Eva Hoagland (left), Sophie Sweatman, Reese Peck, Anna Livermore and Kylie Patch, members of the Village Church 4th and 5th grade Sunday school class at the VillageChurch, offered free lemonade and cookies to the hundreds of people who shopped the Hoof & Paw yard sale on April 1 in the parking lot of Trinity United Methodist Church in Blythewood. Assisted by J.J., a Great Dane owned by Julie Monroe, the girls’ Sunday School teacher, the class also collected donations to benefit Fairfield County Adoption Center. Hoof & Paw President Deborah Richelle said the group raised over $4,000 from the very successful sale. “We’re very grateful,” Richelle said, ” for everyone who came out to help make it a success.”
Douglas Pauley, who was elected to represent District 5 of Fairfield County Council in a special election last month, was sworn into office Monday evening by Clerk of Court Judy Bonds, right. Pauley’s wife, Emily, holds the Bible during the ceremony prior to the Council meeting. The special election was held after former District 5 Councilman Marion Robinson resigned his seat last fall for health reasons.
After making her debut as a steeplechase jockey at the Aiken Spring Steeplechase two weeks ago, where she took second place in her first race, and riding two races during the Carolina Cup in Camden last week, Emma Clifton of Blythewood brought home her first win at the Steeplechase of Charleston at Stono Ferry on Saturday. The win was also a first for Clifton’s mount, Petak Mountain, an 8-year-old owned by In Memory of My Father Stable and trained by Archibald Kingsley, Jr. of Camden. In the photo above, Clifton pulls ahead of jockey Richard Boucher on the 1-1/4 mile turf track to take the win. Read more about Clifton in the Spring issue of Rider’s Up! magazine, a quarterly publication of The Voice that features stories about horses and riders in Blythewood and Fairfield County. Clifton’s husband, Brice, is the assistant baseball coach at Blythewood High School.
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.”
BLYTHEWOOD- Blythewood High School plays host to the seventh annual South Carolina Diamond Invitation from April 13-16, featuring teams plucked from both 4-A and 5-A.
J.L. Mann and Lexington did battle in the tournament’s lead-off game at noon on Wednesday. Lexington is currently the number eight ranked team in 5-A, and J.L. Mann lost 7-1 in last year’s championship game against Belton-Honea Path.
Belton-Honea Path, the reigning champion, got its first taste of action in game 2 against T.L. Hanna, on Wednesday as well. Belton-Honea path finished last year’s Diamond Invitation undefeated, and also claimed a state title.
Blythewood fans got a first chance to see their Bengals in game 3 at 5 p.m., when they took on Nation Ford, a 5-A school out of Fort Mill. The Bengals finished 1-2 last year, and lost in the consolation game against Summerville. Day one wrapped up with game 4, a Dutch Fork and Dorman match-up. Dutch Fork picked up a big win against White Knoll, the fifth ranked 5-A team in the state in their last contest.
Day 2 (Thursday) off early with an 8:30 a.m. game featuring Belton-Honea Path taking on Nation Ford. Following that game, J.L. Mann and Dorman square off at 11 a.m.
Blythewood gets their second crack at things with T.L. Hanna at 1:30 p.m., before Lexington closes out day two with fellow 5-A school Dutch Fork.
Friday, day three, features a full-slate of baseball. Again things lead-off with an 8:30 a.m. contest between Nation Ford and T.L. Hanna.
Dutch Fork takes on J.L.Mann at 11, and then Dorman goes up against Lexington. Then, there will be a break in the action at 4, for the home run derby and base-running competition, presented by BSN Sports.
Following the derby, Blythewood takes the field for the third time against Belton-Honea Path, at 5:30 p.m. Day three will finish up with the fourth place game at 8 p.m.
Saturday the tournament will close with a third place game at 9 a.m., then a consolation game at 11:30 a.m., and, finally, the championship game is slated for 2 p.m.
The Westwood baseball team didn’t have to play Friday night.
Following the tragic death of fellow student and two-sport athlete Ellis Hawkins in an auto accident Thursday night, the baseball coaches left it up to the players on whether they wanted to play at Richland Northeast.
“We had guys who had played with him in football,” Westwood head coach Johnathan Burroughs said of Hawkins. “He was well liked not only in football and basketball, but also within the community and throughout the school.”
