Game 3 in SCISA AAA baseball championship series to be played Monday at Dorchester Academy beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Holly Hill – It was a sour taste that lingered for a year in the mouths of every player on the Holly Hill Academy softball team. Winning is better than mouthwash. The 2025 Raiders completed a 16-4 season by winning the SCISA Class A state championship, defeating W.W. King in two games (6-4, 15-4) in a best-of-three championship series. Holly Hill won their last seven games of the season. The victory makes Holly Hill state champion for the second time in three years but it was not winning the championship in 2024 that fueled the fire this spring. Though heavily favored last season, the Raiders were upset in the state tournament, eliminated by Jefferson Davis Academy. “We didn’t get it done last year but we still felt we were the best team in the state,” coach Kally Knight said. “Losing last year was all the motivation this team needed. They had a great focus all through the offseason and it carried over into the season. We weren’t perfect by any means but the four losses came to good teams and it helped us stay focused.” In the game one win, Holly Hill banged out nine hits. Kaylee Brabham collected three hits and Kloie Mizell had three runs batted in to lead the offense. Pitcher Taylor Wright had two hits and threw a complete game while allowing four runs. The bats stayed hot in game two as the Raiders totaled 12 hits and took advantage of six King errors. King took a 3-1 lead after the first inning but Holly Hill posted eight runs in the second inning and had a five-run fourth inning to close the deal in five innings. Wright had five RBI on three hits, including two doubles. She again tossed a complete game inside the circle. Kaley Bell had two hits and three RBI while Peyton Strickland and Chloe Wren each added a pair of hits and each had an RBI. “We were a good hitting team really all season and a lot of girls contributed from game to game,” Knight said. “We knew if we cut down walks and played good defense, we were going to be tough to beat. “This team deserves this. They worked hard and they built a strong chemistry. It’s great to see them celebrate being champions again.” Rounding out the roster were Milly Kate Prescott , Ariel Stanley , Abby Burleson , Shelby Hanson , Bethany Martin and Kaylee Cuttino . Brabham and Wren are the only seniors on this year’s team so expect the Raiders to be a contender once again.

Carolina Academy, Holly Hill win softball titles; Lee Accademy wins baseball crown

Game 2 of the SCISA Class AAA Softball Championship series, Pee Dee Academy at Clarendon Hall Academy for the decisive conclusion to a fantastic year for both teams. Enjoy this sample of images, click the link here for the full gallery.

Golden Eagles top Clarendon Hall 12-3 to sweep best-of-3 AAA series

Lady 'Cats can win second straight title with victory at home on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Ehrhardt —Despite being out-hit 6 to 2, the visiting Lee Academy Cavaliers took advantage of several errors to defeat Andrew Jackson Academy 6-5 in game one of the SCISA AA state finals on May, 13 th . The two teams will meet again at 7:30 p.m. today at Lee Academy (Bishopville) and if the Cavs win it will be their first state baseball title since 2019 when they were head coached by David Rankin who is now at Carolina Academy . Lee Academy is now head coached by Danny Price , who was an HSSR All-State selection in 1991 when he graduated from Lee Academy and he also played in the HSSR- SCISA Challenge all-star game after graduation. Lee Academy is expected to throw left-handed pitcher Braydon Davis today. He is 6-0 with 57 K’s in 40-1 innings of work. AJA is expected to throw Channing Terry who is 2-0 with 45 K’s in 42.2 innings of work. After the game on Tuesday, Coach Price told the HSSR, “Other than the 6 th inning I felt like we played fairly well on both sides of the ball,” said Coach Price. “All season long we have pitched Fyre earlier in the week and then our lefty (Braydon Davis) pitches the next game and that is what we plan to do at home on Wednesday. “I was an assistant with David Rankin when we last won a state title back in 2019 when my sone was on the team,” said Coach Price. “We hope to play well at home tomorrow and win a state championship.” AJA head coach Jason Mathys told the HSSR after the game, “Other than that one bad inning I felt like Landon (Johnson) pitched well enough for us to have won the game,” he said. “The errors hurt for sure. We have scored a lot of runs on our aggressive base running this season and our speed on the base paths have been one of our strengths on the season. However, it caught up with us in the 6 th inning. Those two outs in the bottom of the 6 th hurt our chances for sure. “We will pitch Channing Terry at Lee on Wednesday and we hope he pounds the strike zone,” said Coach Mathy’s. “We must also cut out these errors also.” Against AJA, Lee Academy scored one run in the first inning after Noah Brazell reached on an error, stole second and moved to third base on a ground-out by Brayden Davis . Brazell scored on a single by Andrew Bowers . In the top of the 4 th inning the Cavaliers plated four runs to go ahead 5-0 as they sent 10 batters to the plate against starting pitcher Landon Johnson . After Landon Olson and Tyler Gilbert began the inning with back-to-back walks. A two-base throwing error scored Olson and Gilbert on a mis-handled bunt put down by Tucker Rodgers to make it 3-0. The next two batters struck-out. Then Carson Davis singled in Rogers to make it 4-0. After two back-to back walks to Brazell and Braydon Davis a single by Bowers made it 5-0. In the bottom of the 4 th , AJA pushed across a run. Johnson reached on a hit-by-pitch and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Eli Mathys to make it 5-1. In the top of the 5 th Lee Academy added a very important insurance run that ended up being the difference in the game. Rodgers reached on a hit-by-pitch, stole second, and scored on a throwing error to make it 6-1. In the bottom of the 5 th AJA plated two runs to trail 6-3. Kaiden Kinard struck-out, but the catcher dropped the ball and he was able to reach first safely ahead of the throw. Kinard then stole second and scored on Jack Walling’s single. Walling stole second and third and scored on a fielder’s choice RBI by Channing Terry to cut the deficit to 6-3. In the bottom of the 6 th inning, it was a picture of good and bad for the Warriors. Brad Hightower and Mathys led off with back-to-back singles, and then Hall Sease drew a walk to load the bases with no-outs. Hayden McClung singled in Hightower to make it 6-4 and then Kinard then drew a bases loaded Rbi walk to bring in Mathy’s and a heads up play by Sease made it 6-5 when he ran in right behind Mathy’s on a throwing error. Then two AJA runners got hung-up between second and third and first and second (on the same play) and both were tagged out by an alert Cavalier defense resulting in two- outs when the situation could have been a score of 6-5 with runners on second and third with no-out. The next AJA batter grounded into the third out and the 6-5 score help up for a Lee Academy victory.

Game 1 of the SCISA Class A Baseball Championship series, Andrew Jackson Academy at home facing Lee Academy . Enjoy this sample of images, click the link here for the full gallery.

