Orangeburg Prep freshman Landon Kuck 3B and closing pitcher in this game.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Manning —Two of the better teams in SCISA baseball, for the 2025 season, Laurence Manning (10-1) and Orangeburg Prep (11-2) faced each other in a non-region game on March, 27 th and the Swampcats took advantage of five errors to claim a 8-2 win. Both teams will be in action 24 hours later. LMA travels to play at Hilton Head Chrisitan while O-P will host Colleton Prep . After the game, veteran LMA head coach Tom Hatfield shared his thoughts with the HSSR, “We are starting to get some kids back who have been dealing with injuries, our pitching staff is solid and out hitting coach Rodney Mooneyham works every day with our hitters and he does a good job. “We just need to be more consistent and I thought we took too many fastballs tonight,” said Coach Hatfield. “Orangeburg Prep is a fine ball club and they came into the game tonight at 10-1. We like challenges in mid-week games. “We used three pitchers tonight, and had them all on pitch counts so we can use them, if needed against Hilton Head Christian tomorrow,” said Coach Hatfield. “I thought they all performed well tonight. “The potential of this team, with the depth we have in our pitching staff, I feel like we can make a serious run in the play-offs,” said Coach Hatfield. “One of our main pitchers ( Braydon Barnhill ) is not back yet but we expect to have him back soon and he was one of our main pitchers last year. I think we can make a run at it (state championship) if we can keep everybody healthy.” Orangeburg Prep head coach Tate Jameson also talked with the HSSR after the game. “We have a packed schedule this season (26 games) and I always like to play more then we practice,” said Coach Jameson. “We have a group of veteran guys whop just love to come to the ball park and play baseball and that is what we are about.” Coach Jameson was complimentary of pitcher Hunter Judy going all seven innings for the Indians giving up 8 hits with five strike-outs and no walks. “We could have brought someone in later in the game but I wanted to give Hunter the peace of mind that I was not giving up on him. I just wish we could have hit better behind him and scratched out a run or two every inning but it didn’t happen. “We talked about not letting errors get the best of you before the game,” said Coach Jameson. “Unfortunately, errors early in the game hurt our chances for a win tonight.” The Indians have seven senior starters, including one junior ( T Riley ) and one 9 th grader ( Landon Kuck ) along with Charlie McCutchen who pitches and catches for us. Bryon Williams is a pitcher, catcher, middle infielder, Judy is a pitcher, catcher, middle infielder, and Riley is in center with Tadd Jameson in left, and Mo Burroughs is at first, and Eli Pantaleon is at short and pitches also. Kuck is our third baseman. “Tonight was a half-way night because we have now played 13 games with 13 more to go in the regular season,” said Coach Jameson. “Hopefully, we can bounce back from this game. Coach Hatfield has an excellent squad and I am glad we were able to compete against them, even though we did not quite measure up to them. I hope we learn something from this game and move on.”  LMA was led at the plate against O-P by Brenston Rembert who had two hits, three RBI’s, including a triple. Starting pitcher Ray Weston had two hits and two RBI’s while working 3.2 innings on the mound. First baseman DJ Balls had one hit and one RBI, Center fielder ZY Dennis had one hit and one RBI and catcher Cade Mooneyham had one hit in the win . The other two LMA pitchers in this game were Seth Witherspoon and Grayson Thornton who had four K’s in two innings of work. Other LMA starters against O-P included shortstop Grainger Powell , second baseman Payton Brown , right fielder Rory Carter , and left fielder Pierson Gamble . O-P was led on offense by Mason Tyler who had two hits, one RBI and two stolen bases. Riley, a gold glove center fielder who has 9 major college football offers to date, contributed one hit, while Jameson had a hit and one RBI. McCutchen, who hopes to play baseball at The Citadel , had one hit, while Williams also had one hit.

