COLUMBIA – At the Region 4-3A meet, the Griffin girls team finished in second place behind Mid-Carolina, while the Griffin Boys placed last, but junior Joshua Mosley continued to dominate in the distance events, pulling first place finishes in the 800m run (2:11.12), the 1600m run (5:01.97) and the 3200m run (10:42.20).
Other top-five finishes for the boys were:
Evelino Reyes-Hawes finished second in high jump for the Griffins at 5-8.
Tydarion Grier: 100m dash (5th place, 11.13) and long jump (5th place, 19-4.5)
Mosley, Reyes-Hawes, and the 4×100 and 4×800 relay teams qualified for Upper State this weekend
Sharmelle Holmes highlighted the Griffin girls team with
first place finishes in the 100m dash (12.09), the 200m dash (25.33) and the
400m dash (1:00.88).
Fairfield’s relay team of Tamerra English, Natalia Gray,
Anaya Peay and Holmes placed first in the 4x100m relay finals with a time of
50.53.
The Griffin girls also saw a handful of second place
finishes. Tamerra English placed second in the 100m hurdles. The 4x400m relay
team of Celysha Jackson, Teairra McDuffie, Anaya Peay and Ericka Kelly placed
second, and the 4×800 relay team of Jackson, McDuffie, English and SaKira Hayes
also finished second.
Other top-five finishers for the girls were:
Natalia Gray: 100m dash (5th place, 13.17)
SaKira Hayes: 1600m run (3rd place, 6:26.26) and 3200m run (5th place, 16:42.58)
Tanisha English: high jump (5th place, 4-2) and shot put (5th place, 26-6)
Tamerra English: javelin (3rd place, 67-2)
Ericka Kelly: shot put (3rd place, 28-6) and javelin (5th place, 56-9.5)
Holmes, Hayes, Tamerra English, Gray, Kelly, Tanisha
English, and the 4×100, 4×400 and 4x800m relay teams qualified for 3A Upper
State.
The Griffins head to Upper State this weekend in hopes of qualifying for the State meet next weekend.
Blythewood girls soccer celebrated head coach Kathy Knight following the game against Rock Hill last Friday. It was a milestone 100th win for Knight. | Contributed
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Soccer team kept the pressure on Rock Hill Friday night, and when the kicks were complete at District 2 stadium, the Bengals finished off a 9-0 shutout over the Bearcats, giving head coach Kathy Knight her 100th win.
“It was a great surprise, I haven’t even been keeping
tally,” said Knight, in her eighth year coaching the Bengals. “To find that out
at the end of the game, it was just the icing on the cake for it to be
tonight.”
Knight entering triple digits would have come a year
earlier, were it not for the global pandemic and the public health emergency
that followed closing down the 2020 athletic season after six games.
Rock Hill, bringing just 11 players to the game, felt the
pressure of the Bengals right from the kickoff. The Bearcats eventually became
an 11-person goalkeeper against Blythewood, which kept the ball on the Rock
Hill side throughout the game.
Blythewood took 14 shots on goal by the final minutes of the
first half, and Rock Hill keeper Abby Vaulk and her team fended off all of
them—except Lauren Hendry’s shot at the 2:50 mark. Hendry took a pass from
Madison Powell and powered it past the reach of Vaulk to put the Bengals up
1-0, a lead they held going into intermission.
“In the first half they (Rock Hill) did a really good job
packing the back and stepping to the ball first before us,” Knight said. “At
halftime we had to make a lot of adjustments to get the ball moving, taking
just those quick one-two touches and passing quickly in order to keep them
moving.”
Lauren Hendry (6) had two goals in the 9-0 win over Rock Hill. | photos: Anthony Montgomery
Hendry struck again two minutes into the second half, this time from Maya Moran’s corner kick. Moran got the assist.
“We had a lot of missed opportunities in the first half,”
Hendry said. “It was good to have a goal in the last three minutes, it lifted
up our spirits and gave us confidence for the second half.”
Once Hendry’s goals were in the net, the Bengals kept
finding scoring avenues.
Meredith Stone put one in at the 28-minute mark, with Hendry
getting the assist.
Nine minutes later, Rock Hill suffered an own goal when one
of the players inadvertently kicked the ball in on Stone’s corner kick.
Evelyn Wright (15)
Maya Moran (14)
Emery Christensen (10)
“We just decided to play our game by then, and opened up and making sure that we were technically sound,” Stone said. “I think that helped us a lot, focusing on moving the ball around a lot instead of panicking.”
