Jefferson Davis softball looking for return trip to state championship series

               Blackville – The Jefferson Davis Academy softball team has seven players back from a squad that reached the SCISA Class A state championship series. Lady Raiders head coach Bart Owens believes his team is handling all of it quite well so far this season.

              “All the players are doing well with the dynamic of being state runner-up and hoping to play for another state title this year,” said Owens, whose team went 13-7 and was swept by Holly Hill Academy 2-0 in the best-of-3 championship series.

            Jefferson Davis was off to a good start, winning five of its first seven games. Even with so many returning players, Owens said the Lady Raiders need to maintain their focus to make a push to another championship series.

“The team has played very well, but we still need to do all the little things well,” Owens said.

           Although half of the roster is made up of returning players with six of them being starters, Jefferson Davis is still an extremely young team. There are just two seniors in the starting lineup along with five juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. The bench players include four freshmen and one eighth-grader.

          Despite all of that youth, Owens thought at the end of last season the Lady Raiders could be back playing for a title this year.

         “We really had a great season,” he said. “There were lots of firsts for this group of girls. I’m very proud of the way we played all year, and we plan on being back there again next season.”

        One of those two returning seniors stands in the circle in the name of Regan Still. Owens has said Still is the best pitcher he’s ever had and that is due to the effort she puts into her craft.

        “Regan Still is a hard-working young lady who could play anywhere on the field but is awesome as a pitcher,” he said. “She has worked very hard to get to where she is at and will pitch at Flo-Dar (Florence-Darlington Technical College) next year.”

           Also getting some innings for Jefferson Davis is junior Kaylee Jackson and sophomore Rynn Fickling.

           The Lady Raiders return their entire infield from a year ago. Fickling is at first base while junior Sydney Owens is at second base. Both of them were named to the All-Region team last season along with Still and the graduated Kaylee Livingston.

           Jackson returns at shortstop while Gylian Googe, the other senior, is at third base. The new catcher is freshman Kinlee Ray. Junior Carrie Lynn Loadholt is back to anchor the outfield in center field with junior Elie Fogle and junior Madelyn Respass on either side of her in left field and right field, respectively.

           The batting order has nothing but right-handed hitters among the starting nine. Ray has moved into the leadoff role with Fickling batting second and Still manning the 3 hole. Googe is batting cleanup with Jackson batting fifth and Loadholt behind her in the sixth slot. The bottom third of the order has Owens batting seven, Fogle batting eighth and Respass batting ninth.

           Still was also the Lady Raiders’ leading hitter last year, owning a .383 batting average entering the state championship series. She also had team highs in runs batted in with 19 and doubles with nine while scoring 12 runs.

           Owens batted .255 with 13 runs. Fickling was the Lady Raiders’ power source as she connected for two home runs and batted .281 to go with 11 runs and 13 runs batted in. Jackson batted .244 with 14 runs batted in while Googe (.222) will return.

           Jefferson Davis does have a pair of left-handed bats on the bench in freshman outfielder Kinsley Carson and freshman infielder/outfielder Abby Deering. Swinging from the right side are freshman outfielder Esme Montenjano, freshman infielder Jamlyn Mock and eighth-grade infielder Riley York.

           Livingston is the biggest bat to replace. She had a .333 batting average with five doubles, a team high 16 runs and 13 runs batted in.

JDA BASEBALL OFF TO 7-4 START

           The Jefferson Davis baseball team won seven of its first 11 games under first-year head coach Mannie Wright.

           The Raiders returned five starters from last year’s 11-9 team that played in the Class A state championship series against Richard Winn. They are seniors Carter Loadholt and Hunter Zorn and juniors Colson Loadholt, Paxton Wall and Landon Williams.

           Colson Loadholt led the Raiders in hitting at .439, runs scored with 27 and stolen bases with 22. Wall batted .328 and has the most runs batted in among the returnees with 13.

           Williams is the catcher while Zorn (.206) plays the corner infield spots and Carter Loadholt (.154) in the outfield. Payton Payne batted .158 as a parttime player.

           Colson Loadholt and Wall, who share time at both second base and shortstop, are also the top two returning pitchers.

           Loadholt had a 4-3 win-loss record and a 1.92 earned run average in 40 innings with a 1.92 earned run average. Wall had a 1-0 record with a 3.60 ERA in , Lee threw 40 innings with a 1.04 ERA and Wall had a 3.60 ERA in 23 1/3 innings.

           Williams and senior Logan Croft saw some innings in the early going of the season. Others who are expected to see time on the mound are freshman Reece Still and sophomore Dalton Nix.

           Other members of the team are senior Tucker Fields, junior Brian Montenjano, freshman Bryson Livingston, freshman Corbin Perry and eighth-grader Will Stillinger.