The Blythewood ladies finished second place in the Region V-5A. Ashley Mitchell claimed Regional honors in the 400M and Marie Smith brought home the Region title in the 400M hurdles.
The team of Keionna Ray, Sharnae Alston, Destiny Wilson and Keayra Jackson claimed a win in the 4X100 relay. Ashley Mitchell, Aleah Wilson, Marie Smith and Claudia Cannon took the top spot in the 4X800 relay.
The Westwood Redhawks continued their dominance on the track at last week’s regional championship meeting at York High School. The Redhawks boys won their third Region III 4-A Championship in the last five seasons and the girls finished third behind Ridge View and South Pointe.
Diamond Rush claimed the solo girls Region Championship in the 100M and the 200M, while her teammate Alanie Foster claimed the Region Championship in the 1600M and 3200M. The Redhawks boy also raked in the solo Regional championships.
Christian Horn won the 400M and Paul McCants made it a clean sweep for the Redhawks at 3200M. Kaden Briggs picked up a win at both the 110M hurdles and the 400M hurdles.
Briggs was also a member of the winning 4×400 relay along with Malik Donald, Torran Goins and Christian Horn. Rayshon Floyd, Jair Kelly, LaRonnie Davis and Paul McCants notched the Region title at the 4X800 relays.
Aiden Massey catches the ball before it can make its way across the plate. Photo/ Kristy Massey
BLYTHEWOOD – One day after falling 1-0 to top-seed Sumter in the opening round of the 5A-District VII tournament, the Bengals traveled across town to White Knoll Thursday night, where the Timberwolves won 4-1 to oust Blythewood from the double-elimination postseason bracket.
“I told this team we’ve got as much heart as any team I’ve had,” Blythewood head coach Banks Faulkner said. “We’re going to get on the right side of this thing. I told our seniors that they did a great job of laying a foundation for the future.”
White Knoll starting pitcher Jacob Jeffcoat pitched a complete-game 3-hitter, striking out three. Jeffcoat’s biggest downsides on the night were issuing three walks and hitting four batters.
“He had three pitches working, but not to take anything away from them, they’re a great team, but he was his own enemy,” White Knoll head coach Charles Assey said. “It’s not about the base hit Flemming got (that scored
Blythewood’s only run), it was what happened in front of it.”
The Timberwolves (15-10) will play Summerville Saturday.
Blythewood finishes the season 15-11.
“I tip my hat to coach Assey and White Knoll, he’s one of the best,” Faulkner said. “I’ve known him since we were little and I have a great deal of respect for him and his team, but for whatever reason, we just don’t play well against these guys.”
White Knoll got all the offense it needed for the win with a few plays in the first two innings. The Timberwolves took a 1-0 lead when Parker Wieder singled, Clayton Lindsey doubled, and Jacob Horton walked to load the bases with one out. Pierceson Nance hit a hard bouncer down the first base line. Before the Blythewood infield could make a play, Wieder came home safely and Nance reached base.
In the second inning with one on and one out, Ryan Hardin reached on an error that scored Matthew Ditch from second to make it 2-0. Hardin himself scored when Wieder grounded to Ben Lang-Spittler at second. Lang-Spittler got Wieder out at first, and first baseman Aiden Massey fired to catcher Josh Cowan, but Hardin beat the throw to the plate.
All three runs were charged to Bengals starter Daniel Zippel. Zippel only worked 1 1/3 of an inning before Landon Lucas came on in relief.
Lucas stayed on for 4 2/.3 innings, giving up a run on three hits, striking out two and hitting one.
Blythewood’s only hurrah came in the fourth with two out. Jeffcoat hit Landon Cruz, walked John Lanier and hit Brady Beasley to load the bases.
Jordan Flemming, the only Bengal with two hits on the night, ripped a single into short left that scored Cruz.
Lanier rounded third on the play, but inexplicably held up and didn’t score. Todd Mattox slapped a grounder to third to end the inning.
“We just don’t do enough good baseball things,” Faulkner said. “It’s not our heart or toughness. We didn’t get a big hit with runners in scoring position, we get a baserunning error where I don’t know what was going on there. The game just sort of figures itself out.”
The game Thursday night pivoted on that inning, and figured itself out in favor of the Timberwolves. White Knoll added a run in the bottom of the fourth to end the inning, while the Bengals couldn’t get any other runs across.
