Gray Collegiate wins AA softball state championship over Marion

          West Columbia – Mission accomplished.

         After not being able to defend its AA state championship in 2023, the sole ambition for the Gray Collegiate Academy softball team was to reclaim the title this year. The War Eagles did that on Thursday, beating a game Marion High School team 8-4 at the GCA field to sweep the best-of-3 series.

         “This is my first one,’ Gray freshman star shortstop Aspen Boulware said. “I'm happy to do it with this group of girls. They're an amazing group of girls and I'm so happy to be a part of this.”

         “That feeling when we lost last year was a feeling I'll never, ever forget,” junior pitcher/first baseman Maddox Long said of the Eagles falling to Mid-Carolina in the championship round of the upper state tournament. “It feels really good to come back out here and win it tonight.”

         GCA finished the season with a 33-2 record, playing a schedule filled mainly with AAAAA and AAAA schools. Gray head coach Doug Frye said his team didn’t come by this crown in easy fashion.

         “It means a lot to win it again,” Frye said. “We work hard. My girls work hard every day. We don't take days off. We work hard and get after it.”

         Boulware said a state title was the team’s focus from the beginning of the year.

         Our approach this season was a bit different than last season,” said Boulware, who finished with a .651 batting average, 19 home runs, 10 triples, six doubles, 40 runs batted in and 56 runs scored. “We had that hard loss last year against Mid-Carolina, so we I felt like we all wanted to win. We came out with a “let's get to it” mindset. I felt like that carried us a long way to this point.”

         The Eagles, who won Game 1 9-1 on Monday in Marion, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Junior catcher Kaylan Boudreau singled off of Swamp Foxes pitcher Kynnedi Jenkins with two outs and no one on base. Courtesy runner Anna Boyd stole second and scored on a single by Na’Veah Mattthews.

         GCA added another run in the second. Peyton Hendrix reached on an infield single to start the inning and stole both second base and third base. She scored on an infield single by Kaitlyn Mittler to make it 2-0.

         MHS, which finished the year with a 22-4 record, tied the game in the third. Jashawn Page singled with one out, stole second and scored on a double by Maliyah Williams. Anna Grace Page followed with a hard-hit ball back up the middle that kicked off of Boulware’s glove and ended up making it to the fence. Williams scored to make it 2-2.

         Anna Grace Page got caught stealing third base when a pitch got by Boudreau, but hit the backstop and came right back to her.

         While Marion finished with nine hits, head coach Kenosha Hyman said her squad just wasn't able to string enough hits together at the right time.

         “We couldn't bring our bats,” Hyman said. “All year we've been late bloomers as far as bringing the bats.”
 

         Gray Collegiate took the lead for good in the fourth. Hendrix led off with a base hit and was followed with a single by Braelyn Triplett. Mittler followed with a bunt to move the runners but reached first to load the bases when Jenkins tried to get Hendrix at third.

         Hendrix scored on a passed ball and Triplett came home on a wild pitch. Jenkins got an infield out before getting Boulware to fly out to shallow left field. Pinch runner Madison Bumgarner scored, however, when third baseman Amiyah Waiters couldn’t handle the throw in from the outfield.

         The Eagles made it 6-2 in the fifth. Matthews singled with one out and scored on a pair of errors. They made it 8-2 in the sixth. Shields Greene drew a 1-out walk but was forced at second on a Boulware fielder’s choice. Boulware stole second and scored on a Long single. Boudreau followed with an RBI double.

         “Coach tells us to always keep pushing and even when you think you've got enough just keep pushing,” Long said. “We worked really hard to get to where we are this season.”

         Long had a big season at the plate as well, batting .562 with 12 homers and a team high 44 RBI. She took on a big role in the circle along with Hendrix after top pitcher Mackenzie Mathis was lost for the year with an early-season injury.

         Those two runs made it a much more comfortable seventh inning for GCA as Marion pushed across two runs. Kristen Shaw started the inning with a bunt single. After an out, Ayoni Malloy was hit by a pitch. Jashaya Page followed with a double to the gap in left-center to drive in both runs.

         Hendrix, who was working her third inning in relief of Long, retired the next two batters to set off a massive celebration.

         Jashaya Page, Anna Grace Page, Shaw and Sheteira Bethea each had two hits for the Swamp Foxes. Jashaya Page had two runs batted in and scored a run, while Anna Grace Page had an RBI and Shaw scored a run. Williams had a run and an RBI while Malloy had a hit and a run

         While the Swamp Foxes didn’t reach the ultimate goal, Hyman said she couldn’t be more proud of a team. Marion made it to the title series after coming up short in the lower state tournament last season, losing to eventual state champion Chesterfield.

         “It's been 30 years since Marion High School has been to the state championship,” Hyman said. “I'm proud of my girls and we worked real hard to get this far. With the weather, with our region (8 not being as strong as some others) and playing other teams outside of our region and outside of our state, I think we had a great season.”

         Matthews, Hendrix and Boudreau each had two hits to lead Gray. Matthews had a run and an RBI, Boudreau had an RBI, and Hendrix scored twice. Boulware had a hit and a run, Long had an RBI, and Triplett and Mittler both had a hit and a run.

         Long worked four innings to get the victory. She struck out six and didn’t walk a batter while allowing seven hits. Hendrix worked the final three innings, striking out three and allowing two hits.

         Boudreau was a newcomer to Gray Collegiate this year, but she is no stranger to winning state titles. She was the catcher for Wilson Hall the three previous seasons, with the Barons claiming a SCISA state title each year.

         “I knew I'd work and fight to help this team win a state championship,” Boudreau said. “I love Gray. It's been great. I love the kids and the coaches.

         “Last year they lost, so they were really fighting for this. I was here to help the team and do what they needed. I thought my defense was good and I felt like I hit the ball well. I felt like it was a pretty good season overall.”

         Boudreau batted .417 with a team high 13 doubles along with two triples, four homers and 29 RBI.

         Frye said the War Eagles were consistent all year long.

“We score a lot of runs,” Frye said. “We can hit 1-9 in the batting order. We hit 49 home runs for the year. That's unbelievable. We've got a lot of good hitters.

This team went 33-2,” Frye said with the losses coming to defending AAAAA state champion Summerville and defending AAAA champion Catawba Ridge, both of whom are a win away from defending their titles. “You come back and look at our record, look at the teams we beat. They’re all AAAAA and AAAA teams and some of them went deep in the playoffs. This team has showed up. They respect everybody, but they fear nobody."