Stratford’s Kowlok Repeats As State Champion In Pole Vault

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Sumter – The Wilson Hall softball team came up short of reaching the SCISA AAAA state championship series, which is a goal for everyone at the start of the season. Only two can get there though, so while not fun to come up short, it is bearable. However, the way things went down for the Barons this season didn’t help at all. Wilson Hall just needed one victory on Day 2 of the state tournament at Patriot Park SportPlex in Sumter to punch its ticket to the title series. Instead, the Barons lost to archrival Laurence Manning Academy twice by the scores of 12-0 and 6-4. LMA advanced to the best-of-3 series instead and swept Pinewood Prep to win a third straight championship. In retrospect though, Barons head coach Teresa Alexander finds it hard not to be proud of the season her team had. “The season’s ending didn’t turn out how we had hped, but I’m really proud of the tough schedule we played and the success we had all year.,” said Alexander, who guided Wilson Hall to a 21-7 record. “I’m excited to see this young bunch return with the experience they now have under their belts. But we will truly miss our seniors, Addie Griffin and Marymae Lampron .” The Barons had four players selected to the All-Region 3-AAAA team in Griffin, freshman pitcher Marsha Kate Skey , sophomore shortstop Mary Paisley Geddings and junior catcher Caroline Moorman . Griffin, who played left field, had a .279 batting average to go with an on-base percentage of .423. She had one double, one triple, one home run, 13 runs batted in and 18 runs scored. Skey was a standout in the circle as Wilson Hall’s primary pitcher. Shd had a `1.69 earned run average to go with 115 strikeouts. At the plate, Skey batted .400 with an OBP of .489. She had three doubles, two triples, 17 RBI and 33 runs. Geddings batted .317 with a .406 OBP to go with seven doubles, one triple, four homers, 26 RBI and 28 runs. Moorman had 14 RBI, 17 runs and four doubles to go with a .354 batting average and an OBP of .429. Other returning starters are freshman second baseman Tatiana Erichsen , freshman outfielder Anna Meldrim , sophomore third baseman Lilly Grace Przybyla , freshman outfielder Emmie Williamson and eighth-grade centerfielder Caroline Andrews . Meldrim hit .412 with three homers, 31 RBI and 24 runs, Przybyla hit .373 with 21 runs and 15 RBI, Williamson batted .263 with an OBP of .500, and Erichsen batted .324 with 19 RBI and 23 runs.

Williamsburg runners makes diving slide for the plate in the playoffs. (Photo by Mara Feagin)

Lady Patriots Katherine Trotter, Bailey Sturkie, Ellie Yonce, Taylor Hilll and Brianna McNeill (not pictured) were selected to the North-South All-Star Team!

By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR ST. STEPHEN - Timberland High School’s boys track and field team finished fourth in the state Saturday, May 15, at Richland Northeast High School. The Wolves, who finished with 45 points, produced state champions in multiple events. They placed three points out of a tie for second place. Hurdler Malyk Goodman won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.63 seconds and jumper Carter Hawkins soared to victory in the triple jump with a mark of 14.24 meters. Goodman also placed third in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.82 and Hawkins finished second in the long jump with an effort of 6.65 meters.  Timberland’s boys sent three more to the awards podium. Hurdler Day’vian Bennett placed third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.89 seconds. Jumper Antaun Faison finished sixth in the long jump with a mark of 6.51 meters. The boys’ 4x100-meter relay team posted a time of 43.17 seconds to place seventh. For Timberland’s boys, jumper Robert Roberts finished 11th in the triple jump with an effort of 12.11 meters, while the 4x800-meter relay placed 11th and 4x400-meter relay team 13th. The Timberland girls finished 10th in the state and sent quite a few to the awards podium (top 8). Kennahdi Murrell placed third in the 400-meter hurdles, sixth in the 100-meter hurdles and seventh in the high jump. Kemani Lampkin finished fifth in the 800-meter run and Jermanee Washington placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles. China Greene recorded a sixth-place finish in the 400 hurdles and teammate Kiana Glenn was two spots back in eighth. Tiana Jefferson finished 12th in the long jump and 13th in the 400-meter dash. Zoe Cooper was 13th in the discus. Timberland’s girls placed eighth in the 4x400-meter relay and 10th in the 4x100 relay.

The THA golf program is relatively new but interest seems to be gaining each year.

Senior Jayden Bennett has had some key turns at bat for Summerville during the playoffs.