Blythewood loses eight seniors, but Faulkner says they’ll be in a better position to fight out of the middle of Region V-5A—as long as the returners put in the work and leaders can emerge.
“We’re really young. We’re gonna bring a lot of guys back,” he said. “We’ve gotta find some leaders. We had some really outstanding seniors who did a great job of providing leadership to our young kids. We’ll miss them, and we’ll take a week off to reflect. And then we’ll get back to work.”
Blythewood 000 100 0 – 1 3 1
White Knoll 120 100 x – 4 6 1
WP: Jacob Jeffcoat. LP: Daniel Zippel.
Hitters: Blythewood – Jordan Flemming 2-3. White Knoll – Clayton Lindsey 2-3, 2B. Ryan Harbin 2B.
Fairfield Central pitcher Antonio Jackson comes set Thursday during a playoff game at Emerald. Photo/ The Index-Journal
GREENWOOD – The Griffins were eliminated from the Region 3-3A playoffs Thursday after first losing 11-1 to Mid-Carolina on Tuesday, and then were thumped 11-1 by the Emerald Vikings
Emerald pitchers Austin Gray and Andrew Patterson combined to throw five innings of two-hit baseball Thursday.
Gray earned the start and went three innings before Patterson picked up the final two. All six of the outs Patterson recorded were strikeouts.
The Vikings exploded for five runs in the second inning, fueled by a two-run double off the bat of Brayden Ridge, who scored the fifth run of the inning on a passed ball.
Gray was shaky in the top of the third, when he walked Tracy Williamson to open the frame, then hit the next batter he faced. Gray threw a wild pitch that gave the Griffins runners on second and third base before recording a strikeout.
Williamson scored on a passed ball, but Gray wiggled out of the jam after an unconventional, 1-6-2-5-4 double play.
With runners on the corners and one out, Gray caught Tydarius Young in a rundown between first and second. Gray threw the ball to second base, but the Vikings cut down Montavious Thompson, who tried to score from third base.
Young rounded second while the out was recorded and tried to take third base, but was tagged out to erase the threat.
The Vikings added a run in the bottom of the fourth before stringing together a four-run bottom of the fifth that saw eight Emerald batters come to the plate.
The only out of the inning was a sacrifice fly by Chase Prochaska, and a two-run single by Gavin Henderson put the 10-run mercy rule into effect, sending Emerald into a rematch with Crescent.
Bailey Taylor (left), Cali Swearingen and Alyssa Atkerson celebrate their final home game on senior night.
WINNSBORO- The Richard Winn lady Eagles had a rocky offensive outing on Thursday,senior night, when Wardlaw Academy came into town. The Patriots notched a 2-0 win thanks in large part to a devastating pitching performance courtesy of junior pitcher Savannah Rodgers.
Rodgers was dealing on the mound all seven innings and racked up 13 strike-outs compared to only two base hits. Eagles starter Bailey Taylor had a solid outing with a complete game performance, two earned runs, five strikeouts but Richard Winn did give up seven hits, including a triple.
The dominant pitching became evident early. Wardlaw retired Richard Winn’ side of the first with three consecutive strikeouts and the Patriots only base-runner in the first reached due to an error, but her teammates were unable to get her in for a score.
Alyssa Atkerson, a senior, led of the second with a single, that turned out to be the last hit that she would tally at the Richard Winn softball field. Rodgers got the next three Eagle hitters in relatively easy fashion.
Wardlaw applied some pressure to Richard Winn in the second when Abbie Spurlock clocked in a single and Ashlyn Yount kept Spurlock moving with a base-hit of her own, but the momentum was brought to a halt after a strike-out and pop-fly ended the inning.
After the Atkerson hit in the second, the Eagles bat his a cold-patch that they would not be able to shake. Richard Winn down in order in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh inning, and their only hit during that span was a Sallie Costenbader single in the sixth.
The Patriots offense was not a great deal better, but it only required one solid inning for them to pull-out a win, and that inning was the fourth. Annalee Rodgers walked to start the fourth and it was not long before an Abbie Spurlock triple brought her all the way around from first, to give Wardlaw a 1-0 lead.
Spurlock was rewarded for her triple when she scored on another Ashlyn Yount single. Bailey Taylor got the next two batters to prevent further damage, but the 2-0 lead proved to be insurmountable for the Eagles.
