Williamsburg baseball team has smooth transition to new head coach Britton Morris

           Kingstree – The Williamsburg Academy baseball team is in its first season with Britton Morris as head coach. It doesn’t appear the Stallions have skipped a beat in the transition to the new head coach from Tyler Boyd, who left after eight seasons to become the football head coach at his alma mater, Lamar High School.

           Williamsburg owns a 14-2 overall record and is 4-0 in SCISA Region 3-AAA. The Stallions will face Pee Dee Academy on Tuesday, April 21, in Mullins and on Thursday, April 23, in Kingstree. Pee Dee is 3-1 in region pla.

          The only losses came to South Carolina High School League AA school Lake City and Class A Hannah-Pamplico.

          Morris is happy with the way Williamsburg has progressed throughout the eason.

          "I feel like these guys have come a long way this year," Morris said. "Missing out on the stae championship each of the lsat two years after coming so close in 2023 seems to have lit a fire to be better under this team. We lost our second and third games of the yeaer to account for our only two losses.

          "Our expectation as a team is to compete for and win a state championship, so I'd say we still have a ways to go to accomplish our expectations, but I've been pleased with our guys so far. Down the stretch I'd like to see us imprrove in everything honestly. I tel our guys every day that we should be consistently getting better each game regardless of opponent."

           Williamsburg returns five starters from last year’s team that had a 19-5 overall record and reached the semifinals of the state playoffs. They are senior Jay Kellahan, junior Charlie Caulder, freshman Caden Morris, senior Connor Morris and junior Hall Dukes.

           Kellahan is the everyday shortstop and bats leadoff. Caulder, an All-Region selection last season, starts in center field and bats second. Caden Morris is the catcher and hits in the 3 hole, while Connor Morris hits cleanup and plays first base. He was an All-Region selection and also played in the SCISA North-South All-Star Games.

           The left-handed swinging Dukes bats fifth and plays second when not on the mound as a starting pitcher. Another Morris – Marlin Morris – bats sixth and is the designated hitter. Junior leftfielder Grant Small hits seventh, and junior Ethan Jones bats eighth and plays right and is a starting pitcher.

           The ninth spot is held down by either junior Sammy Tomlinson or sophomore Lane Patrick, depending upon who is pitching. Tomlinson plays third and is a starting pitcher, while Patrick is a utility player being used at catcher, second and in left.

           Caden Morris was team’s litting hitter as an eighth-grader with a .488 batting average to go with six doubles, two tripes and 21 runs batted in. He also threw out seven baserunners.

Connor Morris had a .429 average with two home runs and 17 RBI, Dukes had a .381 average and 14 RBI, Kellahan batted .333 , Caulder batted .333 and Small hit at a .323 cip with three homers, and Marlin Morris hit two homers and drove in 16 runs.

           Dukes, Tomlinson and Jones worked mostly in relief last season, but they are being called upon as starters this year.

           “These are this year’s starters who we count on to give us a majority of the innings,” Coach Morris said.

           Williamsburg has Patrick, Small, Caulder, Wheeler and Caden Morris available for relief work. They are all right-handers.

           The Stallions lost their No. 2 and No. 3 hitters in the batting order and their top two pitchers in Bryce Blackburn and Layton Morris to graduation.

           Coach Morris told his team to just worry about what each teammate could do in their absences.

“The hole left by these two is an impossible one to fill, but I told our guys that we didn’t need them to be Bryce and Layton, we needed our guys to be the best versions of themselves and not let a massive shadow be cast on this team by the losses,” Coach Morris said.

The rest of the roster includes junior outfielder Tyler Prosser and junior outfielder Seth Cherinko.

           COX IN FIRST YEAR AS SOFTBALL COACH

           While she helped with the junior varsity team last season, Jada Cox is in her first season as the Williamsburg varsity softball head coach. She admits it hasn’t gone quite like she had hoped. However, as players and coaches continue to learn more about each other, Cox expects things to get better.

 “I’m looking to build this program and build these girls as players and as people,” said Cox, who took over for veteran retired head coach Pat Wildes. “These girls and this team have come such a long way in a short amount of time. It has been fun to watch them grow and work.

“I think coming into this season I had some unrealistic expectations because I didn’t know what it was like coming in new to a program. But as the season has progressed, I always set new expectations. I don’t think we are ever content with how we are playing and performing, I know as a coaching staff and as a team, we always want more and always expect more.”

The Stallions return six starters from last season with the most significant being pitcher Abby Ward. Other key performers are Sophia Jacobs, Preslee Cooper and Krisalyn Hanna.

           Cox said finding a stable starting lineup and batting order is still a work in progress.

“My lineup changes from day to day giving different kids different opportunities but also keeping the team competitive,” she said.

 Other members of the team are Audrey Wadford, Perry Wise, Maggie Jones, Riley McCrea, Alexis Worrell, Ann Hadley Sutton, Elci Kate Nesbitt, Corrine Kellahan and Madison Forsythe.

Dillon Christian, Williamsburg and Pee Dee have the only softball teams in Region 3. The Stallions lost both of their games to Dillon Chritian and still have to face 4-time defending state champion Pee Dee.