Burroughs added that the team, along with guidance counselors and athletic director Jason Powell met to talk about what to do.
“If they weren’t in it emotionally, then we could reschedule,” Burroughs said. “Not a big deal. (Hawkins’ death) is bigger than baseball.”
Hawkins was a friend to many of the Redhawks, and instead of rescheduling, the Westwood baseball players chose to play.
“They were all in,” Burroughs said. “They wanted to play for him tonight.”
Westwood did. The Redhawks stayed hot at the plate and delivered a 12-7 victory over the Cavaliers to collect its fourth Region 3 4-A win.
While Westwood (4-2 region, 4-5 overall) grieved the loss of a friend, it played fired up.
The Redhawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, when Anthony LaCola scored on Ethan Barton’s sacrifice fly, and Rashawn Green and Josh Wise came home on Bryce Henson’s two-out double.
Richland Northeast got a run back in the second, but Westwood took a 7-1 lead with a four-run tally in the third.
Green, Wise, and Barton led off the inning with back-to-back-to-back hits. Green scored on Barton’s double to left, Barton and Henson came home on Brandon May’s one-out single, and Connor Buck drove May home.
From that point it had appeared the Westwood had the game under control. But Richland Northeast got to starting pitcher Brandon Anderson in the bottom of the fourth, rallying for five runs to cut the lead to 7-6.
Henry Taylor led off with a walk, and promptly came home on Jason English’s 2-run home run over the leftfield fence to cut Westwood’s lead to 7-3.
Later, with one out, Tucker Dove singled, Anderson hit Chase Asbill, and Eli Prieto singled to drive in Dove. John Miller singled to load the bases, still with one out.
That was the end for Anderson. May came on in relief and got Isaiah Manning to hit in a fielder’s choice for the second out. Tucker Bates singled to drive in Prieto and Miller, but May managed to strike out English and retire the side with the bases loaded again.
Richland Northeast never got closer. Westwood got three more runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to take a 12-6 lead. The Cavaliers managed only one run in the bottom of the sixth.
Anderson worked 2 1/3 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. He walked one but hit two batters.
May put the fire out in the third, and from there onward he gave up three hits and a run in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six, walked two, and hit one.
Burroughs noted some things to be cleaned up—the Redhawks committed five errors—the gaffes meant little under the circumstances of playing for a friend.
“It’s tough,” Burroughs said. “I couldn’t ask any more from those kids to come out here with what they’re dealing with. I can’t ask them to forget about that.”
Instead, Burroughs is pleased with what the team is remembering.
“They’re starting to believe in themselves. They’re feeling it now, and we just gotta keep it rolling,” Burroughs said. “We’re approaching each game as the biggest game in the program’s history. Tonight was, and guess what next Tuesday is?”
Westwood played host to York Tuesday, and is at Lancaster Thursday.
Westwood: 3-0-4-3-2-0-0- 12 13 5
Richland Northeast: 0-1-5-0-0-1-0- 7 10 1
WP: Brandon Anderson LP: Henry Taylor
Hitters: Westwood – Ethan Barton 2-4, 2B, Sac. Bryce Henson 2-4, 2B. Brandon May 2-4. Rashawn Green 2-3. Josh Wise 2-4. Richland Northeast – Jason English 2-5, HR. Tucker Dove 2-4, 2B.
After Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, there are questions about the fortunes of nuclear units 1 and 2 which are under construction and already behind schedule.
WINNSBORO – After Westinghouse, the primary contractor for the two new V.C. Summer nuclear units, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York last Friday, options for continued construction of the units appear dim to grim. However, Fairfield County Administrator Jason Taylor told The Voice in an interview on Tuesday that, as far as the County is concerned, everything is moving forward for the present time.
“We’ve heard all the rumors that everyone else has heard,” Taylor said, “but SCANA has kept us informed. We were told that Westinghouse would be declaring bankruptcy and that Fluor (Daniels) would be coming in to take over construction of the two new units from Westinghouse. We were told that while we would be hearing that large numbers of workers are being layed off from time to time, that’s normal because as one job, like welding, is finished, many more workers are hired for concrete work or another job.”