Seniors Bailey Taylor, Alyssa Atkerson and Cali Swearingen were honored after the game. Richard Winn will be in playoff action at the SCISA State Tournament on May 12-13.
Westwood Boys
Kaden Briggs, Brian Horn, Christian Horn, Torran Goings, Trinni Feggett, Devon Fluellen, Jair Kelly, Treshawn Miller, Jordan Alexander-Coleman , Paul McCants, LaRonnie Davis, Jacob Finch, Dermonti Romey, Rayshawn Floyd , Malik Donald and Jalen Briggman.
Blythewood Boys
Joshua Bowers, Kenny Benton, Quinton Patten, Desmond Wilson, Charlemane Brown, Kobe Franklin , Terrell Gilmore, Trey Stevens, Shemar Huffin, Sebastian Thomas, Robert Braswell, Brian Brown, Sekwan Jenkins, Roger Carter and Deron Epps
Pitcher Trenatee Roberts (5) watches on as (15)Tameeya Owens makes the leaping catch to get the force out at first base. Photo/ Ross Burton
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Central lady Griffins playoff run came to an end Saturday after a 5-1 home loss to Berea. Fairfield traveled to Mid-Carolina Thursday in their first game only to suffer an 11-1 trouncing.
“We shouldn’t have lost,” Griffins’ head coach Gwen Rouse said. “It’s just all mental. That’s all I can say is mental, because this team is nowhere near some of the teams we played this year. I’m not knocking the team but nowhere near some of the talent we played this year.”
Catie Johnson, the very first batter of the game, tallied Berea’s first hit with a single, and then she put her wheels on display when she swiped second. A groundout and fly ball out afforded Berea only more opportunity to get Johnson in from second, and Isabel Martinez choked up on her bat then delivered the RBI-single that gave her team a 1-0 lead.
Kavonna Rice was the first Griffin to stroll to the plate and she belted a single to left-field, but she would be picked-off as she neared third base, after a Trenatee Roberts bunt. Berea starting pitcher Hannah Johnson got Tameshia Woodard to whiff on a third strike to finish off the first inning.
Fairfield hit another single in the second, this time via the bat of Amari Jones, but like in the first inning the Griffins were unable to cash in, and the inning ended after two consecutive Hannah Johnson strike-outs.
Again, in the bottom of the third the Griffins came close to tying up the game. After a couple of easy outs Kavonna Rice reached on an error, and then added a couple of stolen bases to her stat-line to end up all the way-over on third with two outs, but a ground-ball out ended the threat.
Griffins pitcher Trenatee Roberts settled down after giving up a couple hits and a run in the first inning, and easily retired Berea in the second, third and fourth inning, but the wheels came off a bit in the fifth. An error at first allowed Berea’s first batter of the inning, Mackenzie Arrowood, got all the way to third on an error, and a couple of batters later Hannah Johnson knocked her in with a single.
“We mentally just wasn’t in it or focused,” Rouse said. “That one inning where we gave up four runs. All I can say is they didn’t want it bad enough, the other team wanted it bad enough.”
Lili Renault kept the offense flowing for the Bulldogs when she blasted an RBI-double to the wall, and Mekayla Davis came in to be her courtesy runner. Davis scored on error that placed Isabel Martinez on first, and Martinez would come into score on an error as well.
By the end of five innings Berea held a commanding 5-0 lead, and their Hannah Johnson continued to deal. Johnson finished off her complete game with seven strikeouts, zero walks and only two hits.
The Griffin’s sole run came off an impressive seventh inning China Woodard hit, that perfectly split the right-fielder and center-fielder, which allowed Woodard to speed all the way around the base-path for an inside the park home-run, but it was too little too late for Fairfield.
“I know we lost some key players but I still feel like it was an up and down season,” Rouse said. “We had a couple of new players on the team, some of the kids that didn’t play last year had to play this year. Not the confidence level I felt like they should have had.”
FCHS: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1
BHS: 1-0-0-0-4-0-0-5
Hitting: 1B- Kavonna Rice, Amari Jones (FCHS); Catie Johnson, Hannah Johnson (3), Isabel Martinez (BHS). 2B- Lili Renault (BHS). HR- China Woodard (FCHS).
Pitching: WP- Hannah Johnson, LP- Trenatee Roberts
Branden May (18), Rawshawn Green (24) and Connor Buck (16) celebrate before Senior Night
The Redhawks built a five-run lead in the second inning and then held
off Irmo’s charge for a 6-5 victory on Senior Night. Irmo scored five
runs in the failed comeback on a error in the fifth, a single by
Winslow in the fifth.