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia - The pain of falling out of the 5A Division 2 District 4 tournament May 11 was still fresh when longtime White Knoll softball head coach talked about the season the next day.  The Timberwolves (14-13, 7-3) faced Berkeley for the second time in the tournament. The Stags held a 6-3 lead but White Knoll rallied for two runs in the seventh. After Melinda Veler drew a walk, Reginae Porterfield swatted a 1-out double to put runners at second and third. Lillian Priest lined out on the next at-bat, but Berkeley first baseman Emma Drawdy misplayed Adelynn Lewis’ ground ball, enabling Veler and Porterfield to score and cut the Stags’ lead to 6-5. With Lewis on base representing the tying run, Jaida Gray struck out swinging to end the hopes of an upset, and close out an otherwise great Timberwolves season. “It’s hard to shake it off. In the season you go to the next game but at the end of the season you can’t,” said Farr, who watched her team take a 3-0 lead only to be hit with Berkeley’s run in the third and a five-run fourth. “I could see my kids kind of feeling it, you could see it in my kids eyes,” she added. “We’ve got to fight to survive and they rallied around those seniors. They knew their time was coming and for two outs we were down 6-5. And that last pitch, it’s a hard way to go out. We’ve got to regroup and build off of what we did this year.” White Knoll beat Socastee 8-7 May 4 to get into the bracket, then upset Berkeley 3-2 May 6. West Florence , led by phenomenal pitcher Annie Eliason (19-0, 0.00 ERA, 309 strikeouts; who gave up two hits and struck out 20) beat White Knoll 7-0 May 8 to set up the rematch with the Stags. While the season ended on a sour note, there was much to praise about a team that Farr said few people would look to as contenders. After a young Timberwolves team battled through trials and tribulations, injuries and other issues, Farr said she watched her team come together in the second half of region play. “On senior night we really started playing for each other and giving it everything we had,” Farr said. “They worked their tails off to get better every single day and it showed. We have 12 players who fought their hearts out. We got to that fourth game, and our losses were close. We were right there, and it really was just one lucky pitch and that’s how the runs ended up.” White Knoll loses just two seniors in Priest and Gracie Fisher , but those seniors made a huge impact on the team. Priest had three home runs, 11 RBI, 34 hits and a .405 batting average. Fisher batted .311 with a double and 14 RBI. “Those two seniors have left their legacy, and we’ll continue with what they started on this swing upward,” Farr said. “We’re really excited that everyone else is returning.” Among the returners are freshmen Veler and Porterfield, and sophomores Charity West and E.G. Birchmore . Porterfield finished with a .393 batting average and a team-leading four home runs and six triples, six doubles and 20 RBI. Veler had 31 hits and 17 RBI to go with a .360 batting average an a .415 on-base percentage. West hit .323 with 11 hits and 10 runs batted in. “Mindy Veler started out in left field since seventh grade and she’s fantastic,” Farr said. “She’s got speed and runs down everything in the outfield but she’s really a good infielder, can play shortstop without missing a beat. An unbelievably great kid who won’t talk very loud but she’s a leader. “Reginae, that kid is small but she’s strong and compact. She can fly and you can’t get anything past her in centerfield,” Farr said. “Charity has been our DP and catcher. She puts the ball in play and has quality at-bats.” Birchmore caught fire in the circle late in the game and finished the season with a 2.23 earned-run average. She was 3-1 in five appearances. “E.G. is a pitcher and utility player, one of those kids in the past couple of years who was always there,” Farr said. “We didn’t expect her to be our starting pitcher but in the back half of the season she started to pour it on and keep us in games. She’s a battler along with our other pitchers.” The White Knoll baseball team finished 10-14 and 5-5 in Region 4-5A, but had a bounce-back season after going 7-22 and 0-10 the year before. The Timberwolves reached the play-in series of the 5A Division 2 District 3 tournament, but fell two games to zero in the best-of-three series with Lugoff - Elgin . White Knoll fell 4-1 in game one, but rallied for six runs in game two after falling behind 7-0. The Timberwolves had a 4-run rally going on in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and two men on, but a strikeout closed out the game and the season. Senior Dillon Woods led the team with a .465 batting average, five home runs and a .573 on-base percentage. Senior Jean Maldonado batted .364, and junior Tra Johnson batted .329. The team loses six seniors but has plenty of younger hitters, fielders, and pitchers to put together another successful season next year.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence —Saving their best game of the season for the third game tiebreaker in the SCISA AA softball finals, The Carolina Academy Bobcats defeated The Kings Academy 14-1 on the Florence Christian softball field to win their second straight state title. The Kings Academy had won game one in Lake City while the Bobcats won game two on the road, so a third game tiebreaker was needed. For Bobcat head coach Scotty Phillips, it was his 7 th state title in 27 seasons as the team’s head coach.  