Clarendon Hall's senior pitcher Cali Yount allowed six hits and had five K’s in their come back win over O-P.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Sumter —To describe the SCISA AAA girls’ basketball finals as a “knock-down, drag-out defensive battle”, between Pee Dee Academy (23-4) and Orangeburg Prep, would be very accurate with the Golden Eagles prevailing 37-34, to earn Pee Dee a fourth state title in girls’ basketball. After the win, Pee Dee head coach Meagan Thomas , a 2015 graduate of the school, told the HSSR, “I knew this was going to be a hard-fought physical game and I can’t say enough good things about this team who battled and played hard the entire game,” said Coach Thomas. “We knew we had great potential to compete for a state title this season and the great thing about this team is that came to practice every day and worked very hard. Everyone worked together also. “We knew we had to play great defense to win the game and we knew we had to out-rebound them and I thought we did just that,” said Coach Thomas. Coach Thomas also cited the play of the team’s leading scorer Rebecca Hammond who came into the game averaging 18 points a game and she finished with 17 points against O-P. “I can’t say enough good things about that girl,” said Coach Thomas. “She works her butt off and every time you put her on the court you know you are going to get her best efforts every time. As a senior she had led our team all season and she is going to play just as strong from the first quarter to the last quarter. “I told the team at halftime to play like the score is 0-0 and that we had to get back out there and play good defense,” said Coach Thomas. “I told them that we had been leading them pretty much the whole game and that we had to finish it now.” O-P head coach Jan Stoudenmire wrapped up her 40 th year in coaching at the conclusion of the game. She shared her thoughts with the HSSR, “It was just not in the cards for us to win tonight and you have to give credit to Pee Dee and they are a great team and well-coached,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “The game came down to a couple shots here and there. We just couldn’t quite get it done but I was proud of our effort tonight. “Our four seniors ( Jane Walker Yonce , Izzy Exum , Grayson Garrick , and Annabelle Hunter ) who started tonight have carried us all season and we miss them a lot,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “Fortunately, for us we get Hannah Lambrecht back and she plays very hard and carries our team on her back. “With Jane Walker Yonce having to sit on the bench with foul trouble we are just not the team that we can be with her in the game,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “Unfortunately, this is the way it goes sometimes but we have a great program going and we will keep working hard.” The starting five for Pee Dee Academy consisted of Claire Eskridge , leading scorer Rebecca Hammond, Claire Owens, Sydney King and inside player Katie Estes . Orangeburg Prep’s starters consisted of four seniors Izzy Exum , Jane Walker Yonce , Annabelle Hunter, and Grayson Garrick . Junior point guard Hannah Lambrecht is the junior floor general. The two teams scrapped their way to a 5-5 tie after the first period. Pee Dee’s first quarter points came on a three-point shot and a free throw made by leading scorer Rebecca Hammond and a free throw made by Katie Estes . The Lady Indians got all five first quarter offensive points from guard Hannah Lambrecht on a three-point and a two-point basket. In the second period Pee Dee out-scored O-P 7-2, to take a 12-7 lead into the half. Hammond scored 9 of Pee Dee’s first half points. Both offenses were more effective in the third period when O-P out-scored Pee Dee 12-10 to trail 22-19 going into the final period. Senior inside player Jane Walker Yonce scored two quick close-in buckets for O-P to start the third period that cut the deficit to 12-11. Yonce was sent to the bench for most of the second period when she picked up her third foul. While she was out Pee Dee made gains on the score board. In the third period Pee Dee’s Claire Owens made back-to-back three- point shots to give her team a 19-15 lead with 2:35 left in the third quarter. Hannah Lambrecht’s steal and resulting lay-up cut Pee Dee’s led to 19-17 with 1:43 left in the third. Pee Dee’s Sydney King then scored her only basket of the game to extend the lead to 21-17 at the 1:20 mark. In the final period, Hammond extended her team’s lead to 24-19 on a bucket at the 7:10 mark and then Yonce came back with an inside bucket for O-P to cut the deficit to 24-21 with 6:30 left in the game. Then Pee Dee went on a 6-0 run between the 6:18 mark and the 4:05 mark. Hammond scored four of the six points and Owens had the other two. The closest the Indians would come was on a three-point basket by Mary Legare Delaney with 2.9 seconds left that cut the deficit to37-34. As time expired Hannah Lambrecht stole the inbounds pass but the buzzer sounded before a shot could be attempted. For the game Hammond had some great senior moments for Pee Dee with 17 points and Claire Owens was next with 10 points. Eskridge and Estes contributed three points each and King and Caroline Elvington had two points each. O-P was led by Hannah Lambrecht with 10 points while Izzy Exum had 9 points followed by Yonce with six points and she led the team in rebounds also. Delaney contributed four points. Prestan Schurlknight also added two points. The SCISA Girl's AAA All-Tournament Team consisted of Claire Eskridge , Rebecca Hammond , and Claire Owens of Pee Dee along with Hannah Lambrecht , Jane Walker Yonce and Courtney Campbell of Hilton Head Prep.

Photo from both the Girls and Boys SCISA Class AAA title games. In the girls game, Pee Dee Academy faced Orangeburg Prep . In the boys game, Hilton Head Prep faced Pee Dee Academy . This sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery.

Orangeburg Prep to face Pee Dee for girls title; Hilton Head Prep to defend boys title against Pee Dee

Indians meet defending AAA state champion Hilton Head Prep in semifinals today

OP squads a combined 41-5 on the season

OP off to 8-1 start in Stoudenmire's 28th season