Seven of the eight series sheduled to start on Tuesday; AAA baseball series between OP and Hilton Head Prep to begin Wednesday

Sumter - Softball action from Sumter, SC as softball teams from around the state converge on Patriot Park and Palmetto Park to battle their way through the brackets. All teams came to Sumter looking for that path to the state championship. Many great plays from so many talented young athletes. This was two great days of softball action. SCISA SOFTBALL 2025 - Championship Series Class 1A Softball W.W. King vs. Holly Hill Academy Holly Hill host Game #1 / W.W. King to host Game #2 Class 2A Softball Carolina Academy vs. Dorchester Academy Carolina Academy host Game #1 / Dorchester Academy to host Game #2 Class 3A Softball Clarendon Hall vs. Pee Dee Academy Pee Dee host Game #1 / Clarendon Hall to host Game #2 Class 4A Softball Wilson Hall vs. Laurence Manning Wilson Hall host Game #1 / LMA to host Game #2 Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery.

AAAA, AAA best-of-3 series to start on Tuesday; AA, Class A still scheduled to begin on Monday

SCHSL Boys Tennis State Championship Recap By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia - Thunderstorms throughout the Columbia area Saturday threatened to soak the South Carolina High School League boys tennis state championships, but once the venue moved from the Cayce Tennis Center to the University of South Carolina’s indoor tennis facility off Rosewood Avenue, three out of four championships fell into place. Myrtle Beach claimed the 5A Division 2 championship, A.C. Flora won the 4A crown, and Oceanside Collegiate won the 3A state title as the matches played out over the afternoon on the 6-court facility. The fourth, the 5A Division 1 matchup between upper state champion J.L. Mann and lower state champion Wando , was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday at noon at the USC indoor tennis facility. While under cover, USC’s facility is small compared to the Cayce Tennis Center’s 23-court spread, which would have had eight teams battle out four championships over the course of about four hours. 5A Division 2 Myrtle Beach downs upstate rival Riverside Regardless of classification in which they compete, the Myrtle Beach and Riverside tennis teams have been getting meeting in the state finals for several years. The Pirates won the 4A state title in 2023 with a win over the Warriors. The next year Riverside returned the favor and claimed the 4A crown. This spring both teams moved up a classification and found themselves in the 5A Division 2 bracket. And on Saturday through the rain and location change, Myrtle Beach claimed its second state championship in three years with a 5-1 defeat of the Warriors. “Riverside’s a great team,” Myrtle Beach head coach Jeremy Howe said, noting Riverside head coach Heather Gage . “They had a great strong team last year, and this year they were bringing back two returners, same as us. We have a good crew, but man, I respect that coach all day, and what they’re doing up there.” In singles, No.1 Spencer Green defeated Nathan Purica 2-6, 6-4 (10-0); No.2 Ashiv Patel defeated Hadden Otay 6-1, 6-1; No.4 Foster Cahill defeated Jaehun Kwak 6-4, 6-4, and No.5 Wyatt Anderson defeated Eric Zhou 6-0, 6-4 for Myrtle Beach. The doubles team of Gage Van Wagner and Kenneth Gunter defeated Thomas Belflower and Cooper Pauls 7-5, 7-5 to clinch the win. The only match that fell Riverside’s way was when Myrtle Beach No.3 player Caleb Cahill retired from his match with Spencer Thicke because of cramps. That happened after the Pirates clinched the championship. Gage, whose team won their first state championship in 20 years last year, said her young team is poised to do better in the future. “I’m really proud of my guys today,” Gage said. “It might be the same school and the same program, but I lost five starters from my program last year, and these guys who came in this year fought tooth and nail for every single point. They loved to go on the court and they played with character and class. I can’t ask for anything more.” Having an upstate rivalry to aim for will help her young team, Gage said. “It’s fun to have somebody to aspire to, we talk about it all season long,” Gage said. “Now these guys have the experience this year, they’ve been in this environment and they can come back next year knowing what to expect, and that pressure, it’s going to be so much easier to handle.” Howe, whose team has won three state championships in his four years with the team, thinks another “I can see them coming back again and again,” he said of the Warriors. “I hope that we’ll be back again and make it (to the state championship match) five years in a row.” 4A AC Flora tops Bishop England for 4A title This year’s A.C. Flora boys team picked up where the school’s 2021 state championship team left off. Despite the stoppage of play in the middle of the first sets in singles at the Cayce Tennis Center, and resumption of play in the USC indoor tennis facility, the 2025 Falcons kept their cool and took out Bishop England 5-1 to claim the team’s third state championship. “I don’t know how it works but each one gets sweeter and sweeter,” head coach Amy Martin , who won four state championships, three with the boys and one with the girls, said. “This was the middle school team from 2022, we grew them up from 2021 and they have come out and gotten exactly what they needed to get done this year.” Bishop England No.1 player Dante Naud defeated James Smyth 6-1, 6-4, but the Falcons notched a victory in every other match. No.2 Jude Smyth defeated Roland Wier 2-6, 6-1 (10-3), No.4 Vijay Sinha defeated Colin Murphy 6-1,6-2; No. 4 Will Hewitt defeated Parker Murphy 6-2, 6-4; and No.5 Wiliam Beasley defeated Lucas Kizzetto 6-2, 6-4. In doubles, the No.2 team of Will Trumpeter and Tripp Van Vlake defeated Andrew Hamilton and Caleb Watson 6-1, 6-0. The doubles match was the first win on the board for the Falcons, and once that victory was notched, the hassle of weather and moving from venue to venue disappeared. “We had to keep it rolling. We were a couple of games up, but that means nothing,” Martin said. “We came to a new surface, a new place where fans weren’t allowed to walk around, but we had to keep the same momentum we’ve had for the past three months.” The Falcons (21-1) had carried the momentum of a formidable team, but going into the final match Martin said she felt the pressure of finishing the season on a high note. She added that the team didn’t know much about the Bishops coming into Saturday’s match, and that helped, rather than hurt. “We knew nothing about Bishop England and that was probably to our advantage that we had no knowledge of them,” she said. “Because we overthink and sometimes it’s better to not know anything about your opponent sometimes. BE boys (14-2) coach Kristin Arnold knows that her team put in a lot of good work over the season, and with losses to two state champions, Flora and 3A champion Oceanside Collegiate, the Bishops record is a good one. “We had a great season, I’m very proud of the boys,” Arnold said. “The boys team hasn’t been to the state final since 2019 and they’ve worked incredibly hard to be in this position to be back here. They worked hard and competed and I’m very proud of them, it just wasn’t their day.” 3A Oceanside Collegiate wins fifth straight state championship The venue change didn’t bother Oceanside Collegiate at all. The 2024 2A state champion Landsharks took out Clinton 6-0 to win the 2025 3A championship, the boys team’s fifth straight state title. “We’re very lucky that our team is able to compete in different classes, 1A, 2A, 3A, we’ve been all over the map,” Head coach Alex Lazano said. “I’m just very lucky to have such good players that will allow us to succeed at any level.” Among those players is Coach Lazano’s son, No.1 player Alex Lazano , who defeated Nathan Meade . “Proud dad moment, he’s going to go play for The Citadel ,” Lazano said. “He’s won four straight high school championships. A lot of boys underneath him have won two or three state championships, and all the boys are working hard and competing. We’ve seen them from freshman all the way through graduation.” Behind Lazano’s son were No.2 Luke Skillman , who defeated Edwin Orr ; No.3 William Claus , who defeated Matthew King ; No.4 Oliver Pfarr , who defeated Jacob King ; and No.5 Huck Reynolds , who defeated Cooper Stinson . The No.2 doubles team of Carter Heath and Helms Sandel rounded out the victory by defeating Jake Meyerholz and Malakye Brewer . The success of the Landsharks’ tennis program–the girls team has won three state championships–moves the team forward, Lazano said. “It’s a tradition,” he said. We’ve had I think four or five more others who have moved on and are playing college tennis right now. That’s a big draw for those guys to see that and fill in the spaces.” For Clinton, a 2A school that competed among 3A teams all year, just reaching the final match of the year is a testament to the players’ hard work, Red Devils head coach Clovis Simmons said. “We were put in with 3A this year and that was kind of a shock, but I used it and told the guys that we’ll just have to be the 2A team that makes it the longest distance and hopefully win the 3A bracket,” Simmons said. “We fell short but at least we were here.”