Information released Tuesday by the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) listed some of the options being considered under a written plan being formulated by ORS. Those options include:
-continue with the construction of both new units;
-focus on construction of one unit and delay construction of the other;
-continue with construction of one unit, abandon the other and seek recovery of the abandoned unit;
-abandon the construction of the project.
Taylor conceded that the significance of the bankruptcy on the County’s future could loom huge.
“We’ll continue on. It (delayed or discontinued construction) will not devastate us as far as our continued operations. But it would have a huge impact on what we plan moving forward. Those nuclear reactors are critical to our citizens for jobs and to our tax base,” Taylor said. “We are very sensitive to all of this. The new units are critical to the future of Fairfield County.
“We don’t want to lose any business, but especially not this one. With the agreements we have in place, the units have a big impact on the County’s future,” Taylor said. As for our planning process going forward, we’ve thought a lot about going in certain directions with our current budget. If those units were to go away, we would have to change our focus. Right now, we’re looking to plan projects and growth based on revenue that will be coming from the nuclear power plants.”
The two new units were originally expected to come on line in 2017 (unit one) and 2018 (unit two.) Last year SCANA announced that the first unit is now not coming on line until 2021 and no date is set for the third unit. It was reported in The State newspaper that the project is $4 billion over budget and years behind schedule.
Still, Taylor looks to the bright side.
“The revenue from those units will allow our us to do a lot of things – we could pay off the GO bonds, invest in infrastructure. It’s all affected by revenue,” Taylor said. “We’re always concerned about economic development in general. It’s our largest industry, so it concerns us when things aren’t going as positively as we hoped they would. But, for now, we have no reason to think anything is going to change,” Taylor said. “Not from what SCE&G has told us.”
An interim agreement between Westinghouse, SCE&G and Santee Cooper was filed with the New York Bankruptcy Court as part of the bankruptcy filings and approved on March 30. That agreement allows work to continue on the units during the transition period which has initially been set at 30 days according to a statement from ORS.
“This agreement with Westinghouse allows progress to continue to be made on-site while we evaluate the most prudent path to take going forward,” said SCANA Chairman and CEO Kevin Marsh. “Fluor will continue as the construction manager during this period and they will continue to work towards completion of the units.”
Griffins’ ace Stanley McManus gave it his all on the mound, but it was not enough to keep Camden from picking up their second win over Fairfield this season.
CAMDEN- Camden baseball got the better of the Griffins in their second regional match-up on of the season. The Bulldogs stepped out an 8-2 victor in the first contest, and this time they prevailed by the final of 7-2.
Despite the five-run win, this remained a neck and neck game until the sixth inning. Camden’s starting pitcher, Devin Beckley, had his devastating stuff ready, and silenced the Griffins’ bats for most of the night. He allowed just two hits in his complete game performance, did not give up any earned runs and put up 12 K’s.
“We don’t play well on defense,” Griffins’ head coach Scotty Dean said. “We don’t hit the ball very well. How many hits did they have before the sixth inning? Two. That tells me our guys is as good as theirs. We just don’t put it together well. It’s frustrating as all get out, because I know what our players capable of.”
Stanley McManus had a good start on the other side of the mound, giving up just one hit before Camden’s big final inning. McManus struck-out seven in the game.
“When that guy pitches for us, we got a chance to be pretty good,” Dean said. “The score was 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, that’s the same story that happened in Indian Land. It’s 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth and we find some way to give the game away.”
Neither team could find the scoreboard until Camden put up a run after Nick Butler came around to score on a wild pitch, a problem that plagued the Griffins in the following inning. Errors and wild pitches cost Fairfield two more runs in the fourth, and it also led to a 3-0 hole.
Travious Williams reached first in the top of the fifth, and Tracy Williamson came onto to pinch-run for him. Harvey Smith stepped up the plate and attempted to bring in the runner, but instead took a scary pitch to the head and had to leave the game.
Williamson would come in to score after a Camden error allowed him to touch home and Smith’s pinch-runner reached third, but Beckley rung up two consecutive Griffin batters to end any further threat. Beckley started the sixth off with two-more strikeouts, but Rodric Woodard singled to keep the inning alive.
Beckley walked McManus and Williams to jam the bases up, and after another pitch slipped past the catcher, Woodard came in to score. Beckley got another pivotal strikeout to end the inning and keep the Bulldogs’ 3-2 lead in tact.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Camden exploded. They picked-up four runs on three hits after having only one hit in the previous five innings. Tate Abbott and Nick Butler both knocked in RBIs.
