Blythewood softball had a tough outing Friday night against the Dutch Fork Silver Foxes. Things started even enough with both teams bringing a run home in the first frame, but after that Dutch Fork began to run away with it.
Dutch Fork seized the lead in the second inning, and put the nail in the coffin with a seven run third inning, and for extra measure put up an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth.
Sydney Moss had a big night for the Silver Foxes. She drove in three runs on three hits, meanwhile Hannah Putlock had two RBI’s for Dutch Fork.
Blythewood’s Kendall Parker picked up a couple of hits of her own, but for the most the Bengals’ bats struggled against some solid Dutch Fork Pitching.
Carolyn Lusk pitched five-strong and struck-out five and Morgan Scott struck out three in just one inning of work.
Blythewood will not take the field again until after Spring Break when they take on Lexington.
Redhawk Rae’Jean Patterson contorts her body to put on a play at the plate
The Westwood softball team went up against Region 3-4A leader Lancaster in the final game before spring break, and it went about as expected for the Redhawks.
Lancaster sent 30 batters to the plate in the time it took for Westwood to have all its starters have an at-bat, and the Bruins closed out a 15-0 shutout in four innings Thursday at the Westwood softball field.
“We were playing a good Lancaster team, no doubt one of the best teams in our region right now,” Head coach Lila Grooms said. “They are, and I commend them with their sportsmanship. In all honesty, they took it a little easy on us. But I appreciate it, and it’s more experience for the girls.”
The Redhawks (1-5 region, 1-9 overall) only mustered two hits, a second-inning single from Jimenez, and Cayla Petty’s single in the fourth.
Grace Revels led the Bruins (7-0, 12-3) with a 3-for-4 plate performance, including her one-out, 2-run home run over the rightfield fence in the second. Jada Ames homered in the third. Alexus Lowery and Arianna Early each went 2-for-4.
The Bruins sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning, coming back with five runs on two hits and two Westwood errors. Lancaster made it 12-0 after two innings, with seven runs on four hits and two more Westwood errors.
Westwood gave up two runs in the third and another in the fourth.
The Redhawks’ only baserunning moment came after Jamisha Taylor drew a walk in the third inning and shortly afterward was picked off—happened in the fourth.
After Deltrice Holmes struck out to lead off the frame, Petty singled into short left. She took second and third as Brook Bayne batted, and when Bayne drew a walk, Westwood had runners at first and third with just one out.
Unfortunately for the Redhawks, Lancaster blunted a double-steal attempt. Petty took off for home just as Bayne went for second. The throw at second was too late for Petty, but the Bruins hung up Petty between third and home. She was tagged out at third.
Marlena Perez grounded out to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
“We wake up at the end, but by then it’s too late,” Grooms said. “We’re getting there though. We’re playing a little better than expected. This was a game where they could see what they can be. They’ll get there eventually, they just have to stick with it.”
Ihayanna Cruz and Petty, who pitched for two innings before going back to third base, have proven solid on the left side. Cruz and Petty made a pair of putouts that got the Redhawks out of a mess in the third inning. Cruz had a putout and an assist in the second inning, and Cruz snagged a ground ball and made a putout in the first.
“They’re good players, they’re very committed to getting better,” Grooms said. “Those are two prime players on the team. They’re expected to play at a high level and we know they’re going to give that effort in every game.”
Westwood is off for Spring Break and will play South Pointe and Ridge View when school resumes.
Lancaster: 5-7-2-1 -15 11 0
Westwood: 0-0-0-0- 0 2 4
WP: Arianna Early LP: Cayla Petty
Hitters: Lancaster – Grace Revels 3-4, HR. Jada Ames HR. Alexus Lowery 2-4. Arianna Early 2-4.
Shortstop Zach Bailes (8) plants and prepares to throw over a laser to the bag.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood and West Florence pitching staffs battled it out in a close game Saturday, but the Knights eventually edged the Bengals, 3-1 after 11 innings. Bengals starter Hunter McCoy and Knights starter Dustin Williams combined for nine innings of work, seven hits, five strikeouts, only one-run and West Florence stranded 14 baserunners, while Blythewood left nine on the base-path.
