Barnwell softball clinches region title with 7-6 victory over Woodland

           Dorchester — The Barnwell High School softball team scored five runs in the top of the first inning against Woodland on Friday, but the Warhorses had to hang on for dear life. They held off a Lady Wolverine rally in the bottom of the seventh to eek out a hard-fought 7-6 victory at the WHS field.

           The victory gave BHS the Region 6-AA championship as it improved to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in region action. Woodland fell to 10-7 and 4-2.

           Barnwell head coach Mike Beasley told High School Sports Report after the game, “The key for us tonight was that we got off the bus and scored five runs in the top of the first and that was the difference in this game. “We pitched great, our defense was good, and we were able to hold them off the bases for most of the game.

           “They did make a great run at us there at the end, but when you have a pitcher like Jaidyn Devore on the mound, you have a lot of confidence in her facing those batters. She now has a 110 strikeouts on the season, and she was also our leading hitter for the game.

Devore’s last at-bat in the game she took 14 pitches before she drew a walk. She’s a very tough out.

           Devore led Barnwell both in the pitcher’s circle and at the plate. Devore had nine strikeouts, none more important then a called third strike on the corner in the bottom of the seventh for the game-ending third out. Woodland had scored two runs in the inning to close the deficit to 7-6 and it had a runner on base when Devore’s fastball caught the corner for the final out.

           At the plate she was 4-for-4 with two runs batted in, including a double.

           “I am really proud of the entire team because with this win tonight we have clinched the region title for the second straight year, so we are building a solid program. Woodland is a very young and talented team and they have some kids who can play.”

           Barnwell will next play Class A power Bamberg-Ehrhardt on Wednesday.

           Woodland is coached by 20-year veteran Kim Reeves. “If you take away some of the

errors we had at the beginning of the game when we were playing tight and not loose, we might have been the team leading 5-0 early,” said Reeves. “We played really well as a team

tonight and coming back from being down early we kept focusing on needing more runs. We played like a family tonight and never gave up.

           “We take every practice seriously so we will focus on correcting mistakes on Monday,” said Reeves. “We are fortunate to have pitchers who throw up in the zone and we have pitchers who are low-ball pitchers. We study the other team’s hitters and we will make pitching adjustments based on who we feel can do the best job against whatever team we are playing. Our pitchers tonight had a lot of 1-2-3 type innings later in the game.”

           Woodland is still focused on finishing second in the region and it has two region games left with Edisto next week.

           Other hitters for Barnwell included Laney Grubbs, who was 2-for-5 with

one RBI, Abigail Corley had a hit, and the other multiple hits was claimed by second baseman Molly Wilson, who had two hits and an RBI also. Kendell O’Berry had a hit and an RBI, and shortstop Brooklyn Gordan had one hit.

           Woodland battled back from being down 5-1 after the first inning. They had eight hits with three players with two hits. Multipole hits were produced by rightfielder Lydia Miller, eighth-grade catcher Alysaa McClellan, sophomore shortstop Dallas La Chance and third baseman Lily Canady.

           Woodland used two pitchers against Barnwell. Junior Sarah Grace Milligan had five strikeouts, while Josie Mitchum contributed four strikeouts.

           Woodland entered the bottom of the seventh down 7-4. Addisyn Waggoner reached on an error to lead off the inning. La Chance then beat out a perfect bunt that scored Waggoner. Later in the inning, McClellan brought La Chance in on a fielder’s choice RBI to make it 7-6.