By Billy G. Baker Publisher West Columbia — Gray Collegiate Academy boys’ soccer coach an athletic director Kevin Heise, celebrated his 600 th career win late in the 2025 season, and his current War Eagle’s team improved their record to 22-3 with a first round AAAA play-off win over Gilbert , 5-0, on May, 7. The War Eagles will now host Brookland - Cayce on Saturday May, 10. The Bearcats advanced with an 8-0 win over Wilson High . In the win over Gilbert, the Gray boys’ team took 26 shots on goal, making five of them. The goals were scored by five different players. Those War Eagles scoring goals included Ethan Mohundro , Noah Mitchell , Jason Gonzalez , Gavin Greer , and Tanner Leggette, Andres Camp has one assist while Mohundro led the team with two assists and Jay Ethridge added one assist. Earlier in the week, prior to his game with Bluffton, the HSSR interviewed Coach Heise as he was keeping stats on his lap top, watching the Gray Collegiate girls’ soccer team defeat Bluffton 6-1 on May, 6. “We finished 21-3 in the regular season with a 13-1 region record,” said Coach Heise. “The one region game we lost was to North Augusta in penalty kicks at their place earlier in the season. We were fortunate enough to come back home later in the season and best them 4-0. “Winning the region was a big goal because it sets us up well for the play-offs and here, we are getting ready to play Bluffton,” said Coach Heise. “We always hope to be playing our very best once the paly-offs begin.” Coach Heise talked about the seven seniors on this year’s team who have been a vital part of the programs the past several years. He began with senior goalie Joey Sullivan being a four-year starter for Gray. ”Sullivan has already competed in three state championship games, so he has a lot of experience and he has a huge number of minutes played, that will never be surpassed here,” said Coach Heise. “It is very rare to play start four seasons and play in all 30 games each season. He is a good leader for us.” Sullivan has 58 saves in goal this season and he has only allowed 12 goals in well over 1,000 minutes of play. Sullivan is headed to the Honors College at USC. In the mid-field the War Eagles are led by senior Noah Mitchell who has 11 goals and a team leading 26 assists to date. Mitchell is an all-state performer and he will be on the Carolina’s Classic team. Mitchell will be attending Emory University in Virginia. Senior Ethan Mohundro id also in the mid-field. “He’s our glue guy,” said Coach Heise. “He does all the dirty work and leads by example.” Another key forward/mid-fielder is junior Andres Campo who transferred into the program from Cardinal Newman last season. Camp has 14 goals and 12 assists so far this season. Freshman Jason Gonzalez also works hard in the mid-field and he has 11 goals and six assists coming into the post-season. Coach Heise is especially pleased with the play of three marking backs who have led the defense for several years as starters. “Really, a key aspect of our team is three seniors who play in the back,” said Coach Heise. “ JJ Evans is going to be playing in the North-South game (also has 7 goals & 7 assists) and he is joined in the back by senior Junior Gonzalez who is just a great soccer player,” said Coach Heise. “He turned down several colleges offers to move back to Mexico this summer. Then we have in the back senior Jay Ethridge who will also play in the Carolina’s Classic all-star game after the season. Jay has signed to play at USC Lancaster next year.  “All seven of our seniors are a very special group of players that we will miss,” said Coach Heise. ”I can’t put it any other way. They are very special players in our program.” Nathan Hernandez is a senior versatile player, on offense and defense, who has missed most of the 2025 season with a knee injury. “Nathan has been a three-year starter but he has only played in about a quarter of our games this season,” said Coach Heise. “The game he has played in, he has made an impact and knock on wood that he can play and give us a shot in the arm in the play-offs.” Some non-senior starters include sophomore mid-fielder Will Webber who has scored 14 goals with 11 assists to date. “He is on the outside and he is tied for the most goals on the season and he just a sophomore,” said Coach Heise. “We have a junior up-front Tanner Leggette and he is a beast, a very big boy at around 200 pounds and he has scored 10 goals with seven assists. We also have a junior right marking back who has started all but one game this season in David Andrade . Freshman Jason Gonzalez has started 8 games for the team this season and he has 11 goals and six assists tohis credit so far. “We have 26 total players on the team and we rotate them in-an-out-out all the time,” said Coach Heise. “All of our players are hard-working and dedicated to the sport of soccer.” Over the past three seasons, Gray Collegiate boys’ soccer has been in the state finals three years in a row. They lost to Christ Church three years ago and to sister charter school Oceanside Collegiate the past two seasons. Can this senior dominated team take that next step and win a state title this season? “The thing I am most proud of is that this team wants to really prove that they can compete at the AAAA level,” said Coach Heise. “Before realignment this year we competed at the AA level. We know that people are waiting to see what we can do at the AAAA level. “In the three championship games we have lost we were beat, 2=0, 1-0, and 3-0,” said Coach Heise. “In two of these games we had a chance to score to score in the first minute of play and one hit the post and the other we just missed a wide-open shot. “You have to score in order to win and we have to take advantage every scoring opportunity we get,” said Coach Heise. “The play-offs are single elimination so we have to play our best from here on out.” Coach Heise is now in his 8 th season at Gray Collegiate. His top assistant is brother Kyle. Other assistant coaches include: Bryan Fallaw, JT Gardner, and Todd Wilkerson. Alisa Dancer is the team statistician. The Gray Collegiate Girls Soccer team Finishes 22-3 On The Season To describe the boy’s and girls’ soccer teams at Gray Collegiate as a family affair would be right on the mark. Emily Heise , wife of Kevin Heise, is the head coach of the War Eagle’s girls’ soccer team. After an opening play-off win over Bluffton (6-1) to start the the play-offs on May, 6 the team lost an over-time hard-fought game to traditional power Hilton Head, 2-1, three-days later to conclude a very successful 2025 season at 22-3. Against Bluffton goals were scored by five different players. Leading the way with two goals was sophomore forward Caroline Cantrell . Cantrell finished the season with 21 goals and four assists for 46 total points. Junior Vanessa Coleman , junior Victoria Coleman , junior Bailey Lancaster , and freshman Maggie Ingram each scored one goal against Bluffton. The top scorer on the team was Victoria Coleman with 32 goals and 22 assists for a total of 86 points. Lancaster finished the season with 47 points, with 11 goals and a team leading 26 assists. Senior goalie Sophie Hoffman allowed only 12 goals all season in 1,460 minutes played. She had 14 shut-outs on the season. Coach Emily Heise, who is expecting the couple’ third child in the near future, is assisted by Kevin Heise , Katie Clampitt , and Kenneth Smith . Kyle Heise is the team’s statistician.

