The Kings Academy Defeats Carolina Academy 5-2 In Game One of SCISA AA Softball Finals
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 4th 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 6th 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 7th 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..