“You got to give their guys credit,” Bengals’ head coach Banks Faulkner said. “They filled up the zone, and like most high school teams, when you don’t get a lot of free bases, it’s hard to generate offense.”
Relief pitching was also a highlight of the low-scoring battle. Quincy Manning came on in the eighth for West Florence and pitched four innings of shut-out ball, meanwhile Daniel Zippel and Landon Lucas came out of the bullpen for Blythewood, pitching some solid ball in tough situations.
“We’re pitching at a really high level,” Faulkner said. “That was our big question mark coming into the year and we feel like we got six guys that are throwing the ball good and so we’ve got some depth too, and we’re not just one or two guys then we see a big drop-off. We’re throwing two sophomores and a freshman in big situations and they’re doing nothing but getting better.”
West Florence threatened to take an early lead in the top of the second when pitcher Dustin Williams beat out an infield single and nearly came around after another Knights’ single, but a laser of a throw from left-field enabled catcher Josh Cowan to tag the runner at the plate.
A runner did not actually cross the plate until the bottom half of the fifth inning. Brady Beasley, the second batter in the fifth inning, was drilled by a pitch, and a double from Ben Spittler landed Beasley on third. Then an error allowed Beasley to easily score.
West Florence did not stay down long. In the top of the sixth they knotted the game back up. Brennan Herndon singled off of Daniel Zippel, then stole second before being brought home by pitcher Dustin Williams.
Then the bats went cold again for both teams until the top of the tenth. The Knights picked up a single and double to plant a base-runner on third with one out, but the Bengals wiggled out of the jam to survive another inning.
Mason Sheeler led off the top off the eleventh with a single, and Ethan Dowdy followed him onto base after Blythewood was unable to field a bunt. Then Jake Swartz delivered the biggest hit of the game when he lined a laser out to right-field, scoring both Sheeler and Dowdy.
That left Blythewood with just three more outs to score at least two runs. Josh Cowan led off and grounded out on the first pitch. He was followed by Zach Bailes, and he flew out to left field.
Thomas Murphy, the Bengals’ designated hitter, strolled up to the plate representing Blythewood’s last hope, but a fly-out to right field ended the game.
“It’s tough,” Faulkner said. “It’s not an effort thing. It’s just one of them days that’s why you talk about pitching and playing defense. Proud of our pitching staff for how they continued to throw zeros up there. Give them credit, they just got a big hit and we couldn’t.”
WINNSBORO- Fairfield Central pulled off the hat trick on Friday night, by picking up their third win of the year against in town foe Richard Winn. Once again, it took the Griffins just five innings to claim an 11-1 victory over the Eagles.
“Yesterday we started the game off with about seven errors,” Fairfield head coach Scotty Dean said. “Today it felt good to come out and play good solid clean baseball.”
Jacob McManus, the younger of the two McManus brothers, toed the rubber for the Griffins, and delivered a doozy of a performance. The freshman struck out seven in his five innings of work, allowed only two hits and the sole Richard Winn run was unearned.
“He walked more than I would have liked him too,” Dean said. “But the young guys up there are going to throw some balls and walk some people. One inning he threw about six pitches and made two of the outs his self. Out of the 15 outs we had I bet you he made about five of them. I think he is going to be really good. He’s a tall long guy. When he decides to cut one loose he has a little pop, he has a curveball, and I like his changeup. So we’re really looking forward to him growing up.”
His brother Stanley McManus delivered with the bat. He went 3-4 on the night, with three RBI’s and also accounted for three Griffin runs.
One of McManus’s RBI’s and his runs came in the first inning of play. Montavious Thompson and Chris Simmons also delivered a pair of RBI’s in the first frame, to give Fairfield the early 3-0 advantage.
The only snag the Griffins pitching hit came in the second inning. McManus led off with a walk, gave up his only two hits of the night and Richard Winn scored their sole run, when Ethan McManus rounded third and scored, on an error.
