State championship recap for SCHSL boys soccer

Columbia – State championships in girls soccer were decided at Memorial Stadium in a three-day event that featured 11 state title games. Here is a recap of the championships. (will be updated) Oceanside Collegiate won a fifth consecutive state championship in girls soccer, claiming the Class AAA title with a 3-0 win over Christ Church on Friday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. For the third straight season, Oceanside Collegiate faced Christ Church in the championship and for the third straight year the Landsharks won by 3-0 scores. “All three years the matches went pretty much the same,” said coach Mark Meyer . “It was 0-0 all three years at half. We were able to get control early in the second half and it just carried over. Once we got that first goal, we settled down and pretty much played our game.” Neither team scored in the first half but a more settled OCA dominated the final 40 minutes, doing their damage over an 11-minute span. OCA took a 1-0 lead on sophomore Hailey Piesner’s goal midway through the second half. Junior Ella Petry added a goal six minutes later and junior Hayden Wamboldt scored five minutes after Petry for the commanding 3-0 lead. “We lost 11 players, nine that went to play in college, so I don’t think anyone expected us to be here,” Meyer said. “We’re a young team but we are talented. With our youth we feel like we can be back next year.” Academic Magnet’s girls team capped off an impressive playoff run with a 5-0 win over Dixie High School in the Class AA championship. The Raptors out-scored their playoff opponents 32-1 during their run to a seventh state title in school history. It was their first since the 2018 season. “We had 13 seniors who had not experienced this so I am really happy for them,” said coach Alister DeLong , who won his third title. “Some of them have been four-year varsity players and they’ve worked so hard to reach this point. We had a great day, a great playoff run.” Academic Magnet dominated early play, getting off numerous shots on goal with any success. However, Bridget Lee scored in the 15 th minute of play and the rout was on. Hanna Ismail scored off a rebound five minutes later for a 2-0 lead. The Raptors looked to have scored on a corner kick later in the first half but the goal was nullified by the officials. Sophia Benich found the back of the net two minutes into the second half for a 3-0 lead. Just minutes later, Madeline Moye made it 4-0 and Mattie Vermette closed out the scoring in the 63 rd minute of play. DeLong began to empty the bench for the final 10 minutes of the contest. J.L. Mann and Wando met for the girls title in AAAAA Division I. It was the ninth time the two powerhouses had clashed in the state finals, each team having four wins. J.L. Mann took the series advantage, posting a 3-1 win to claim their fifth title in school history and their first since 2019. “We started out a little shaky to the season but when it really mattered they went out and won games,” said Mann coach Anastasios Georgopoulos . “It’s an amazing feeling. We finished the season with a great moment.” Mann scored all three goals in the first 21 minutes of the contest, the first coming on an own goal when an Ashley Gonzales corner kick bounced off a Wando player’s leg and into the net. Minutes later, freshman Caroline Ray tallied her 14 th goal of the season for a 2-0 lead. Laney Keith’s header, her 15 th goal of the season, made it 3-0. Wando avoided the shutout late with a goal from sophomore Mikayla Humplik. Wando finished 21-6 on the season with only one senior. The roster included 11 sophomores and four freshmen. “We weren’t expected to be here,” said Wando coach Shannon Champ . “We lost eight seniors, six of them went on to play collegiately. To me this was a rebuilding year, just bring them along and maybe get here in a year or two, but here we are playing for the AAAAA Division I state championship. I couldn’t be prouder of the work they put in.”

Berkeley players storming the field after their hard fought win!

Congratulations to all these student athletes!

Phillip Ssimmons head Coach Poses With Five Senior Starters After Big Win Over East Clarendon.