Westwood grabbed an early lead scoring on a double by Ethan Barton in
the first inning, a triple by Joseph Bennett in the second inning, and
a single by Branden May in the second inning. Irmo scored four runs in
the fifth inning. Irmo’s big inning was driven by a error and a single
by Winslow.
Branden May earned the win of the mound for Redhawks . He pitched two
and a third innings, allowing zero runs, two hits, and striking out
three. Two relievers helped Redhawks close out the victory. Barton
threw two and two-thirds innings and recorded the last eight outs to
earn the save for the Redhawks. Another great win for the Redhawks on
Senior Night.
Barton led the Redhawks at the plate with two hits in three at bats.
Jacob Declemente (21), Ian Stephan (14), Aiden Massey (13), Thomas Murphy (7), Banks Faulkner (11, Head Coach, Daniel Zippel (3), Todd Mattox (4), Landon Cruz (20), Hunter McCoy (19), pose for one last picture as teammates on Blythewood’s senior night. Photo/GoFlashWin
BLYTHEWOOD-On Friday night, three days after Spring Valley beat Blythewood 6-5 in nine innings, the Bengals returned the favor, albeit in slightly less dramatic flair.
The Bengals built a 7-0 lead at the Blythewood baseball field over the Region V-5A rival Vikings, and closed out a 7-4 win on Senior Night.
Even though no extra-inning heroics were needed, the Bengals needed three pitchers to get out of a seventh-inning jam. Spring Valley had the bases loaded with nobody out before the final reliever John Lanier began to close out the game.
“You gotta embrace the pressure and learn to enjoy it,” Banks Faulkner said, noting his team’s late-inning struggles. “But we still get uncomfortable in that situation, but that’s just a young team.”
With one run in, Wynston Dyer reached on a bloop single into short left that scored Daishon Redden, but Baylor Berry was thrown out trying for third on the play. Later, Khyree Miller hit into a fielder’s choice and Hunter Rogers grounded out to end the game.
“We continued to battle,” Faulkner said. “We played error-free baseball, which was really good, and we’re looking forward to go on the road to competing against Sumter.”
Blythewood, 14-10 overall, finishes Region 5-5A play 6-6. The Bengals head to Sumter Tuesday to take on the Gamecocks in the opening round of the 5A-District VII tournament.
The Bengals put four pitchers on the mound Friday night.
Ben Lang-Spittler started the game and went three innings, followed by Landon Lucas, who gave up three runs on six hits in three-plus innings of work.
Lucas started the seventh, but left the mound after two batters. Hunter McCoy faced two batters and Lanier three.
“We had planned that. We wanted to keep our options open for Tuesday,” Faulkner said. “It’s probably going to be a combination of guys. We haven’t decided completely what we’re going to do, but Benny’s battling an oblique issue and that limits him, he can’t come down to the side and mix his arm angles, and that’s what he needs to do to be his best.”
Lang-Spittler got into trouble in the first, loading the bases with one out, but he got Ryan Gurganious to ground out and Bryson Garrett to fly out to end the inning. In his time on the mound he faced 13 batters, struck out one, walked one, and hit one batter.
Meanwhile, the Bengals got to Spring Valley starting pitcher Baylor Berry early. Todd Mattox led off the game with a double, and Aidan Massey singled him in. Later in the inning, with two out, Landon Cruz reached on an error that scored Massey to give Blythewood a 2-0 lead.
Courtesy Runner Ian Stephen, running for Josh Cowan, who had singled, was caught in a rundown between second and third for the final out.
Blythewood picked up three runs in the third and two more in the fourth to build a 7-0 lead.
Massey’s single enabled Mattox to score, Lang-Spittler tripled in Massey, and Zach Bailes drove in Lang-Spittler on a bunt single in the third.
In the fourth, Massey drove in Jacob DeClemente and Spittler batted in Mattox.
“We mixed the lineup a little bit, Mattox led us off and we put Massey at No.2,” Faulkner said. “He (Massey) has been a really good hitter. He’s struggled at getting RBIs in some situation, but he had three RBIs tonight and had a good night at the plate.”
Massey went 3-for-4, Mattox went 2-for-3 with two doubles, and Lang-Spittler went 2-4 with a triple.