Richard Winn’s second inning run trimmed the deficit to two, but that would not last long because in the bottom half of the inning Fairfield unleashed seven runs on three hits. Stanley McManus delivered two more of his RBI’s, Antonio Jackson came up with a big RBI-single, Jacob McManus gave himself some run support with a RBI-double and the Eagles walked six additional Griffin batters.
“It’s a non-region game, we’re trying to get some of our less experienced guys a little bit more experience,” Richard Winn head coach Paul Brigman said. “We just couldn’t find the strike-zone, we walked too many batters but it definitely felt like we were in the ball game up until that point.”
Fairfield padded their lead with an additional run in the bottom of the third when Tydarius Young brought Stanley McManus home with an RBI-single. This gave Fairfield the 11-1 lead.
Meanwhile, after a rough second inning, Jacob McManus found his groove. He sat down the side with just six pitches in the bottom of third, then faced very little opposition in the fourth and finally closed things down with two strikeouts in the last inning.
“We want to win them all,” Brigman said. “But we realize that, you know to develop some of the players we gotta take our lumps in games like this. We’re young, and we’re going to get better but right now it’s just important to get some guys experience.”
This game marked both team’s final contest until after the Spring Break holiday. Fairfield will head to Chester after the break, and Richard Winn will take on PAC.
FCHS: 3-7-1-0-x-11
RWA: 0-1-0-0-0-1
Hitting: 1B- Montavious Thompson, Stanley McManus (3), Antonio Jackson, Chris Simmons, Tydarius Young (FCHS); Peyton Gilbert, Will Carvalho (RWA). 2B- Jacob McManus (FCHS).
Clyde Scott has been appointed to Trinity United Methodist Church as the new Senior Pastor. Pastor Scott has been serving at Trinity UMC for six months on an interim basis and took the pulpit full time on April 1. Pastor Scott is a retired Army Chaplain and has served in the Pennsylvania Annual Conference. Scott and his wife Ilona have three adult children and four grandchildren.
In the April 6 issue of The Voice, the new nuclear reactor units were identified incorrectly (Taylor: Everything is still moving forward). It should have been stated that Unit 2 was initially expected to come online in 2017 and Unit 3 in 2018.
WINNSBORO – Most of the hour-long meeting last week of the Fairfield Memorial Hospital Board was spent pouring over the hospital’s financials.
According to a slimmed down six-page ‘service line’ report presented by FMH Chief Finance Officer Timothy Mitchell, for both the month of February and the hospital’s fiscal year to date (October 1 through February 28), the biggest revenue producers for the hospital were the emergency room, imaging services (X-rays, CT scans, etc.) and laboratory services. Although revenues were down compared to the same period last year, the hospital’s expenses were likewise lower.
Also, while Mitchell reported an operating loss of $107, 507 in February, for fiscal year to date the hospital showed an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization) of $194,321. Board trustee Randy Bright pointed out that this was a significant “swing” compared to $966,000 in losses sustained by the hospital over the same period last year.
One possible factor underlying the hospital’s financials has been the steady decline in the number of patients seen in the emergency department. Tiana Walters-Mitchell, Chief Nursing Officer, provided the Board with an “ER Patient Census” report. In fiscal year 2013 the ER department was seeing about 30 patients a day, she said. This decreased to an average of 22 patients a day last year. The hospital set a goal to see at least 23 patients a day in the emergency room for 2017; the average per day in February was 22 and, in March, the number of patients going to the ER has exceeded that goal.
Suzanne Doscher, CEO, also reported on her concerns with the inpatient census.
“It has been pretty low lately, less than two patients per day. So we have started discussions on how to handle things if we don’t have any inpatients…” Doscher said the administration and staff have been looking at how to manage the nursing staff who are normally on duty on the hospital floor, and have also talked with the ER physicians. Dr. Roger Gaddy, FMH Chief of Staff, noted that the ER docs had expressed some concerns about whether more patients could be admitted thru the ER and not be so quickly sent on to hospitals in Columbia.