Emery Christensen struck the back of the net with 12:40 to
go, after taking the rebound when her previous shot was kicked away. Olivia
Harris took the assist on that play, which put Blythewood up 5-0.
Four goals in the final 10 minutes sealed the win.
Maya Moran headed in a shot with Megan Moran getting the
assist. After Lydia Daniels’ goal came off of Michaela Bosmans’ assist, Macy
Moran came out of the net as goalkeeper and put on a field jersey to score a
goal with 2 minutes left.
“It was nice to see every senior score, even our
goalkeeper,” Knight said. “She (Macy Moran) plays on the field as well, but in
her club.”
Daniels closed things out with a goal with about a minute to
play.
All four seniors honored on senior night scored for the
Bengals – Hendry twice, Stone, and Macy and Maya Moran. Daniels also scored
twice.
“It’s crazy,” Stone said. “It feels incredible. Everything
you’ve worked for for the past four years is just good to see it pay off.”
Blythewood (10-2, 6-0) defeated Spring Valley (7-8, 6-2) 3-0
Tuesday night to clinch the Region 4-5A championship. Emery Christensen scored
a goal and had an assist, and Hendry and Evelyn Wright had goals. Meredith
Stone had two assists.
Alex Nevils (2) puts a tag on a Spring Valley runner in last Friday’s game. | Anthony Montgomery
BLYTHEWOOD – Coming off a 2-1 nail-biter victory over Spring Valley last Friday, Blythewood went up early on Ridge View Tuesday night, scoring six runs in the first en route to an 11-1, 5-inning victory over the Blazers.
Kevin Steelman got the win for the Bengals (15-2, 7-0),
scattering three hits over 4 2/3 innings of work. He struck out six and walked
two.
Zac Cowan led off the game with a single and scored on Ty
Dooley’s double. Caleb McCants drove in Dooley on a triple to rightfield to
make it 2-0 Bengals.
McCants then scored on a wild pitch as Alex Nevils batted.
Nevils singled and his courtesy runner, Ryan Hunter, scored on Watson Saunders’
single to centerfield to make it 4-0 Blythewood with nobody out.
After Camden Watts grounded out and Justin Flemming walked,
Saunders stole home to make it 5-0. Landon Penfield grounded out at first, but
it was enough for Flemming to cross the plate and make it 6-0.
Justin White closed out the first inning flying out to
centerfield.
Blythewood scored two more runs in the second inning, and
after giving up a run in the fourth, the Bengals got three more runs in the
fifth to close out the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
Against Spring Valley Friday night, the game was much
closer.
The Bengals clung to a 1-0 lead going into the top of the
sixth, when Ethan Rumpel’s 2-out single to score Wynn Ravan and tie the game.
Watson Saunders led off the the bottom of that frame with a
single, moved to second on a passed ball, and moved to third on Nevils’
sacrifice bunt. Watts then laid down a bunt to the pitcher that enabled
Saunders to score.
With Watts at first, Kevin Steelman doubled and moved Watts
to third with one out for Flemming. As it turned out, Watts got picked off
third and Flemming struck out to end the inning.
It was all the Bengals needed. Cowan, on the mound since the
top of the sixth, struck out one and got two batters to ground out get the 2-1
win.
Blythewood plays host to Ridge View for a double header
Friday.
Blythewood – 6-2-0-0-3-X – 11-12-1
Ridge View – 0-0-0-0-1-X – 1-3-0
WP: Kevin Steelman. LP:
Noard
Hitters: Alex Nevils 3-3, 2B. Watson Saunders 3-3, 2B. Caleb McCants 3B.
Ty Dooley 2B.
Spring Valley – 0-0-0-0-0-0-1 – 1-6-0
Blythewood -1-0-0-0-0-1-X – 2-5-3
WP: Zac Cowan.
Hitters: Zac Cowan 3B. Alex Nevils 2B. Kevin Steelman
2B.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood softball team scored 34 runs
against Region 4-5A rivals Spring Valley and Ridge View in the last week.
The Bengals (11-2, 4-0) solidified their hold at the top of the region with a
16-4 rout at Spring Valley Friday, and a 18-1 drubbing at Ridge View Tuesday.
Lauren Hardy, who got the victory in the circle for the
Bengals Friday, drove in four runs on two hits at the Blazers Tuesday. Other
big hitters Tuesday were Josie Smith, who drove in three runs and went 3-for-3
with a double; Haley McCoy, who had 2RBI on a double and a triple; and Callie
Baucom, who went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI.