Spring Valley got two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh. Chase Hayes doubled twice for the Vikings. Ronald Hollins also doubled and went 2-for-4. Miller went 2-for-3
Spring Valley 0-0-0-0-1-0-2- 4 8 2
Blythewood:2-0-3-2-0-0-x-7 11 0
WP: Ben Lang-Spittler. LP: Baylor Berry.
Hitters: Spring Valley – Chase Hayes, 2-3, 2B (2). Ronald Hollins 2-4, 2B. Khyree Miller 2-3. Wynston Dyer 2B. Blythewood – Aidan Massey 3-4. Todd Mattox 2-3, 2B (2). Ben Lang-Spittler 2-4, 3B.
Steven Massey (left) stretches to make the return. Westwood struggled against Ridgeview dropping the contest 5-1. Massey picked up Westwood’s only win over Jefferson Fulmore. Ryan Hiller was bested by Ethan Kene, and Oliver Ellis dropped consecutive sets to Kaleb Phelps. Zackery Gonzales suffered a 4-6, 6-0, 10-5 loss to Marc Bumanglae. Blazer Jack Talledo defeated John Heath 3-6, 6-3 .The Blazers won a forfeiture victory in the double’s event.
Raegan Auton (left), Faith Manly (9), Courtney Watts (17) and Erin Goff (3) savor the moment prior to their senior night game.
BLYTHEWOOD-The Blythewood softball team tried to spark a rally several times against Spring Valley Tuesday night.
But on Senior Night at the Blythewood softball field, Jordan Bostic and the Vikings stayed one step ahead of the Bengals.
Bostic went 4-for-4 with a 3-run home run in the third inning to give Spring Valley an 11-5 win to close out the regular season.
“It just seemed we were one hit away, one catch away,” Blythewood head coach Jordan Atkinson said. “We had several 0-2 (in the count) hits, and that can’t happen. We weren’t very selective at all (at the plate), and in the third inning they batted through their lineup.” Blythewood (4-8 in Region 5-5A, 7-13 overall) opens the playoffs at Ashley
Ridge Thursday in the District V Tournament. West Florence and Lexington will also play in that bracket.
The Bengals took a 1-0 lead on Spring Valley in the bottom of the second inning. Grace Campbell led off with a double, moved to third on Savannah Simpson’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Courtney Watts’ infield groundout.
Faith Manley struck out to retire the side.
The lead didn’t last long.
Spring Valley sent 10 batters to the plate in the third. With two runners on and nobody out, Bostic got things started when she swung on a 2-1 pitch and sent it over the leftfield fence to give the Vikings a 3-1 lead. Spring Valley got two more runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead.
“In the first game they didn’t have Edgerton (who went 2-for-3) and Bostic,” Atkinson said, referring to Blythewood’s 10-2 victory March 28. “We let them control the game.”
Blythewood rallied for two runs in the bottom of the third, but got cut short.
Reagan Auton drew a walk, Emily Bush singled and Parker drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. That set up Sammy Hall’s 2-run single to cut Spring Valley’s lead to 5-3.
Unfortunately for the Bengals, that’s all they could get. With Hall and Parker aboard and nobody out, Spring Valley retired the next three batters to strand the tying runs.
The Vikings then got a run in the fourth, two more in the fifth, and three in the seventh to take an 11-3 lead.
Blythewood, which stranded two baserunners in the sixth when they were down 8-3, got a hot start in the final inning.
Bush singled to lead off the inning and Parker doubled her home to make it 11-4 Vikings. Hall reached on a fielder’s choice that struck Parker from the bases. Erin Goff was hit by a pitch and Grace Campbell singled in Hall to make it 11-5, but that was the most Blythewood could get.
Savannah Simpson struck out and Courtney Watts hit into a game-ending fielder’s choice.
“You leave runners on base and make errors, it’s not a success,” Atkinson said. “Not a success.”
Spring Valley 0-0-5-1-2-0-3-11 12 0
Blythewood: 0-1-2-0-0-0-2-5 8 3
WP: Molly Coleman LP: Emily Bush
Hitters: Spring Valley – Jordan Bostic 4-4, HR. Molly Coleman 2-3, 2B. Alexis Edgerton 2-3. Mary Freeman 2-3. Jade McKie 2B. Blythewood – Kendall Parker 2-3, 2B. Grace Campbell 2-3, 2B. Emily Bush 2-4.
