Gray Collegiate trying to win one more AA softball state championship

           Sumter – It’s not about the region for the Gray Collegiate Academy softball team. It’s about state. That’s the way it has to be for the War Eagles. They have no other choice.

           That’s because the rest of Region 4-AA, of which Gray Collegiate is a member, has refused to play it in any sport. The reason for doing so is to protest what is deemed as an unfair competitive balance that Gray Collegiate, which is a charter school, has over the other four schools, all public schools.

           So while the Eagles are picking up forfeited wins and will be the region’s No. 1 seed in the state playoffs, they are having to play all non-region contests. All of them are coming against schools that are in higher classifications and Gray Collegiate is handling things quite well.

           The War Eagles were off to an 8-2 start and are ranked No. 1 in the High School Sports Report AA poll. GCA will be competing in the AAAA classification next season after the implementation of the 3x multiplier for students from outside of a school’s attendance zone. If how the Eagles have handled themselves is an indication of things to come, they will be just fine.

           Gray Collegiate owns wins by 10 runs or more over AAAAA schools Berkeley, Chapin, Nation Ford and Dutch Fork and AAAA Lugoff-Elgin and Irmo as well as wins over AAA schools Palmetto and Union County.

           With the exception of Dutch Fork, each of those team is ranked in its respective classification’s HSSR poll.

           The War Eagles’ only losses have come to defending AAAAA state champion Summerville and defending AAAA state champion Catawba Ridge. GCA lost to Summerville 5-0 and to Catawba Ridge 6-1.

           Gray Collegiate is trying to add another state championship trophy to the showcase in its final year in AA. The War Eagles won it in 2022, but came up short against Mid-Carolina in the upper state championship series.

           While Gray Collegiate was expected to be near the top of the food chain in AA, the same can’t be said of the No. 2 team, Saluda. The Tigers caught lightning in a bottle in the playoffs at the end of the season and kept it in stock coming into this year.

           The Tigers were just 6-15 in regular season play but did manage to finish fourth in Region 2 and make the state playoffs. From there Saluda would advance to the championship round of its district tournament.

All Saluda has done this year was starting off 13-1 overall and 4-0 in region play.

The non-region wins include a 7-0 triumph over White Knoll, a 7-3 win over Chapin and a 4-2 win over River Bluff, each a AAAAA school. The Tigers have also beaten AAAA Irmo and Aiken, AAA Gilbert as well as two wins over Strom Thurmond, the fourth-ranked team in AA.

           “The girls have worked very hard to get to the this point and have proven themselves day after day,” said Tigers head coach Hannah Towery. “Last year’s run in the playoffs is motivation for this year.”

           Samantha Minick has been a force in the circle. The Newberry College signee had a 1.51 earned run average in 37 innings pitched with 42 strikeouts.

           Along with Minick, Saluda has also been led by senior All-Region catcher Jana Pou, senior All[-Region third baseman Ella Gentry, sophomore second baseman Ava Martin, junior centerfielder Tamia Daniels and first baseman/catcher Jayme Sheaffer.

           The Tigers will see where they stand coming out of spring break. They still have to play 2-game series against defending region champion and Upper State champion Mid-Carolina and Ninety Six.

           Strom Thurmond was off to a 10-3 start after going 24-5 last season and reaching the lower state tournament.

           They are led by Leigh Anne Strock, a sophomore All-State selection who owned a .486 batting average. Halynn Smith was batting .396 and led in runs batted in with 20.

           Lawsyn Lowe and Addyson Harrison were both batting .442. Harrison had seven doubles and a triple, while Lowe had two triples and a home run to go with 14 runs batted in.

           Emmy McKie and Madison Rodriguez were getting equal time in the circle. Both had five wins. McKie had a 2.03 earned run average in 41 1/3 innings and Rodriguez had a 2.55 ERA in 35 2/3 innings.