Beckley stayed in during the final inning to finish the game, and with a pair of strikeouts and a ground ball he did just that. Fairfield’s next chance at a regional win will be Thursday at home against Indian Land.
“We are capable of being pretty good,” Dean said. “That’s the number two or three ranked team in 3-A baseball. We played baseball with them for about six innings. That don’t mean nothing to nobody unless you pull out a win, and I keep saying we’ll get it together one day then you look up and we only got seven games left.”
Blythewood bats and baserunners were on point in the Bengals’ 11-7
Blythewood’s John Lanier (24) hits the deck to sneak past Reece Cormier’s attempted tag.
victory over Region 5-5A rival Dutch Fork, even if the pitching was not.
“We just tried to score one more run than the other team,” Blythewood head coach Banks Faulkner said. “It’s a great win for us, gets us back up towards the top in the region. And it’s a win against one of the better lineups in the state.”
A six-run first inning gave Blythewood starting pitcher Ben Spittler plenty of room to operate. Spittler gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings of work. He struck out five and walked two.
John Lanier and Daniel Zippel pitched the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Blythewood (7-5, 4-3) entered the top of the seventh leading 11-4, and Dutch Fork picked up three runs on two hits, two errors, a walk, and two hit batters.
Ty Olenchuk represented the tying run with the bases loaded and two out, but Zippel got him to fly out to Landon Cruz in right field to close out the victory.
“We’ve got a young pitching staff,” Faulkner said. “That kid there at the end (Zippel) is the only guy that has any varsity experience.”
Landon Lucas lit up the scoreboard and the crowd in the bottom of the first.
With Blythewood up 3-0 and Jordan Fleming and Lanier on base, Lucas blasted a strong 2-out line drive straight up the middle. Dutch Fork pitcher Reese Nichols got his glove on it for a split second, but the ball careened into deep right center field and carried to the fence.
Fleming and Lanier came home easily, and when Dutch Fork outfielders couldn’t get the ball back into the infield, Lucas slid into home to complete the inside-the-park home run.
“We talked about trying to throw up a crooked number early,” Faulkner said. “We let our guys settle in, and we kept answering, that’s what was big.”
From that point, the Bengals needed only to play keep-away.
Dutch Fork picked up a run in the second, when Jonathan Thomas hit a two-out, bases-loaded single that drove in Noah Jackson. Spittler got out of that jam when Jordan Beatson grounded into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
Blythewood got that run back when Zach Bales singled in Lanier with two out. Spittler flied out to retire the side.
The Silver Foxes’ three-run fourth cut Blythewood’s lead to 7-4, but the Bengals responded with two runs in the ninth. Todd Mattox led off the inning with a double and came home on Josh Cowan’s one-out bunt single. Aidan Massey then scored on Lucas’ single to make it 9-4.
The Bengals got two more runs in the sixth for an 11-4 lead going into the final inning.
“I’m just real proud of the kids for finding a way to win,” Faulkner said. “They’d answer and we’d respond. That’s what’s exciting to me about our team. We’re awful young, we’ve got a lot of inexperience, but we’re finding ways to win. There’s still a lot of ways that we can continue to learn and grow from and get better.”
Blythewood played White Knoll Wednesday.
Dutch Fork 010 300 3 – 7 10 3
Blythewood 601 202 x – 11 11 5
WP: Ben Spittler. LP: Reese Nichols.
Hitters: Dutch Fork – Jonathan Thomas 3-4. Crosby Jones 2-3, 2B. Hugh Ryan 2-4, 2B. Blythewood – Todd Mattox 3-3, 2B. Landon Lucas 2-4, HR. Zach Bales 2-4. Josh Cowan 2-3.
WINNSBORO- Richard Winn squeaked out a 7-6 region opening win Friday night against King Academy. It took everything the Eagles had to cling onto the win, including surviving a bases-load jam with zero outs, in the final inning.
Chris Christianson makes his way to third base after a King wild pitch loaded the bags. Christianson went onto score on an error.
