There’s a lot of parity in AA softball

Aynor and Belton-Honea Path high schools have played for the last two AAA softball state championships, could this year be the tie breaker?

Accelerated senior Aspen Boulware and the War Eagles looking for a repeat of the championship magic in AAAA again this year.

Catawba Ridge sophomore Keira O’Brien.

Bryce King (photo) and Chase Price are the top two pitchers this season and both have been dominant early.

As a brand-new school playing baseball a year ago ACA went 11-1 in the region under head coach Larry Prange.

SCHSL AAAA Baseball Top 10 (As of 4-12-2026) 1. Fountian Inn 2. Gray Collegiate 3. Airport 4. Wren 5. AC Flora 6. Hartsville 7. Gilbert 8. York 9. Hilton Head 10. South Florence When We Say Everybody Chasing Fountain Inn In The AAAA baseball Race We Mean It By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner-Fountain Inn (20-2) head baseball coach Blake Roland is surely smiling every time he fills out his line-up card, before his team plays a game, knowing that he has a quality group of players all committed to the game of baseball. In baseball we all know the pitcher on the mound can control the game. Well, Fountain Inn has three quality pitchers led by senior RHP Paul Passmore . Passmore has worked 39.1 innings on the hill with 50 strikeouts and he has a sterling ERA of 0.18. The next two pitchers are senior Parker Davis who has worked 27.1 innings with an unreal 56 strikeouts and he has an ERA of 0.26. Then for good measure throw in senior RHP Collin Wilson who has pitched 28/1 innings with 36 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.74. Is there a better all-around pitching staff on any other team in South Carolina?  Then you have seven players batting .280 or better led by Davis at .396 with an eye turning 24 RBI’s. Senior catcher Mason Guion is hitting .365 with 12 RBI’s and sophomore outfielder/pitcher Colby Keller is swinging it at .353 and 17 RBI’s. Other top Fountain Inn hitters include senior LHP’first baseman Anderson Hayes at .327 and sophomore third baseman/pitcher Cole Dawkins is at .294 while senior utility performer Daniel Rentz is at .286. Who have to believe that Fountain Inn is going to gas-up on high octane once the playoffs start in a few weeks. Gray Collegiate0(14-3-1, 9-0) is a strong number two in our HSSR ranking head under the co-coach’s set-up of assistants James Adams and Terry Oldaker , who are acting as co-coaches this spring. With the change at the top came a challenge for the seniors as well as the assistant coaches, in that they had to bear a larger responsibility to keep the team going in the right direction. “The team was challenged. It’s their season, not ours,” Adams said. “We put some captains in place; that’s never been done before. We’ve leaned on our seniors. We have given them some direction. They have done a phenomenal job with it.” After a 3-3 start, Gray won 11 straight games, including a 5-4 win over region rival and defending 4A champion Airport April 3. The War Eagles got off to a 4-0 lead by the fourth inning, but Airport scored one run in the bottom of the fourth and, after Gray got a run in the sixth, scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Relief pitcher Brogan Sox , who came on to start the sixth, retired three of four Eagles batters to earn the save to starter Zak Perry’s win. “This is No.1 and No. 2 in the region,” Adams said. “It came down to the wire. We had our guys on the bump tonight. We dealt with adversity; we got it done. I’m proud of them, they grinded it out slowly but surely.” Perry is 5-0 on the season with a 0.24 earned-run average in his five appearances and 38 strikeouts. Sox is 2-0 with a 2.48 ERA in six appearances. At the plate Kaleb Holmes leads War Eagle batters with 40 or more at-bats with a .356 average. Chase Starkey is batting .354 with 17 hits and a team-high 19 RBI, and Garrett Blankenship isn’t far behind with a .346 batting average, 18 hits. Noah Styron (.346), M.J. Hornsby (.245), and Perry (.319) all have a home run. After a strong stint in the Gilbert Invitational over Spring Break, the War Eagles’ season goes into its final stretch. Gray faced Brookland - Cayce twice this week and takes on second-place Gilbert next week. How those two series play out will determine how good a seeding the War Eagles get in the postseason. Beyond the push for the playoffs, Adams said he and Oldaker want to make sure the team stays loose and ready for anything that comes along. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. We’re going to keep doing what we are doing,” Adams said. “We’re going to let the boys have fun. We’re going to practice hard and be wise with our time. We want to take the same approach to every game no matter who the opponent is that we are playing.” Look for AC Flora and Hartsville to make strong runs in the AAAA baseball playoffs as well.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Abbeville – Entering spring break, the spring sports teams at Abbeville High have set their sights on a strong finish. Abbeville will have a good presence in the Class A state playoffs when the postseason begins at the end of April. One team hoping for a good run in the baseball team, coached by Daniel Little . Though Little has a relatively young team after losing nine seniors off a 24-win team of 2025. The Panthers carried an 8-3 record into spring break.  “Much younger group with a lot of new faces, but it’s a fun team to coach,” Little said. “They are a scrappy bunch. They play hard and they practice well. We have a lot who have been in the program for a few years waiting on their chance. They know the exprctations of the program and they understand what it takes to compete. “This is my fifth year here so these kids have been with me since I took over and we have grown together. We have good team chemistry and it is a tight group.” The two most experienced players on the roster are shortstop Easton Townsend and pitcher Trey Deason . Deason is hitting .391 through 11 games while Townsend is hitting .333. Sophomore second baseman Thomas Nickles is hitting.381 and sophomore Logan Overholt is hitting .333. Sophomore Brayden Randall l eads the team with 15 innings pitched through March. “We don’t have the big power guys so we have to work hard to get guys on base, play small ball and use our speed to create scoring opportunities,” says Little. The softball team hit the break ar 8-6 overall and 5-2 in region 1-A. Senior Carli Smith has been the leader offensively with a .436 batting average and 12 RBI. Senior Jocelyn Foster is hitting .342 with 11 RBI and senior Miranda Smith is hitting .333. Freshman Rylee Tiller is hittimg .316 with 10 RBI. Freshman Maddie Beiler also has driven in 10 runs. The boys soccer team sits at 7-5 overall and 4-2 in region play. Senior Parker Henderson is among the top players with 16 goals and eight assists. Sophomore Carter Oberholzer has scored 15 goals with eight assists while freshman Juren Dominguez has `10 goals and eight assists. Sophomore Juan Velazquez has scored four goals and juior Brice Williams has scored three goals.