Against Spring Valley Friday, Blythewood gave up three runs
to the Vikings in the bottom of the first, but scored three in the top of the
second to take a 6-3 lead. Blythewood’s 5-run fourth and 5-run fifth closed out
the win over the Vikings.
Keley Swanier went 3-for-3 with a home run and 3 RBI to lead
the Bengals. Hardy had two hits and tripled, Josie Smythe had two hits and
doubled, Anna Fridrikson had two hits and Haley McCoy doubled.
Blythewood is at Lexington for a non-region matchup Friday.
COLUMBIA – Joshua Mosley represented Fairfield Central at
the Ben Lippen School’s George Johnson Falcon Invitational on April 10. Mosley
took first place in the 3200 meter run finals with a time of 10:13.54, two
seconds ahead of second place finisher Judson Taylor of Lexington High School.
Mosley, a junior, set his personal record in the 3200 meter run at the March 6 Diamond Hornets Invitational with a time of 10:03.09.
The Griffins were set to compete in Lugoff Elgin’s meet on
Wednesday, but scores were not available at press time. They will travel to
Keenan for the Raider Twilight Invitational on April 16 and to Columbia
International University on April 17 for the Rams High School Invitational.
WINNSBORO – The Blythewood softball team picked right up where they left off after winning the Soda City Classic April 3.
In their first game since that Spring Break Tournament, the
Bengals exploded for a 17-run first inning en route to a 21-0 Region 4-5A
victory over Rock Hill Tuesday night.
Blythewood banged out 11 hits including Haley McCoy’s grand
slam home run and Maya Van Zyl’s triple Van Zyl went 3-for-3 with six RBI.
Josie Smythe needed to pitch only three innings because of
the 15-run mercy rule. She gave up a hit, struck out six and walked one.
Blythewood (9-2, 2-0) is at Spring Valley Friday and at Ridge View Tuesday.
Rock Hill – 0-0-0 –
0, 1, 2
Blythewood – 17-4-X – 21, 11, 0
WP: Josie Smythe.
Hitters: Maya Van Zyl 3-3, 3B. Anna Fridriksson 2-2. Haley
McCoy HR (Grand Slam).
Josie Smythe threw only 50 pitches in Tuesday’s game. | Photos: Martha Ladd
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood High School (BHS) Athletic Hall
of Fame announced its inaugural induction class.
Created in 2019 to recognize the outstanding contributions
to Blythewood High School athletics, the Hall of Fame will honor five inductees
at a banquet on Thursday, Oct. 31. The inductees will also be recognized at
Blythewood’s final regular season varsity football game on Friday, Nov. 1.
The first Bengals inducted will be Nicole Quinlan Durig (2008) – volleyball and track; Grayson Greiner (2011) – baseball; Vince Lowry – first BHS Athletic Director; Richard Mounce (2008) – football and baseball;, and Jeff Scott – first BHS varsity football coach.
Tickets to the Induction Banquet, held at Columbia Country
Club, are available to the public for $25. Ticket inquiries may be directed to
Buzzy Myers (buzzmy- ers@live.com) or current BHS Athletic Director Barry
Mizzell (bmizzell@richland2.org).
Blythewood Principal Matthew Sherman accepts the SCHSL 5A State Runner Up trophy as the Bengals, Athletic Director Barry Mizzell and R2 Superintendent Dr. Baron Davis look on.
COLUMBIA – For the better part of a season, the Blythewood baseball team made a living out of guts and pulling victory from defeat.
In the deciding game of the best-of-3 5A state championship series Friday night at the Columbia Fireflies’ Segra Park, the Bengals fell one round of the bases short of clinching a state title.
John Lanier (21) tries to ignite a rally in the bottom of the seventh.
With Blythewood down 2-1 with two out in the bottom of the seventh, John Lanier caught hold of a Sam Hatcher fastball and drove it deep into rightfield. Dutch Fork’s Brice Alexander was in a position to end the game right then, but Blythewood stayed alive when the ball ricocheted off the top of the webbing on the outfielder’s glove.
Lanier raced for second and easily made it.
Brady Beasley stepped in the batter’s box, and worked up a 2-2 count. When Hatcher delivered another offspeed pitch, Beasley swung on with the intent of driving a ball far enough to get the tying run across the plate.
He missed, and so too did the Bengals, who fell 2-1.
“We did a good job managing it, keeping within striking distance,” said Blythewood head coach Banks Faulkner, whose team excels at bunting and base running, with an occasional reach for extra bases. “We did have a lot of opportunities and the things we pride ourselves on we weren’t very good at tonight, and it’s a hard lesson.”
