they are two of our best leaders,” said Coach John. “We know that Carolina Academy will come ready to play on Tuesday. We just need to stay focused and not beat ourselves.” Veteran Carolina Academy head coach Scotty Phillips spent a long time in his huddle talk with his team after the game. “I reminded our players that they are better hitters than they were tonight, and they were not attacking the ball very well in this game,” said Coach Phillips. “They have to come out and swing the bats better in game two. They are not getting on base through walks with their pitcher.”  Coach Phillips talked about his own veteran senior pitcher Raylee Frye who has been very impressive over her five- year career . “Raylee, for some reason, has started pulling up her arm a little bit when she pitches over the past couple weeks and we have to get that fixed before game two tomorrow,” said Coach Phillips. “Their pitcher pitched a good game. We will likely go with Raylee in game two and we are confident she will have better control and focus in this game.” Coach Phillips was very complimentary (once again) about veteran catcher Carlie Ann Smith. “ You do not get many like her in a coaching career,” said Coach Phillips. “She’s a very special player.” The Bobcats were limited to five hits in the game from five different players. Frye and Smith had hits along with freshman second baseman Natalie Braveboy , outfielder Paisley Coker and Ella Ham had a double in the 6th inning. As far as what he hopes to expect from his team in game two, Coach Phillips said, “It looked like we were not very confident tonight and I feel like we will be more alert and focused tomorrow,” said Coach Phillips. “We will be ready to play I promise you.” Both pitchers started off the game lights out with each of them retiring the first six batters they faced. Fyre had three of her five K’s in the first two innings. Bescher also had three strikeouts in the first two innings. Left fielder Hannah Allison led off the top of third for TKA with a single. She advanced on a ground-out by and scored on a throwing error to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. The Bobcats pushed across their only two runs of the game in the bottom of the 4 th to take a 2-1 lead at that point. Smith led off with a single. Paisley McCutcheon advanced Smith to second on a sac bunt. Frye drove in Smith with a well-hit ball to center field to tie the game 1-1. Fyre advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Paisley Coker to make it 2-1. In the 6 th inning the Lions added two runs to take a 3-2 lead. Emma Atkinson reached on a one-out double and then the team benefited from a hit batter, and two straight walks with Atkinson tying the game on a bases load walk. Lauren Mills also scored on a bases loaded walk to put her team for good 3-1. Ham got out of the jam with two straight K’s to end the inning. The Lions added two insurance runs in the 7 th inning. First baseman Kate Buckley reached on a one-out single and then three straight walks to Atkinson, Mills, and Haley Griggs led to the Lions plating two more runs to win the game 5-2. The five hits by TKA came from Bescher, Buckley, E. Atkinson, Mills and H. Allison..

Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor  Manning -- After losing to Pinewood Prep 3-1 on Friday in the SCISA AAAA softball state tournament at Patriot Park SportPlex in Sumter ,, Laurence Manning Academy had to do yeoman's work on Saturday to keep alive its hopes of being a 3-time state champion. It did just that, beating Heathwood Hall 6-1 and Wilson Hall 12-0 and 6-4 to win its bracket and advance to the best-of-3 state championship series. Awaiting the Lady 'Cats on Monday at Julie Skolar Field was the one and the same Pinewood Prep, which came into the game undefeated at 27-0. LMA broke through for four runs in the bottom of the third inning and went on to a 6-4 victory. "There again, it goes back to the tournament," said Laurence Manning head coach Buddy Truett . "It was just a case of hitting and passing the bats on down and believing in themselves. We had a good tournament on Saturday and it carried over." Laurence Manning, now 18-4, will be trying to wrap up its third consecutive AAAA state championship on Tuesday in Summerville . The game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will be played on Wednesday at Orangeburg Prep beginning at 6 p.m. The Lady 'Cats scored their only run on Friday against Panthers frehsman pitcher Morgan Everitt in the top of the first. They didn't score for the final six innings of that game and the first two innings on Monday. The 4-spot in the third put the momentum squarely in LMA's favor. "That was huge for us," said Truett, whose team is playing in its fifth straight championship series. "We had the midneset going in to have the same pitching and . play the same defense and believe in ourselves at bat. We wanted to play the mental game, play some small ball and mix it up The girls held to it and it worked out for us. " PP scored twice in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit in half, but Laurence Manning answered with two in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-2. Pinewood Prep rallied in the seventh. scoring twice, but it wasn't enough. Senior Caroline Welch got the win in the circle, going 6 1/3 innings. Seventh-grader Avery Floyd came in to record the final two outs and get the save. Welch scattered eight hits and and walked seven. Seventh-grader Avery Floyd came in to record the final two outs and get the save. To Welch's defense, four of the seven walks were intentional passes to Everitt. She hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the first on Friday to supply the Panthers' offense. "You take that home run away it's probably a different game," Truett said. "We took the bat our of hands. We just felt like if we can play defense we'd be OK. I didn't want that one person to beat us again." The Lady 'Cats were outstanding on defense. They turned four double plays behind Welch. LMA finished with seven hits, three of them going for extra bases. Seniors Marlee Black and Ashley Rae Hodge had two hits apiece. Black had a double and scored a run, while Hodge also had a double to go with two runs batted in and a run. Welch had the other extra-base hit, a triple, to go with an RBI. Senior Lyza Prickelmyer had a hit and scored twice, and senior Lily Wellborn had the other hit.Freshmen Kendall Tanner and Mcree Holcombe each scored a run. Everitt didn't record an out in Laurence Manning's 4-run third. She worked two innings, allowing four runs, only one of which was earned. She allowed three hits and two walks while striking out two. Alexis Buso pitched the final four innings, allowing two runs, four hits and one walk while striking out four. PP finished with eight hits with seventh-grader Sarah Grace Wickersham picking up two. Eighth-grader Kensley Gibbs had a hit , a run and an RBI, while sophomore Makayla Sullivan , seventh=grader Sofia Reed and freshman Grace Snyder each had a hit and a run. Sophomore Juliet Sussman had a hit and an RBI, and Buso had a hit. Reed and Sussman each had a double.

Colleton Prep senior, Sydney Stivender pitched all but one inning in the games the Lady Warhawks played in the May 8-9 tournament.

Berkeley High School Junior, Henry Rivers launched a three homer to seal the win against Lugoff-Elgin.

Pee Dee softball after 5th straight title; Laurence Manning softball, Hilton Head Christian baseball after 3 in a row.