Tournaments resume on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Patriot Park, Palmetto Park in Sumter

By Billy G. Baker Publisher  Batesburg —The Batesburg - Leesville Panthers (18-6-1) won their first two games of the 2025 AA baseball playoffs at homes with dominating 11-1 wins over Fairfield Central and Liberty on May, 6 and May, 8 and the Panthers can now enjoy the “sit back” as they await the winner between Liberty and Buford. Liberty will host the game with Buford at 2 pm on Saturday. The winner will advance to travel to Batesburg-Leesville on Monday May, 10 needing to beat the Panthers twice in order to advance. The HSSR was on hand for the Panthers 11-1 win over Liberty, and head B-L coach Chad Bouknight shared some thoughts after the win. “We swung the bats well tonight and after we got a head they had to take their starter out, and then they had to throw some guys who had not thrown a lot, and we were able to take advantage of that,” said Coach Bouknight who played high school baseball at Batesburg-Leesville. “We are taking the rest of the season game-by-game,” said Coach Bouknight. “I still do not know how good we are. In my opinion, we have not played up to our full potential yet, and that is a good thing. We started off the season with home and home games and we spilt with them and we are proud to have won 18 games. “There are a lot of good teams in the upper state AA like Mid-Carolina, Chesnee, Clinton, Andrew Jackson, and Strom Thurmond just to name a few so we have a lot of good teams in front of us,” said Coach Bouknight. “We just need to stay focused and keep improving. “Our lead-off is right fielder Reese Boehnke (19 RBI’s/4 doubles/2 triples & 9 SB) and average wise he might be hitting what he would like, but he is a good lead-off and if gets on base he can do a lot,” said Coach Bouknight. “Then our two-hole hitter Tanner Watkins is having a great senior season (.403/ 23 RBI’s/4 doubles/2 triples/1 HR) and I wish he was a junior, because if he were, he would have a really great chance at going somewhere, and we are still hoping that he does get an opportunity, but he is a kind of late bloomer.” Watkins also plays excellent defense in center field. Coach Bouknight calls three- hole batter, shortstop Braydon Hallman , (.319/19 RBI’s/2 triples/2 HR’s) a key leader of the team, who has been on the varsity since his freshman year. “He is probably our best arm also but he has had arm issues all season,” said Coach Bouknight. Coach Bouknight said the third base position has been platooned among several players this season. Carter Bouknight and Tyler Kneece hold down the position most of the time, depending on which one is pitching. Carter is batting .298 with 8 RBI’s. Kneece has six RBI’s, six doubles and one homer. Junior Preston Smith (.333) in the Panther catcher. “Preston has done a really good job for us behind the plate this year,” said Coach Bouknight. The team’s top hitter to date is left fielder Jack Bouknight who is the team’s clean-up batter and he hitting .443 with 12 RBI’s including six doubles and three triples. “Jack is having an outstanding season for us also,” said Coach Bouknight. Gavin Parrish is the team’s designated hitter batting .344 with 8 RBI’s including four doubles. The second baseman is Landon Soper and he is batting .353 with 12 RBI’s from the 9 th hitting slot. John Sawyer is holding down first base and he bats 5 th in the line-up with a .262 average including 14 RBI’s, four doubles, and one triple. The Panthers certainly have a solid pitching staff that could give them a deep run in the AA baseball play-offs. “We will likely start Kneece or Carter Bouknight on Monday but I still need to consult with my coaches on that,” said Coach Bouknight. The top four pitchers for B-L this season, innings pitched wise, are Kneece who is 7-0 with a 0.93 ERA with 37.2 innings of work and 45 K’s. C. Bouknight who is 4-1 with 37.1 innings of mound work resulting in 47 K’s and a 2.06 ERA. Landon Soper is 1-1 in 21.2 innings of work and he has 16K’s with an ERA of 1.64. Hallman is 1-0 with 14 K’s in 15.2 innings of work and he has a 0.89 ERA. In the win over Liberty, Hallman was 2-of-2 with 2 RBI’s including a two- run homer in the first inning that put the Panthers up 3-0 after the first inning. Boehnke also had two hits and one RBI while Jack Bouknight had two hits and one RBI also. Other Panthers with one hit each against Liberty were Watkins, Soper, Kneece, Parrish and Smith. Michael Lorick scored two runs and had one RBI. Against Liberty Kneece worked 2.1 innings on the mound allowing one earned run. C. Bouknight went 3.2 innings allowing one hit and striking out three. Trey Ulmer is the head coach of Liberty. They had three hits against B-L. Junior Cade Collins had a double, senior Ed Bledsoe had a single and one RBI, and junior Carson Garrick also had a hit. Garrick came into the game leading the team in hitting at .461 while TJ Borow was at .397 and Bledsoe came in at .377. Liberty used four pitchers in the game. They were Cade Collins , Caron Garrick , Caleb Collins and Nolan Oglesby .

Sumter – It is SCISA Softball Tournament Weekend 2025 in Sumter. Two ball parks, two days of action packed softball! Friday Games: Start at 1:30pm Patriot Park – Class A, Class AA, and Class AAA Lower bracket games 6 Games start at 1:30p, 6 games at 3:15p, 6 games at 5p, 1 game at 6:45p, 2 games at 7p Patriot Park – Class A, Class AA, and Class AAA Lower bracket games 4 Games start at 1:30p, followed by 4 games at 3:15p, 4 games at 5p, 2 games at 6:45p, and 2 games at 7p Saturday Games: Start at 9:00pm Patriot Park – Class A and Class AA, bracket games 4 games at 9a, and 2 games at 11a Patriot Park – Class A, Class AA, and Class AAA Lower bracket games 4 games at 9a, 4 games at 11a, 1 game at 1:15p