Max Poulakis is one of five seniors Pinewood Prep relies on for leadership on and off the field. 

Lake View — Kaleigh Blackmon is a senior and softball player at Lake View High School . As a student athlete, and dual enrolled with NETC, Blackmon has completed 11 college level classes already and many of these courses will help reduce her college work load. She’s already completed American History, Macroeconomics, Probability and Statistics, English 101 and 102, plus Biological Science, to name a few. Blackmon who has been a starter on her softball teams since the 7 th grade readily admits softball is her favorite sport. She enjoys the challenges of playing in the infield at third base. She is also interested in continuing to pursue athletics at the next level. In the classroom she carries a 4.2 GPA, and she says that after high school she plans to attend Horry Georgetown Technical College to earn an Associate’s Degree in Sonography.  For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Blackmon 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 currently offers over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2025-26 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Currently, Blackmon is enrolled in dual credit online courses offered by NETC. “Being an athlete has helped me improve my time management because I’ve learned to balance practices, games, schoolwork, and all my other responsibilities,” she said. “It’s taught me to stay organized, don’t procrastinate, and make the most of my time.” When asked about what NETC did to help her, Blackmon said, “It helped prepare me for college by teaching me how to manage online classes along with my high school workload and athletics. It has improved my time management, organization, and ability to stay disciplined without someone constantly reminding me.” When asked about the online class experience, Blackmon said her online experience “It helped me become more independent and responsible with my schoolwork,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed taking online classes and that was a confidence booster for her time management and planning skills. I try my best to stay organized by getting my NETC work done at the first of the week. I often get my schoolwork done at school so after practice I have time to spend time with my family.” Blackmon recalled her favorite thing about playing softball “is the camaraderie of the dugout; we chant and cheer to uplift our teammates, and it’s just having fun.”