Green Wave to face Byrnes for the state title beginning on Monday

Game 2 of the SCHSL Class AAAAA D-1 Softball Regional series, Summerville at Sumter for the decisive conclusion to a fantastic year for both teams. Enjoy this sample of images, click the link here for the full gallery.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher  Florence ---The AAAA Lower State softball playoff game between region foes South Florence and Hartsville was likely a “Good News Versus Bad News” situation for the winner, and that honor goes to the host Bruins, who rallied for a 6-2 win after trailing early in the game. The Good News is the win itself, and the Bad News is that South Florence has to travel to Gray Collegiate later this week, needing to defeat the War Eagles twice in order to advance to the gold medal round that starts next week. The Bruns lost to Gray Collegiate on Monday 8-2 in the double elimination play-off. After the game, South Florence head coach Bobby Jones, drew his comparison of his team versus Gray Collegiate , the top ranked AAAA softball team in the state with these comments. “First of all, Gray has college prospects sitting on their bench who don’t even start,” said Coach Jones. “As a charter school they draw their players from all over Columbia, and our players all come from South Florence. “They have four Division I college prospects starting on their team, and in all my years coaching softball, I have never had a Division I signee,” said Coach Jones. “Gray is strong one through 15, all the way down the line. “We played a tough schedule against teams like Summerville and Catawba Ridge to get ready for them,” said Coach Jones. “We knew at the start of the season they were the team to beat in AAAA. Our goal is be very competitive and paly our best game of the season when we fact them again.” In reflecting on the Bruins win over Hartsville, Coach Jones said. “Our pitcher ( Payton Perry ) had a good night and our batters came through with key hits when we needed them the most,” said Coach Jones. “Our little 8 th grader ( Rylee Rowsey ) got a triple in the bottom of the 6 th that scored two runs when the game had been tied at two. It was a solid team win tonight.” Coach Jones, in his 29 th year of coaching, said the Bruins will miss all three senior starters from this year’s 24-8 team. Perry is headed to Coker College after a solid career . The other two starting seniors are outfielders Alaina Floyd and Riley Owens and they have been hard workers on the team.” Hartsville (23-6) is head coached by Amber Harvey, concluding her 6th season as the head coach at her alma mater . “ Unfortunately, we have averaged one bad inning on defense, in several of our games this season, and that is what happened again in this game, that cost us the game,” said Coach Harvey. “We have a total of four seniors on the team, and three of them start. Carter Shumate starts at first while Allie Bailey is our main pitcher, and Jaysha McCullough is our starting center fielder. Our other senior is Jenna Storm . Shumate came in to the game batting .513. “Allie Bailey really had a good year for us pitching and she sort of waited her turn and it was her time to shine and we are really proud of her contributions this season,” said Coach Harvey. “Carter has helped us on both defense and at the plate and she had a great throw to the plate from first base to get an out, and we practice that throw from first to home a lot in practice and she executed it very well,” said Coach Harvey. “We are proud of our season this year and with six starters returning for next year we are looking forward to further success.” The Red Foxes were led at the plate by junior shortstop prospect Myah Harvey who batted .522 with 8 home runs, 25 stolen bases, and 39 RBI’s. Shumate was second at .513 and 28 RBI’s followed by McCullough at .488 with 18 RBI’s. Hartsville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Sophomore Emma Kate Hudson led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by 9 th grader Claire Smith . A ground-out by freshman Aliyah Smith moved Hudson to third. Junior catcher Mary Ellyn Hickey then singled in Hudson to give the Red Foxes an early lead. Hartsville extended the lead to 2-0 after batting in the 4 th inning. Shumate led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Hudson. Two batters later Shumate scored on an RBI ground-out by Smith. South Florence tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the 5 th . Riley Rowsey reached on a one-out single. She advanced to second on a walk to Riley Owens . A single by Page White scored Rowsey to cut the deficit to 2-1. Two batters later Ryleigh Hux doubled in White to tie the game. SF was hoping to make it a 3-2 lead but Hux was gunned down at the plate on a perfect throw by Shumate. In the bottom of the 6 th inning, the Bruins sent 8 batters to the plate when they broke the game open with four runs. Blakely Blue drew a one-out walk. Ava Black then reached on an error to put runners on first and second. Ryle Rowsey delivered the big hit of the game, a triple into the deep corner of left field that scored Blue and Black to give SF a 4-2 lead. Riley Owens then singled in Rowsey to make it 5-2. Owens scored the Bruins final run on a throwing error to give SF the final margin of 6-2. South Florence has players batting .354 or better. They are Hux (.395 & 24 RBI’s), Perry (.391 & 28 RBI’s) White (.388 & 24 RTBI’s), R Rowsey (.364 & 21 RBI’s) while Black and Owens are hitting .354.

HHP rallies from 3-1 deficit with 4-run 6th to win program's first ever baseball championship

Summerville pitcher Ansley Bennett threw a no-hitter against Sumter May 19 during the playoffs. Photo by Roger Lee