“It was tough,” Eagles’ head coach Paul Brigman said. “They had their best pitcher on the mound, and we felt fortunate to get that one run to put us back ahead, and I thought we were re about to give it back up but our guys showed a lot of heart and didn’t give in.”
King jumped out to an early advantage on Richard Winn, but the lead flopped back and forth all night. A walk and an early error set-up King’s Hunter Dubose for a two-RBI double, and Dubose nearly scored, but instead he and Eagles’ catcher Peyton Gilbert had a scary collision at the plate, that resulted in Dubose’s out.
The jarring hit sent Gilbert airborne, but he popped back-up without much hesitation. “It was a little bit nerve racking considering out depth at catcher but he’s a tough kid, and I knew it would take a lot to get him out of there,” Brigman said.
Richard Winn did not face that two-run deficit for very long. After an error at first cost King two runs and the lead, a Jimmy McKeown infield single loaded the bases up for Will Carvalho, and Carvalho drove in two on a hard base-knock.
Zack Taylor, the Eagles’ starter, struck-out the side in the second inning, but King put up another run in the third, when Will Parrish hit a double, and then scored via a wild pitch. King’s, Reagan Pugh started the fourth inning with a single that ricocheted off of Zack Taylor’s shin.
The Knights followed the Pugh single with a couple of ground-outs in a row, but they did manage to bring Pugh home on the grounders. An error allowed Jackson Parrish to reach for the second time in the game, and Chris Fincher followed him to the base-path, after being hit by a pitch.
Will Parrish, knocked in a second run for King in the inning, and an error at first-base notched another score for the Knights, and they took a 6-4 lead. King could not hold onto the lead for long, because in the bottom of the fourth, they allowed the Eagles to fill the bases up again, and yet again they gave-up two runs on another error.
Four innings into the ballgame the teams were deadlocked at six, and things stayed that way until the bottom half of the sixth inning. The sixth kicked off with Peyton Gilbert taking a base, after being struck by a pitch.
Brandon Miller followed him-up, and laid a sac-bunt that brought Gilbert over to second. Zack Taylor came to the plate with two outs, and Gilbert still on second, and picked up his third hit of the night, and the go ahead RBI.
“It was huge,” Brigman said. “We’ve been waiting on that for several ball games. We’ve put ourselves in those positions where we could execute, and the last few games we haven’t really been able to pull that off, and tonight it finally felt good to execute the right way, and get the job done.”
The Taylor RBI meant King had only three outs remaining to tie the game-up or take the lead back. An error, and back-to-back walks set the Knights up with the bases loaded, zero outs and down just one.
Reagan Pugh came-up to the plate, hit a grounder and the Eagles forced out the runner at home. Ben Buzhardt came up next, needing only a base-hit or sac-fly to tie the game up, but he hit into a grounder too, and the Eagles were able to squeeze the runner out at home.
That meant Joe Sauls was the last hope for the Knights, and as the third-base runner began to creep down the line, Sauls laid down a bunt, but Richard Winn scooped it and got Sauls at first base, securing the 7-6 win.
‘This has definitely been one of our best games,” Brigman said. “It’s a region game, it makes us 1-0 in the region, so it was a little more important than some of the other games we played, so I thought they responded well and I’m proud of them RWA: 4-0-0-2-0-1-7
KA: 2-0-1-3-0-0-0-6
Hitting: 1B- Chris Christianson, Zack Taylor (2), Peyton Gilbert, Jimmy McKeown, Will Carvalho (RWA); Reagan Pugh (2), Ben Buzhardt(KA). 2B- Peyton Gilbert, Zack Taylor (RWA); Will Parrish (2), Hunter Dubose (KA).
Eva Hoagland (left), Sophie Sweatman, Reese Peck, Anna Livermore and Kylie Patch, members of the Village Church 4th and 5th grade Sunday school class at the VillageChurch, offered free lemonade and cookies to the hundreds of people who shopped the Hoof & Paw yard sale on April 1 in the parking lot of Trinity United Methodist Church in Blythewood. Assisted by J.J., a Great Dane owned by Julie Monroe, the girls’ Sunday School teacher, the class also collected donations to benefit Fairfield County Adoption Center. Hoof & Paw President Deborah Richelle said the group raised over $4,000 from the very successful sale. “We’re very grateful,” Richelle said, ” for everyone who came out to help make it a success.”