The Bobcats pounded out 16 hits, from 8 different players in their line-up, and their five- run spot in the first inning set the tone for the rest of the game. After the game, Coach Phillips told the HSSR, “I will tell you what we did on the way over here on the bus,” said Coach Phillips. “We sang to Jesus, one song was Gratitude, plus several others and this team truly believes in the Lord. I will tell you that this is a great group of girls who have a lot of faith and they also have a lot of faith in each other. “Getting five runs in the first inning was huge for us and I will take that every day,” said Coach Phillips. “ Carlie Ann ( Smith ) had a fire cracker tonight (went 5-for-5) and she played a great tournament along with EllaHam (3-of-4 & 2 RBI’s) played here tail off and came on strong late in the season and she was the tournament MVP in Sumter as far as I am concerned and she had a great game tonight. “I feel awesome for the team winning two in a row and they worked their tails off to have success,” said Coach Phillips. They have been up and down throughout the season, and we kept telling them that they could be an awesome ball club and they came over here (Florence Christian) and put it all together tonight.” Carolina Academy senior pitcher/center fielder Raeley Frye will be named the HSSR-SCISA AA Softball Player of the Year when the publication’s softball all-state team is announced around June 1. She has been the ace pitcher in the circle for the Bobcats the past two seasons. Coming into the game she had pitched 84.2 innings with 108 strikeouts with an ERA of 2.48. At the plate she batted .352 with a team leading 32 RBI’s and seven home runs. Frye was a happy senior captain after the game. “If you had told me years ago (7 th grade), when I first started playing softball under Coach Scotty, that we would be where we are today, I probably would have told you no way,” said Frye. “It has been a lot of hard work.” Frye was asked what the difference was between game one, when the team lost 5-2 to The Kings Academy, and this third game that they dominated? “In the past two games we just started playing better as a team, and we started trusting each other more,” said Frye. “You can’t have a team not trusting everyone and you can’t play well if you are divided. This team has been together for a long time and we trust each other.” Frye went 1-of-2 in the game including an inside the park home run that produced the Bobcat’s first two runs in the first inning after Smith led off with one of her four doubles and five hits during the game. In the circle Frye worked four innings, allowed five hits with three strikeouts before being relieved by Ham for the final two innings when the Bobcats had built an 8-1 lead. Other Bobcat hitters in the state championship win included center fielder Ham, a sophomore, who went (3-of-4 & two RBI’s) and in her two innings of relief in the circle Ham allowed one hit while striking out three batters. Sophomore third baseman Lauren Sims went (2-of-4 & 2 RBI’s). Sophomore first baseman Lexi McCutchion had a hit and two RBI’s, while freshman shortstop Paisley McCutcheon went (2-of-4). Freshman second baseman Natalie Brayboy contributed a hit and senior right fielder Savannah McCutcheon had a hit with two RBI’s. After the game, The Kings Academy head coach Jennifer John told the HSSR. “I am really proud of my team, and this was the first time we have been in the state finals,” she said. “Our two senior starters are our third baseman Lauren Mills and out first baseman Kate Buckley and our two senior subs are Maddie Cottrill and Maddie Creveling and we will miss all four of them. “ We really have a young team and with this game today it will fuel our returners to want to play harder and get back here again with a better result,” said Coach John. “We will have seven starts back including our sophomore pitcher Addison Bescher .” While the bobcats had perhaps their best overall game of the season this game was certainly not one of the better ones for The Kings Academy. “We got behind early and we just never recovered from the five runs they scored in the first inning,” said Coach John. “I feel like, you know what, that this game will motivate us to come back stronger next season.” The Lions got six hits in the game. Bescher led the team with two hits. She also had 9 strikeouts in the circle. Center fielder Emma Taflinger had a hit as did catcher Emma Atkinson . First baseman Kate Buckley and shortstop lead-off batter Ava Grace Keefe provided a hit. For the season, Carolina Academy had six starters bat .292 or better. Prior to the state championship game, the top hitter was Ham at .459 with 28 RBI’s. Smith was next on the hit index at .432 and 10 RBI’s. Fyre was at .352 with a team leading 32 RBI’s and seven home runs. Sims came into the final game batting .328 and 15 RBI’s for the Bobcats. Sophomore OF/Catcher Paisley Coker was batting .317 with 17 RBI’s while Braveboy was at .315 with 14 RBI’s. Paisley McCutcheon came into the final game batting .292 with six RBI’s. Other members of the Carolina Bobcat team include junior Katherine Holliday , left fielder Ema Amos , and 9 th grader Kaylee Lyerly . Ham had 53.1 innings with 78 strikeouts with an ERA of 3.41 coming into the final game.

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