Sumter – The South Carolina Independent School Association will hold its softball state tournaments for all four classifications on Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10, at both Palmetto Park and Patriot Park SportPlex in Sumter . The 9-team AAAA tournament will be played completely at Patriot Park. Laurence Manning Academy will be trying to defend its state championship. The AAA tournament consists of 11 teams and has a couple of intriguing story lines. Defending champion Pee Dee Academy will be going after its fourth consecutive state title and its third in a row in AAA. The Golden Eagles won the AA crown in 2022. Clarendon Hall will be going after its fourth straight state title as well, having won the last two AA crowns and was the Class A champion in ‘22. The Lady Saints were moved up to AAA this year after realignment, meaning they have a chance to win titles in three classifications in their title run. The AA field will consist of eight teams, while the Class A tournament will have six teams. Jefferson Davis Academy will be trying defend the Class A title, while AA will be crowning a new champion. Each of the tournaments will two bracket winners. Those teams will face off for the state championship in a best-of-3 series. Games will be played May 12-14. The Monday games will be played at the upper bracket winner with the lower bracket winners hosting the Tuesday games. If a third game is needed, it is scheduled for Wednesday at a neutral site. AAAA At Patriot Park SportPlex Upper Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Wilson Hall vs. Augusta Christian, 1:30 p.m. (Field 4) Game 2 – Ben Lippen vs. John Paul II, 3:15 p.m. (Field 3) Game 3 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 5 p.m. (Field 3) Game 4 – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 5 p.m. (Field 4) Saturday, May 10 Game 5 – Lower Game 4 Loser vs. Game 3 Winner, 9 a.m. (Field 1) Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 11 a.m. (Field 1) Game 7 – If Necessary Lower Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Northwood Academy vs. Cardinal Newman, 1:30 p.m. (Field 3) Game 2 – Hammond vs. Game 1 Winner, 5 p.m. (Field 1) Game 3 – Laurence Manning vs. Heathwood Hall, 3:15 p.m. (Field 4) Game 4 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 3 Loser, 5 p.m. (Field 2) Game 5 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 2 Loser, 7 pm. (Field 4) Game 6 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 7 p.m. (Field 4) Saturday, May 10 Game 7 – Upper Game 4 Loser vs. Game 5 Winner, 9 a.m. (Field 2) Game 8 – Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 11 a.m. (Field 2) Game 9 – If Necessary AAA At Patriot Park SportPlex Upper Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Greenwood Christian vs. Dillon Christian, 1:30 p.m. (Field 1) Game 2 – Williamsburg vs. Thomas Sumter, 1:30 p.m.(Field 2) Game 3 – Clarendon Hall vs. Game 1 Winner, 3:15 p.m. (Field 1) Game 4 – Calhoun Academy vs. Game 2 Winner, 3:15 p.m. (Field 2 Game 5 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 6:45 p.m. (Field 1) Game 6 – Game 2 Loser Game 3 Loser 6:45 p.m. (Field 3) Game 7 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner (Field 2) Saturday, May 10 Game 8 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 9 a.m. (Field 3) Game 9 -- Lower Game 6 Loser vs. Game 8 Winner, 11 a.m. (Field 3) Game 10 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 1:15 p.m. (Field 1) Game 11 – If Necessary Lower Bracket Friday, May 9 At Palmetto Park Game 1 – Colleton Prep vs. Florence Christian, 3:15 p.m. (Field 1) Game 2 – Pee Dee vs. Game 1 Winner, 5 p.m. (Field 1) Game 3 – Orangeburg Prep vs. Spartanburg Christian, 3:15 p.m. (Field 2) Game 4 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 3 Loser, 5 p.m. (Field 2) Game 5 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 2 Loser, 7 pm. (Field 6) Game 6 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 7 p.m. (Field 2) Saturday, May 10 At Patriot Park SportPlex Game 7 – Upper Game 4 Loser vs. Game 5 Winner, 9 a.m. (Field 2) Game 8 – Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 11 a.m. (Field 2) Game 9 – If Necessary AA At Palmetto Park Upper Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Carolina Academy vs. Thomas Heyward, 1:30 p.m. (Field 1) Game 2 – Cross Schools vs. Lee Academy, 1:30 p.m. (Field 2) Game 3 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 3:15 p.m. (Field 5) Game 4 – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 5 p.m. (Field 6) Saturday, May 10 Game 5 – Lower Game 4 Loser vs. Game 3 Winner, 9 a.m. (Field 1) Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 11 a.m. (Field 1) Game 7 – If Necessary Lower Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Dorchester Academy vs. Andrew Jackson, 1:30 p.m. (Field 3) Game 2 – The King’s Academy vs. Laurens Academy, 1:30 p.m. (Field 6) Game 3 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 3:15 p.m. (Field 6) Game 4 – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 5 p.m. (Field 5) Saturday, May 10 Game 5 – Upper Game 4 Loser vs. Game 3 Winner, 9 a.m. (Field 2) Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 11 a.m. (Field 4) Game 7 – If Necessary CLASS A At Palmetto Park Upper Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Wardlaw Academy vs. Jefferson Davis, 1:30 p.m. (Field 3) Game 2 – Game 1 Winner vs. Holly Hill, 3:15 p.m. (Field 3) Game 3 – Lower Game 2 Loser vs. Game 1 Loser, 5 p.m. (Field 4) Saturday, May 10 Game 4 – Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner 9 a.m. (Field 3) Game 5 – If Necessary Upper Bracket Friday, May 9 Game 1 – Marlboro Academy vs. Richard Winn, 1:30 p.m. (Field 4) Game 2 – Game 1 Winner vs. Richard Winn, 3:15 p.m. (Field 4) Game 3 – Upper Game 2 Loser vs. Game 1 Loser, 5 p.m. (Field 4) Saturday, May 10 Game 4 – Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner 9 a.m. (Field 6) Game 5 – If Necessary

Pinewood Prep, Ben Lippen to play Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Sumter for final AAAA berth

Gray Collegiate head coach Doug Frye With Co-captains Aspen Boulware an Naveah Matthews.

