Pee Dee wins third consecutive SCISA softball state title

Mullins – When the Pee Dee Academy softball team won the SCISA AA state title in 2022 against Williamsburg Academy, it set off a massive celebration.

Ditto in 2023 when the Golden Eagles beat Orangeburg Prep for the AAA state title. So when they repeated as AAA champions earlier this month, again against OP, it’s old hat, right?

No.

“It's pretty incredible,” PDA head coach Will Eskridge said of claiming a third straight championship with a 6-5 win in Orangeburg on May 14 to sweep the best-of-3 series. “You don't really believe you can do it, but the kids got it done.”

Pee Dee finished the season with a 22-2 overall record. The losses came to Aynor, which has played for the South Carolina High School League AAA title the past three years, and Loris, which has played in the SCHSL AAA lower state tournament the past two seasons.

And it’s not as if the Eagles returned the entire team from last year. They lost five seniors with three of them being starters.

PDA won the first game against the Indians 3-0 behind the 2-hit shutout pitching of Maddie Coward. The sophomore struck out 14 while walking just two.

OP’s Payton Schurlknight had a great game in the circle as well. The senior also had 14 strikeouts while walking one and allowing six hits.

One of those hits was a solo home run from Pee Dee centerfielder Lizzie McCaskill. Coward was 2-for-3 with a double and a run batted in while Baxleigh Arnette was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored. Azeleigh Arnette had the other hit to go with an RBI.

Prestan Schurlknight and Hannah Lambrecht had the hits for OP, which finished the year with a 19-4 record.

The second contest was also a tight affair as Orangeburg Prep managed to get to Coward a bit more. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first only to see the Indians tie in the bottom of the second. PDA responded with three runs in the third to make it 5-2.

OP scored single runs in the third and fifth to pull within 5-4, but Pee Dee got a run in the top of the seventh to go up by two as Baxleigh Arnette doubled with two outs and scored on a Coward single. That proved to be important as Orangeburg Prep got a run in the bottom of the inning before Coward closed out the game.

“We knew OP was going to be tough,” Eskridge said. “Last year we beat them handily. They had closed the gap on us this year.”

McCaskill hit another homer for the Eagles, going 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Baxleigh Arnette, who will be playing collegiately at Presbyterian, was 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI, Coward was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Leah Nettles had a double and an RBI. Azeleigh Arnette and courtesy runner Addison Hasty scored runs.

The Indians made some adjustments to their batting order and it paid off with seven hits. Three of those came from Prestan Schurlknight with two of them being homers. Schurlknight, who was moved from leadoff to the 3 hole, had three RBI and scored two runs.

.          “She handled it well,” Orangeburg Prep head coach Marty Kinard said of the decision to move Prestan to third in the order. “She’s the best freshman hitter in the state, and one of the best in the state. It's just about adjustments for her, and she can make adjustments at the plate.”

Payton Schurlknight and Jane Walker Yonce both had a hit and a run, while Lauren Ballew and Katherine Lambrecht, who moved from sixth to second, each had a hit. Hannah Lambrecht, who moved from second to leadoff, scored a run and drew two walks and Calee Hartzog had an RBI.

“We hit the ball better,” Kinard said. “We hit a lot of balls right at them, and they made the plays.”

Coward obviously wasn’t as dominant as she was in Game 1. She walked two while striking out five. Eskridge though said she pitches with ice water in her veins, referencing to the bottom of the seventh.

           Coward retired the first two batters before walking Hannah Lambrecht and giving up a single to Katherine Lambrecht. That brought Prestan Schurlknight, who already had two homers, to the plate in a 6-4 contest.

           “I was thinking we probably needed to put her on,” Eskridge said. “My pitching coach, Jake Hyatt, said, ‘Let me talk to Maddie and see what she wants to do.’ He came back and said, ‘She wants to pitch to her.’ I said, ‘Then let’s go.’ “

           Coward didn’t retire Schurlknight, giving up an RBI single to make it 6-5. However, she got Ballew to pop up to end the game and set off a celebration.

           “She's phenomenal,” Eskridge said of Coward, who was selected as the Region 2 Player of the Year, finishing with a .500 batting average and 177 strikeouts. “She does not get shaken.”

           Both Eskridge and Kinard pointed out the outstanding defensive game Baxleigh Arnette had at shortstop in the game.

           “Maddie only had five strikeouts, so we had to make a lot of plays,” Eskridge said. “Baxleigh had eight balls hit to her, and she handled all of them (four putouts and four assists).”

           Baxleigh Arnette led Pee Dee with a .527 batting average. She had 39 hits with 24 going for extra bases – 16 doubles, four triples and four homers. She had 28 RBI.

           Coward batted .500 with 14 doubles, two triples and two homers along with a team high 33 RBI. McCaskill batted .429 with five doubles, three triples, four home runs and a team high 39 runs scored.

           “Lizzie was a 5-year player for us. I don't know if I can say enough good things about her,” Eskridge said. “She had a rough go with her bat at the beginning of the year. It wasn’t from a lack of trying or want to, she just had issues, wasn't having success.

           “She still had a .429 batting average. She’s a great base runner, she can change games defensively. There have been so many times where someone thinks they have a hit and she dives in and takes it from them.”

           Azeleigh Arnette batted .371 with 18 RBI, Claire Eskridge batted .276 with eight RBI, Nettles batted .263 with 15 RBI, Anna Cooke batted .241 with 12 RBI, Katie Estes batted .229 with 12 RBI and Savanna Baker batted .197 but with 16 RBI, fourth on the team.

           Pee Dee had issues with the weather early in the season, only playing one game a week for the first month, according to Coach Eskridge. However, the Eagles were able to overcome that.

           “It felt like we couldn't get into a rhythm, get things cleaned up,” he said. “When we finally did get to play I knew we could clean things up and we got better from there. I would say we met our expectations.”