Brady Beasley (11)
In the three games against the Silver Foxes (24-10), Blythewood accounted for just four runs to Dutch Fork’s nine. Even so, the Bengals (25-10) stayed close. Only once—in the ninth inning of the first game of the series they won 2-1 on May 11—could they find a game-winning base-running and hitting combination.
Blythewood fell 6-1 at Dutch Fork Wednesday to force Friday night’s game. Bengals and Silver Foxes fans filled the bowl of the 9,000-plus capacity stadium and lounged in the picnic areas, hanging onto strikeouts and a couple of pushes home.
While Blythewood came up short in its final game of the season, Faulkner said the younger players who came up a circle of the bases short of winning a state title will have the resolve to work toward that end—if they can be leaders.
“We’ve got a really good group coming back but we graduate some key leaders, Faulkner said. “The key to next year’s team will be to find leadership. We’ve got some really good players, but that’s a lot more, and that was what was so special about this team.”
Added Faulkner, “Their resolve and their leadership and the way they bounced back, they were a pleasure to coach, probably my favorite team I’ve ever coached.”
For Dutch Fork, which had to bounce back from the losers’ bracket in its district tournament and in the lower state tournament, the moment was as sweet as it was bitter for the Bengals.
“We’re living the dream tonight,” Silver Foxes head coach Casey Waites said. “You got two teams who are known for hitting a baseball. We’re living the dream with these guys right here. We’d expected to do this a long time ago. Our guys bringing a state championship to Dutch Fork baseball love it, love it.”
Harrison Lambert (13) scores to tie the game at 1 in the bottom of the second.
Dutch Fork took a 1-0 lead in the second when Noah Jackson scored on a Lucas’ 2-out wild pitch to Brice Alexander. Alexander later singled, but Jalon McDuffie grounded out to end the inning.
Blythewood got that run back in the bottom of the second. Harrison Lambert legged out an infield hit and Nate Hinson reached on an error, and Zach Bailes walked to load the bases with two out. As Lucas batted, Lambert scored on a botched pickoff attempt with the bases loaded.
Dutch Fork got another run in the fourth inning when Jackson hit a 1-out double into the left centerfield gap and moved to third on a passed ball. Crosby Jones plated Jackson with a single to right.
That run turned out to be all the Silver Foxes needed.
Lucas walked Lance Fuhr to put runners at first and second with one out, but he recovered and struck out Alexander and got McDuffie to ground out to John Lanier at first.
The Blythewood bats lay silent for the next three innings, as Webb and the Silver Foxes retired nine straight batters from the second to the fifth innings. Lucas reached on a walk and Lanier singled with two out in the bottom of the fifth, which signaled the end of Webb’s night.
When Sam Hatcher came on the mound in relief, he went up 0-2 on Michael Gregory, then got him to hit a short grounder that second baseman Noah Jackson scooped up and fired to Ryan Helms at first for the third out.
Josh Cowan (6) took the mound in the seventh.
Blythewood finally caught a break when Brady Beasley led off the sixth with a single, Jansen Stokes bunted him over to second, and Lambert’s one-out single to right put runners at first and third.
A go-ahead inning was not to be for the Bengals, as Nate Hinson struck out and Josh Cowan ended the inning on an infield pop-up.
“Ice in his veins, his pitches,” Waites said of Henry, who with the Silver Foxes defense snuffed out three potential rallies. “He doesn’t try to overpower people, he throws his curveball, his changeup, threw a couple of fastballs, awesome job.”
Thus, Dutch Fork came into the seventh with its 2-1 lead intact. In the top of that inning Bengals catcher Josh Cowan took over on the mound for reliever Kevin Steelman. Cowan got Jay Metts and Ty Olenchuk to fly out. He hit Hugh Ryan, but Ryan Helms grounded out to set up Blythewood’s last effort.
“They fought till the last out,” Faulkner said. “I told them I was proud of them and I love them. Sometimes the game is cruel and the pain will take a while, but we’ve gotten the program back the way it should be. We’ll win a state championship at Blythewood, and when we do, it’s gonna be because of this game.”
DUTCH FORK 2, BLYTHEWOOD 1
DUTCH FORK – 0-1-0-1-0-0-0 – 2, 4, 1
BLYTHEWOOD – 0-1-0-0-0-0-0 – 1, 6, 0
WP: Doug Webb LP: Landon Lucas
HITTERS: Dutch Fork – Noah Jackson 2-3, 2B. Blythewood – John Lanier 2-4, 2B.