All four teams complete sweeps in semifinal series

Irmo – Lexington High’s girls lacrosse team made history on May 3, winning their first-ever state championship with a 12-7 win over Spartanburg in the 2025 Class AAAAA Division I state title contest at Irmo High School. The rest of the state championship contests were dominated by Lowcountry schools. Oceanside Collegiate won the boys and girls titles in class AAAA, while Lucy Beckham won titles in both boys and girls in AAAAA Division II. The Wando boys team won the AAAAA Division I championship. The Wildcats finish an historic season with an 18-1 record, losing only to AAAA state champion Oceanside Collegiate during the regular season. Early in the season, Lexington knocked off Bishop England, handing the Bishops their first loss to an in-state team since 2017. Izzy Saville scored five goals to lead a balanced offensive effort for the Wildcats, Anna Barger scored three goals, all in the second half. “It has to take everyone to accomplish something like this,” Saville said. But the story of the day was Lexington goalie Emersin Clamp , who shut down the Spartanburg offensive attack with 15 saves. Seven of those saves came in the key first quarter when she had seven saves as Lexington opened a 4-1 lead in the opening period. “I had to do it for my team,” Clamp said. “I knew what I was doing it for, for my team.” Saville’s third goal gave Lexington a 5-2 halftime lead and her fourth goal, after Barger’s first score, pushed the lead to 7-2 with 7:30 left in the third. Spartanburg’s biggest rally came over the final 4:07 of the third period. Evers Morris tallied two quick scores and Saffy Evans made it 9-6 heading into the fourth on a goal with seven seconds left. Lexington snuffed out the comeback with three goals in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter as Jada Van Sickle, Bella Adler and Barger all netted tallies. Morris and Evans led Spartanburg with three goals each. “We focused on playing our game, really all season. We didn’t worry so much about who we were playing as long as we kept our tempo up,” second-year Lexington coach Tiffany Tortorello said. “This shows the improvements in the Midlands and how our team culture is growing.” Not even Mother Nature could keep the Oceanside Collegiate girls lacrosse team from winning their second state title in three years on Friday night. The Landsharks, ranked as the No. 1 team in South Carolina, earned their first-ever win over rival Bishop England, the second-ranked team in the state, by a final score of 12-8 in the Class AAAA finals. The championship game was halted by thunderstorms early in the third period with OCA holding a 10-3 lead, The delay lasted more than two hours. Two-time All-American Teagan Scott came up big for Oceanside, tallying five early goals and two assists as the Landsharks built a 9-3 halftime advantage. Cadyn Clark’s second goal in the first minute of the third quarter pushed the lead to 10-3 just before lightening and heavy rain halted play. Bishop England came into the contest having won seven of the last eight state titles and with a 16-2 record. The Bishops came out of the long weather delay as the more aggressive team and Hannah Rosato scored two goals in five minutes to trim the OCA lead to 10-5. Scott, however, added her sixth goal with 2:42 remaining in the quarter to put the lead at 11-5. Bishop England’s Natalie Noone scored with under a minute remaining but OCA answered late in the quarter on a goal from Ashlyn Key to take a 12-6 lead into the fourth quarter. Whitney Jellison’s goal early in the fourth to bring the Bishops to 12-7. Noone added a goal to make it 12-8 with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. Oceanside Collegiate finishes with an 18-4 record. “It feels really, really good,” OCA coach Ashley McCulloch said. “I think we know how hard we worked this year and how much time and effort we put into it. These seniors were freshmen when I started coaching here so it has been nice to see them go through the program and end on a really good note.” Wando’s boys team claimed their ninth state title, beating Dorman, 18-1, in the Class AAAAA Division I finals, while the Lucy Beckham boys team won their fourth straight championship, beating Nation Ford, 14-5, in the AAAAA Division II finals.. Lucy Beckham’s girls captured their first state title, beating Fort Mill, 8-5, in the AAAAA Division II championship. The dominance of the Wando program continued on Saturday as the Warriors scored early and often while surviving a three-hour weather delay. Wando (16-2) won its ninth state championship in their 13th finals appearance of the last 15 seasons, all under current coach Lance Renes . The Warriors were clearly the better team as evidenced by early aggressive play. Wando got two quick first quarter goals from Connor Carretta and Brock Simpson , followed by Harris Beck’s goal for a 3-0 lead five minutes into the contest. Beck and Simpson each added goals late in the first and the Warriors were up 5-0. The lead stretched to 9-0 after two more goals from Carretta, and tallies from Gavin Long and Pierce Melell a. Dorman got on the board with 7:12 left in the second period, just before a weather delay due to lightening sent the teams to the locker room. This delay lasted three hours but the break in play did nothing to cool Wando’s momentum. Three minutes after the resumption of play, Wando made it 10-1 on Connor Bennett’s tally. The Warriors led 13-1 after three periods on goals from Carretta, Long and Beck. Carretta finished with three goals while Simpson and Beck each scored twice. The second half was played with a running clock with Wando leading 16-1 after three periods. “Today was just another example of adapting and overcoming,” said Renes. “Proud of our guys for sticking out a three-hour rain delay. Proud of them for holding in and getting the job done.” Lucy Beckham’s girls joined the Lowcountry parade of champions with Oceanside Collegiate, who won the AAAA girls title the night before. The Bengals were making their second finals appearance, losing to OCA in 2023. “One of our goals in the beginning of the season was to show out and show up and become a part of the championship tradition,” second-year head coach Vanessa Southworth said. “It has been a journey that started when these seniors were freshmen. We got a little better each year but we all felt like this could be our year. It’s very satisfying as a coach to see these girls celebrate with so much emotion.” A strong defensive effort was key in the victory as Lucy Beckham dominated play and possession in building a 7-2 halftime advantage. Iliana Kane (three goals) and Emily Butler (two goals) set the pace offensively. Mia Weis , Cat Chance and Violet Coates added scores as well. “We certainly try to be balanced but I think our defense has been our strength,” Southworth said. “It was good today. We got the stops and gave our attack an opportunity to score. We were really locked in today.” The Lucy Beckham boys were tested by perennial Upper State power Nation Ford, at least for a half. The Bengals held a slim 4-3 lead at the half but were thoroughly dominant in the last two periods with a 10-2 scoring advantage. Bear Hankins and Connor Simmons each scored three goals while Henry Hankins and Brendan Dick each provided two goals apiece. The Bengals scored 71 goals in their four playoff wins, allowing only seven goals in those wins. The Bengals won the third quarter by a 4-0 count, getting two goals from Henry Hankins and single tallies from Bear Hankins and Wyatt Coombs . Fort Mill made a brief run midway through the fourth quarter as Josh Ameo scored two quick goals to cut the lead to 9-5. Ameo finished his final game with three goals. But, Lucy Beckham answered the challenge with five goals over the final six minutes. The Bengals finished the season with a 17-3 record.

Roundup on all eight games along with complete brackets are available here

The SCISA Baseball playoffs are in the final semi finals and here are the updated brackets. 