The Board also unanimously approved two motions from its finance and audit committee: to accept the fiscal year 2015 financial audit, and to award the 2016 audit work to the incumbent audit firm of CliftonLarsonAllen, which had the low bid of $34,500 in response to a request for proposals for the work. DHG Healthcare out of Greenville, SC, the only other firm responding to the request for proposals for the annual audit work, submitted a bid of $40,000-$45,000.
Ridgeway major Charlene Herring presents Keys to the City to employees of Ridgeway’s First Citizens Bank. Manager Bret Whiting, left, Sheila Brown, Herring and Fannie Ford
Shortly after the First Citizens Banks in South Carolina were merged with the North Carolina First Citizens Banks, the company announced it would be closing the doors on the bank in Ridgeway. That happened on Wednesday.
The bank has been open under various names for the last 119 years. It is an institution the townspeople say they don’t know how they will get along without.
At Monday night’s Fairfield County Council meeting, Councilman Dan Ruff, (District 1) who represents Ridgeway, said he is working closely with the County’s Economic Development Director Ty Davenport to fill the void left by the closed bank.
In the meantime, the town’s merchants and many longtime customers of the bank threw a couple of farewell parties. Mayor Charlene Herring gave all the bank employees keys to the city. Carol Allen, proprietor of Laura’s Tea Room, served tea, crumpets and other culinary delights to customers on Friday afternoon as they bid farewell to Bank Manager Bret Whiting, who has 31 years of banking service; Fannie Ford, who is retiring after 41 years and Sheila Brown who is retiring after 34 years of service.
In separate Council meetings, the Town of Winnsboro and Fairfield County Council have formally decided to throw in together to create a Joint Utility System for the town and county.
At the County’s March 27 meeting, Council gave Administrator Jason Taylor the go ahead to begin negotiations with the Town on a proposed joint cointract, but no contract has yet been signed.
County Council voted to engage Columbia law firm Pope-Flynn to facilitate the negotiations, and Winnsboro Town Council voted to do the same at their April 5 meeting.
Pope-Flynn will represent both the Town and County in talks to explore the possibility of a combined utility system, Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy told The Voice following last week’s meeting.
“Whether it’s water and sewer or just water,” Gaddy said following the meeting, “both the Town and County will have to put some money into the project.”
“For Fairfield County to move forward, we’re going to have to address our public infrastructure needs and deficiencies,” County Council Chairman Billy Smith told the Voice this week. “And with The Town of Winnsboro as our greatest capacity provider and the County with the most resources, that means working together,” Smith said.
“Fortunately, everyone seems to understand this need and to be willing to work together now, so we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us. Right now, we’re in the early stages of figuring out how to best work together, how to formalize that relationship and what all to involve. This could be a great thing for our County, but it will take a lot of work,
and we want to be sure we get it right.
Asked how soon concrete plans could begin to be put in place between the County and Town, Smith said he didn’t know.
“That depends on what all is involved after negotions are completed and a contract is finalized. Unfortunately, I don’t have a measure on how long that will take,” Smith said.
After the Blythewood Planning Commission took a stand last week against a request for high density zoning in the town, Town Council plans to discuss at Thursday’s work session whether to amend the Blythewood zoning ordinance text to repeal R-5 and R-8 zoning districts. Both are high density.
The issue was on the agenda at last month’s regular Town Council meeting for first reading and was passed by a vote of 4-1 with Councilman Malcolm Gordge voting against it,
Town Planning Consultant Michael Criss explained that the proposed ordinance to amend would eliminate large developments of small-lot residential subdivisions within the town limits. He also said this
ordinance must be reviewed by the Planning Commission and recommended to Town Council prior to Council voting on a second reading.
‘The major concerns are that we have gotten developers, developments and neighborhoods that have so many houses in them, and we don’t have infrastructure to take care of it. We have tried to eliminate some of the smaller lot districts and request that they be a certain size,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told council members.
“It eliminates somebody from coming in that has a D-1 (20,000 square ft. minimun lot size) and requesting an R-5 (5,000 minimum lot size), R-8 (8,000 square ft.) or R-12 (12,000 square ft.).
The work session is scheduled for 9 a.m., Thursday, April 13 at The Manor.