Michael Gregory (12) scores from Zach Bailes’ walk-off single to give the Bengals the 2-1 win in the ninth. | Photos: Martha Ladd
BLYTHEWOOD – Zach Bailes’ last hit in his home ballpark was a bouncer up the middle that barely made it to the outfield.
For the Bengals, that little hit Bailes cracked with two out in the bottom of the ninth was the shot heard ’round the Midlands.
Zach Bailes (7) was 2-5 on the night.
Bailes hit a 1-0 pitch hard back to the mound, but neither relief pitcher Andrew Fulmer nor second baseman Noah Jackson could get a handle on it. As the ball bounced beyond second base, Michael Gregory easily made his way home to clinch a 2-1 Game One victory in the best-of-three series in the last game of the season at Bengals Field.
“It was the ninth inning and rain was coming, I just figured we may as well go home,” Bailes said. “Rain was coming, I heard the thunder. I just did everything to get a hit there.”
The play happened as Blythewood head coach Banks Faulkner signaled Gregory to go for home and for courtesy runner Mulukan Hass to break for second.
“We were grasping for it there,” Faulkner said. “Michael Gregory does what he’s done all season. He comes up with a huge hit with two outs and we took a chance there—sort of who we are—we took a chance running them there, and it was just an incredible job by our guys finding a way to win.”
The walk-off win erased a strong performance from Dutch Fork left-hander Sam Hatcher. Hatcher worked eight full innings, scattered six hits and struck out four. He threw 101 pitches and picked off or stranded eight Blythewood baserunners from the second through the sixth inning.
“Hats off to their kid, I thought he competed,” Faulkner said. “He did a good job keeping us off balance. We just could not scratch a run there in the middle innings. It was almost a relief to get him off the mound and see a different arm.”
Blythewood (26-8) travels to Dutch Fork (22-11) Tuesday at 7 for the second game. Winning Saturday obviously was advantageous for the Bengals, but the team knows the season isn’t finished.
“It’s big,” Faulkner said about Saturday. “Anytime you win the first one, it’s huge. We like our position, but we know we’re going to go into a hornets’ nest Tuesday night against a really good team. We’ll face a really, really good arm and we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Bailes’ hit gave the win to closer Josh Cowan, his first of the year. Cowan came on in relief of starting pitcher Landon Lucas, who worked 7 1/3 innings and pitched five innings of no-hit ball after giving up Dutch Fork’s only run in the second. Cowan also no-hit the Silver Foxes over his 1 2/3 innings on the mound.
Lucas and Cowan frustrated the Dutch Fork bats after the Silver Foxes got a run on Jay Metts’ sacrifice fly that scored Brice Alexander. After that play, the pitchers retired the next 22 batters.
Landon Lucas (4) worked 7.2 innings on the mound in Game One, allowing only two hits and one run.
“Landon kept it tight, pitched great the whole game, Josh came in and shut it down,” Bailes said about the pitchers holding off. “It was a great team effort, Mulukan running to second hard helped us, everyone before me getting on base helped.”
Dutch Fork actually got to Lucas early, getting its first three batters, Ty Olenchuk, Hugh Ryan, and Brian Holmes to reach base with a walk, a single and an error, respectively.
From there, Lucas stuck out Noah Jackson and Crosby Jones, then tossed Lance Fuhr’s shot back to the mound to first baseman John Lanier to get the third out.
After putting Blythewood on the scoreboard with a solo home run in his team’s half of the first, Lucas gave up a hit to Alexander and saw Jaylen McDuffie reach on an error with nobody out. Metts drove a long fly ball out to centerfield for Nate Hinson to glove, and that enabled Alexander to tie the game at 1.
Lucas then got Olenchuk to pop out and Ryan to ground out to retire the side.
“It goes to my teammates making the plays,” Lucas said about his mound performance. “I didn’t make as many strikeouts as I would’ve liked, but they just hung in there and made the plays for me.”
From the second inning onward, Dutch Fork had just one baserunner, Jones. Jones reached base on a catcher’s interference call with two out in the ninth.
Cowan got Fuhr to hit into a fielder’s choice to retire the side in the ninth and set up Blythewood’s last offensive effort.
With Fulmer on the mound to start the ninth, Dutch Fork got Brady Beasley and Jansen Stokes out in infield grounders. Gregory’s single to left gave the Bengals life though, and they leapt at their chance to clinch Game One.
Cowan reached base on an infield error that brought Gregory over to third. With Hass taking the place of Cowan at first, the Bengals had the table set for Bailes, who delivered.
“You know, the bats had to break eventually,” Faulkner said. “Thankfully for us we hit it in just the right spot and found a way to win.”