Head coach Jason Mathys with senior captains Jack Walling an Hayden McClung 

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Walterboro —The Barnwell High (19-2) and Colleton County High (15-5) softball teams met in a final regular season “play-off tune-up” type game on May, 2 and the Warhorses rallied late in the game to pull-out a hard-fought 9-7 win. “Very proud of the job our 7 th grade pitcher ( Kinsey Terrapin ) did in the circle tonight,” said Barnwell head coach Mike Beasley . “We actually had two other seventh graders starting in this game, and for most of the season, in catcher Genesis Walker and shortstop Shalayah Badger. This just speaks volumes about the future of our softball program in Barnwell.  “This is our 8 th game in 10 days, over the past two weeks, and we played against some real good teams, and we were 5-3 over this stretch,” said Coach Beasley. “We rested our senior number one pitcher Jaidyn Devore tonight to get her ready for the play-offs that start on Wednesday. “All I know is that we will be hosting a four- team district play-off starting on Wednesday (May, 7) and that we will be playing and at-large team in the first game, but right now I can’t tell you who that team will be,” said Coach Beasley. “As long as we can keep winning, we will stay at home in the district, in the lower state play-offs, and in the first game of the state championship best of three series if we are fortunate enough to make it to the AA finals.” Against Colleton County the teams were tied after six innings at 5-5. In their top of the 7 th inning, Barnwell used two singles, and took advantage of five Cougar errors to push across five runs in the inning to take a 9-5 lead. Sophomore Laney Grubbs got things started with a one-out single. Then sophomore Kendall O’Berry singled to put runners on first and second. With two out Brooklyn Gardner reached on an error to load the bases. Then junior Abigial Corley hit a sharp ground ball, to the middle of the infield, that had the potential to end the inning, keeping the score tied. However, four throwing errors during the same play, cleared the bases, even scoring Corley who dove head first on home plate to make it 9-5 on one of the strangest set of errors witnessed by this writer in a long time. Colleton County did not give up. The Lady Cougars came to back in the bottom of the 7 th with redemption on their minds. Brooklyn Holmes started the inning off with a walk and then Alexa Eversole got her 4 th hit of the game off of a single. Both runners stole bases to move up to second and third respectively with no-outs. (At this point Coach Beasley replaced Terrapin in the circle with Grubbs, as the young Terrapin left the circle, she received a loud ovation from the Barnwell fans at the game.) Xiomara Oxner then hit a SAC fly RBI to score Holmes to cut the deficit to 9-6. The next batter Bre Gerard hit a SAC fly RBI to make it 9-7. Then the Cougars got back-to-back singles from Madison Miller and Lanasia Sanders to have two on with two out. Grubbs got the next batter to ground out to short to end the game. After the game, Colleton County 8-year head coach Tavara Edwards , told the HSSR, “We are 15-4 right now and we have a home play-off game on Tuesday, so all-in-all we have had a good season,” said Coach Edwards. “One of our senior leaders has been Lanasia Sanders who started out pitching tonight before we moved her to shortstop. She has been in the program five years and she is a real good leader for us both in the circle and at the plate. “We have two other senior starters, one is center fielder Madison Miller who we moved over to left field later in the game, and the third senior is Kristina Rheam and we will miss all three of our senior starters,” said Coach Edwards. “We are a very young team but if my girls come out here and play with a clear head, they can compete with anyone.” For the game Barnwell had six hits led by O’Berry who had two hits and one RBI. Grubbs had a hit and one RBI, and Corley had one hit and four RBI’s. Walker scored a run and produced two RBI’s, and Arnold scored a run with one RBI. Devore contributed a hit also. In the circle Terrapin allowed two earned runs while striking out three. Grubbs picked up the save with a solid performance. Colleton County had four players with multiple hits. Miller was 2-of-four including a double while McKenzie Cochran was 2-of-4 and junior Alexa Oversole went four-for-four and scored three runs. Bre Gerard had two hits and two RBI’s for the Cougars while Oxner had two RBI’s also. Sanders started the game in the circle for CC and worked three innings with five K’s and she gave up four hits. Bre Gerard worked four innings with 7 K’s and she gave up two hits. Devore, Barnwell’s ace pitcher will enter the AA play-offs having pitched 84.1 innings this season with 168 K’s and she has a stellar 0.83 ERA. Devore has signed to play at Howard University next season. Terrapin is 4-0 having worked 17 innings in the circle with 18 K’s and she has an ERA of 1.65. Grubbs is at 4-1 with 35 K’s in 24.2 innings of work. Grubs has an ERA of 2.84. Barnwell enters the playoffs with seven batters hitting over .300. Junior Shaelyn Badger paces the hit index at .471 and 10 RBI’s. Terrapin is next at .421 and six RBI’s. Shalayah Badger is at .375 with six RBI’s. Devore is hitting .344 with a team leading 23 RBI’s including five home runs. O’Berry is at .333 with 16 RBI’s and Walker is at .333 with 8 RBI’s. Gardner is hitting .317 with 10 RBI’s. Colleton County comes into the play-offs with an incredible .414 team batting average. Holmes leads the way at .607 including 31 RBI’s, five triples and one home run. Eversole is next at .571 with 22 RBI’s followed by Sanders at .527 including 33 RBI’s and four homers. Gerard is at .519 and 22 RBI’s entering the AAAA play-offs while Oxner is at .500 with three RBI’s. Cochran is at .360 with 20 RBI’s and Miller is hitting .356 with 14 RBI’s. The Cougars are le din the circle by Gerard and Sanders. Gerard comes into the play-offs with a 7-1 record with 96 K’s in 60 innings of work with a 1.40 ERA. Sanders is 5-2 with 67 K’s in 40 innings pitched and she has a 2.45 ERA. Retired Hall of Fame coach Rusty Adams serves as the pitching coach for Colleton County.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Sumter —You can always count on a highly competitive game when SCISA AAAA region softball foes Laurence Manning (19-2) and Wilson Hall play each other, and their game on May, 1 was another such game as the Swamp cats rallied for five runs in the top of the 7 th inning to earn a 7-3 win. “This is our first game coming back from Spring break, and we spent most of the day today at the State House where the team was recognized for our state championship season last year,” said head coach Buddy Truett . “These two factors contributed to our slow start today but I was pleased with our late rally that got us the win. I was worried about us playing a little dead today.” In the bottom of the third, with the scored tied at one, there was a collision between WH batter Mary Paisley Geddings and LMA first baseman Lyza Prickelmyer on a towering pop up just inside the first base bag. Pricklemyer laid on the ground for a few minutes as a hush came over what had been a vocal crowd for both teams. The runner was called out and Coach Truett helped Prickelmyer off the ground, and they began walking down the first base line. “Lyza told me she was not coming out of the game, no matter what,” said Coach Truett after the game. “I have coached her since rec ball days and it would have taken a stretcher being called in to have got her out of the game. She is a competitor, a real baller. “I was also very proud of Kendall coming in and giving us a spark with her RBI single,” said Coach Truett. “Lainia did her job in the circle once again also. “We have come back from being down earlier in the season also,” said Coach Truett. “We trailed Orangeburg Prep by 10 and we came back and won that game when we scored 22 runs. “I would say the biggest difference in this year’s team and last year’s team is that when this group gets down, or something bad happens early in the game, they do not panic, and they stay focused,” said Coach Truett. After the game, Wilson Hall head coach Teresa Alexander, in her 18 th season , told the HSSR, “Even we lost this game I feel good about where we are now entering the play-offs,” said Coach Alexander. “What we need to improve on is getting one-or-two timely hits with runners in scoring position. “This team has performed well to have only have three returning starters from last season,” said Coach Alexander. “LMA is a talented team. I anticipate we will be playing them again in the play-offs.” Wilson Hall went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Junior left fielder Addie Griffin reached on an error and later scored on a throwing error off a ground ball hit by Lily Grace Przybyla .  In the top of the 4 th LMA ties the game when Prickelmyer singled and made it all the way to third on a Barron throwing error. Kaylee Parmenter Avins came up next and hit a ground ball that was over-thrown scoring Prickelmyer to tie the game. WH went up 3-1 in the 5 th inning. Caroline Andrews led off with a single. Center fielder Abby Bradley then bunted safely to put runners on first and second with no-outs. Geddings then singled in Andrews to make it 2-1. Two batters later, 8 th grade third baseman, Marsha Kate Skey , brought Bradley in on a ground-out RBI to make it 3-1. In the top of the 7 th LMA’s first four batters all singled. Pitcher Laini Kosinski led off with a ripped single to center, followed up by Lily Welborn’s hit. Then Coach Truett entered 8 th grade pinch hitter Kendall Tanner , who had just been called up from the junior varsity for her first time batting as a varsity player. Tanner will have fond memories of the moment as she delivered an RBI single to right field that scored Kosinski to cut the deficit to 3-2. Maggie Welch came up next for LMA, and her infield single brought in Welborn to tie the game at three. Two batters later gold glove senior catcher Lila Kate Mathis’ ground-out RBI brought in Tanner to give LMA their lead for good at 4-3. Carol Ann Briggs then singled to advance a run in from second to make it a 5-3 game. Then Marlee Black and Prickelmyer reached on consecutive infield bunts to load the bases. Ashley Rae Hodge then delivered an RBI single scoring Hodge to make it 6-3. The final run of the game was brought in on an RBI single by Kosinski who batted twice in the final inning. For the game LMA was led at the plate by Kosinski who went 3-for-four with two RBI’s. Welch was three-for three with an RBI, and Prickelmyer had two hits and scored two runs. Welborn and Tanner each had a hit and Tanner also had an RBI. Hodge and Mathis had one RBI each while Briggs contributed a hit and one RBI. In the circle, Kosinski pitched all seven innings for LMA, allowing two earned runs and with six strike-outs. Wilson Hall was led at the plate by Andrews who had two hits and scored a run. Geddings had a hit and one RBI. Griffin had a hit and scored a run. Skey added a hit and one RBI. Grace McArthur contributed a hit and Bradley had a hit and scored a run. Lily Grace Przybyla was the starting pitcher for WH and she left the game after the 5 th inning but she reentered in the 7 th inning. She had one strike-out.

