Laurence Manning softball establishes itself as team to beat in SCISA AAAA softball

           Manning – Like any coach in any sport, Laurence Manning Academy softball head coach Buddy Truett sees areas his team can improve upon as the SCISA AAAA softball state tournament nears. However, the Lady ‘Cats have established themselves as the team to beat.

           Laurence Manning defeated 3-time defending state champion Wilson Hall 12-0 on April 30, its second win over the Lady Barons this year. Pitcher Kayleigh Parmenter-Avins threw a no-hitter against the Lady Barons.

LMA followed the win over Wilson Hall with a 5-4 triumph over defending AAA runner-up Orangeburg Prep. That made the Lady ‘Cats 13-4 on the season with two games remaining before the start of the state tournament on May 10-11 at Patriot Park SportPlex in Sumter.

           After opening the year on fire offensively, Truett said Laurence Manning had struggled a bit in the middle of the season. However, he believes his team was coming back around down the home stretch.

“I think we started off real hot, but right now we've got a few second guessing themselves at the plate a little bit,” he said. “So our bats have kind of cooled off a little bit from the start. We're slowly climbing back hitting the ball.”

That being said, LMA was still hitting .339 as a team through the first 15 games.

           The top four batters in the Laurence Manning lineup are all sophomores in leftfielder Marlee Black, second baseman Ashley Rae Hodge, third baseman/shortstop Lilly Welborn and centerfielder/first baseman Lyza Pricklemeyer. Each was hitting over .300 as was senior infielder Karly Bjork and Parmenter-Avins.

           The rest of the normal lineup includes senior catcher Hailey Truett, junior pitcher/centerfielder Laini Kosinski and sophomore rightfielder Maggie Welch.

           Coach Truett has been pleased with the pitching of the left-handed Parmenter-Avins and the right-handed Kosinski.

           LMA had won all of its games against AAAA competition. Its losses were to AAA state champion Pee Dee Academy by scores of 6-3 and 9-1, 5-1 to Orangeburg Prep and 4-3 to South Carolina High School League AAAA standout West Florence.

           The Lady ‘Cats have played for a state title the past two years against Wilson Hall. They lost the best-of-3 series 2-1 in the first year of AAAA in SCISA. The previous year they lost in the AAA championship

HARRIS, POWELL WIN INDVIDUAL TITLES IN SPEED ABND STRENGTH MEET

           Laurence Manning had its run of consecutive state championships in the speed and strength competition snapped at five in the state competition on April 20, but two Swampcats did win individual titles in Ian Harris and Wyatt Powell.

           Harris won the 151-160-pound weight class while Powell was the 141-150 champion in the meet held at Wilson Hall’s Nash Student Center in Sumter. Laurence Manning just missed out on extending its streak. Ben Lippen took home the crown with 343 points while the Swampcats had 338.

           Harris won his class by picking up 54 of a possible 60 points. He won the vertical jump, bench press and power clean to score 10 points apiece and picked up eight points apiece by finishing second in the broad jump, shuttle run and 40-yard dash.

           Harris won the vertical with a jump of 37 inches, the bench press with 17 repetitions and the power clean with a lift of 230 pounds. Harris was second in the broad jump at 9 feet, 1.5 inches, second in the shuttle run at 4.46 seconds and second in the 40 at 4.72.

           Powell won his class with 38 points, edging Carter Graf of Ben Lippen, who had 37. Powell didn’t win any of the events but finished second in one and third in the other five.

           He was second in the 40 at 4.79 and was third in the shuttle run at 4.50, the broad jump at 8-6.5, the vertical at 35 inches, the bench press with 10 reps and the power clean at 175.

           The Swampcats’ Aiden Jumper finished second at 130 and under, Thomas Sumpter tied for third at 161-170, Noah Tanner was second at 171-180, Bryson Smith was second at 181-190, Bryson Hodge finished in a tie for second at 206-220, and Jack Welborn finished third at 236 and above.

           Jumper won the power clean (175) and the 40 (4.84) to finish with 40 points, second to Orangeburg Prep’s Daytron Moorer with 42 points. Sumpter won the broad jump (9-4.5) to finish with 28 points, Tanner won the vertical (41) and finished in the top four in the other events to finish with 38 points, Smith finished in second in four events to finish with 42 points, Hodle won the broad jump and finished with 38 points, and Welborn finished second in both the shuttle run and the power clean to finish with 26 points.

LMA STILL LOOKING FOR FOOTBALL HEAD COACH

Laurence Manning had yet to fill the roles of football head coach and athletic director as of press time. Those spots came open after Will Furse decided to take similar posts at Lee Academy.

Laurence Manning headmaster Tripp Boykin said there is not a rush to fill the positions.

“Ideally, we would like to find our new coach and athletic director before school is out for this year,” Boykin said. “But we are committed to getting the best person for the position, and we will not rush the search.”

Furse, who led Laurence Manning to two AAAA football state championship games in his two seasons in charge of the program at his alma mater, stepped down in early April.

Furse was 19-7 in his two seasons as head coach at LMA. He guided the Swampcats to the AAAA state championship game both seasons, losing to 7-time defending state champion Hammond each time. Laurence Manning dropped a 28-21 decision this past season.

“It was a good opportunity I thought,” said Furse. “It was a difficult decision, but the door opened and I had to see what was there. We started talking, and I thought it was a good place to be athletic director and it is a football program that has been successful. We met and next thing you know here we are.

“I will always have a special place in my heart for Laurence Manning,” Furse said. “It is a special place. I was the head coach for two years and for five years I was an assistant. I’m proud of what we did, the athletes we had. The football team, they'll be fine. They’ll find a very good, quality head coach. I wish them my best.”