W.W. King, Marlboro to complete deciding game in Class A quarterfinal series on Monday after Knights win protest

Sumter - Softball action at Patriot Park in Sumter, SC with Laurence Manning traveling to take on Wilson Hall. Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery.

Indians play host to Pee Dee on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Manning - Laurence Manning hosted Hilton Head Christian in the SCISA baseball playoffs. Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery.

Elimination games in AAAA, AAA on Wednesday; Lee, Andrew Jackson, Jefferson Davis win series

Jackson Richardson's 3-run double leads to 4-run ninth

Powdersville senior pitcher Landon Fowler

Barnwell senior pitcher Jaidyn Devore

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner —With thanks to the web site “High School Football America’s Draft Tracker” the HSSR is very proud of the 8 young men who played high school football in the state of South Carolina who had their names called in the recent NFL draft, held in Green Bay Wisconsin. While we already knew the majority of these athletes drafted, based on watching the draft in real time, this wonderful “High School Football America’s Draft Tracker” allows us to verify which states had the most players drafted, and share our own feelings about how the state of South Carolina stacks up against the rest of the nation based on sheer population numbers among other factors. In the recent draft the top 10 states in players drafted from high schools in each state included: Texas (36), Florida (24), Georgia (22), California (15), Virginia (10), with Michigan , Alabama , and North Carolina next with 9 each, while South Carolina and Maryland closed out the nation’s top 10 states at 8 each. As someone who has followed the NFL draft closely for the past 40 years, this reporter was a bit surprised at some of the NFL numbers produced by states who use to average more drafted high school players, than they produced in the 2025 draft. For example, the state of Ohio, with a population of 11.88 million people had just seven home grown players drafted in 2025. Pennsylvania, with a population of 13.8 million people had just five former high school players drafted! The 8 players from South Carolina include three from the Gamecocks. They include former Irmo FS Nick Emmanwori , (pick 35 by Seatle), former Marion star DL T.J. Sanders (pick 41 by Buffalo), and former Conway stand-out Tonka Hemingway (pick 135 by Las Vegas). Former Hammond five-star rated DL Jordan Burch , who spent the past two seasons at Oregon, after starting his career with South Carolina was pick 78 by Arizona. Former Clover High WR and Virgina Tech player Jaylin Lane went to Washington with the 128 th pick. Louisville’s Quincey Riley, a CB who played at AC Flora was drafted by New Orleans with pick 131. Former Gaffney stud and Georgia DL Tyrion Ingram - Dawkins was chosen by Minnesota with pick 139. The 8 th and final player drafted from the state of South Carolina was former Rock Hill and current Alabama tight end Robbie Ouzts. Based on a per capita formula, factored mainly on population and number of high schools in each state fielding a varsity football team, the state of South Carolina must be considered one of the top states in the nation for producing NFL talent year-end and year-out. Let’s compare the bordering states of North and South Carolina to document real data. The state of North Carolina produced 9 NFL signees in the recent draft, one more than South Carolina. They have a population of 11 million people, with nearly 525 high school varsity football programs. (Both public and private schools) The state of South Carolina has a population of 5.4 million people with around 252 public and private varsity football programs in the Palmetto State. On this per capita formula one would have to give the edge to South Carolina is the actual production of NFL talent based on the criteria used. The aforementioned information is a key reason the HSSR continues to complain about the accuracy of national recruiting services, who put out lists, in advance of the upcoming May Evaluation football recruiting period. As of April, 27 th 247 Sports listed 15 2026 players from the state of North Carolina in their national Top 247 Player list while only listing three players from the state of South Carolina! If this does not confirm a bias towards the state of South Carolina we hardly know what would! The facts are the facts. Going back 40 years there has only been an average difference of around two players a year difference between the two states in prep players going on to be drafted in the NFL despite the fact the state of North Carolina has twice the population and twice the number of high schools playing football. If you currently have 15 players in their Top 247 from North Carolina, the state of South Carolina should have at least 12 players in the current 2026 class on their list based on real data over time! The three prep players listed from South Carolina include South Pointe FS J’Zavien Currence , committed to South Carolina and Dorman FS Kentavious Anderson , a hard lean-to Clemson, along with Dutch Fork DE Julian Walker who is uncommitted. Numerous players in South Carolina, with 10 or more major college offers did not make the national 247 list headed up by Timberland OL Desmond Green who will come into the May recruiting period with 21 major college offers. Finally, there are only 20 players from South Carolina currently listed on the 247 state-by-state list, despite the fact the Palmetto State had 40 players sign on with major college football programs in 2025! At the same time, 247 Sports lists 54 players on the North Carolina state-by-state list for May evaluation. Does this seem fair? Three months ago, the HSSR pointed out that six of the 80 players invited to participate in the Next Level Under Armour All-American game, for rising freshmen were from the state of South Carolina. This all-star game was played in Orlando, Florida and witnessed by numerous national scouting services, If the 2030 football class from South Carolina does not have five or six players on All National Top 300 list we should all throw up our hands and wonder who is behind a bias that is not properly promoting the talent level of high school football in South Carolina.

State championship series for each of the four classes set for May 12, 13, 15

Patriots will play host to Spartanburg Christian on Monday in AAA playoff opener

Both teams 9-1 heading into final region series of the year