COLUMBIA, SC - Over the last two days, many teams from across the state met in the Columbia area to compete for state championships and one Bulldogs came away as champion while many other local athletes came away with strong performances.
On the day that the rest of his classmates were walking across the graduation stage, Boiling Springs senior athlete was getting rewarded for another accomplishment as he won the 5A state title in the triple jump with a distance of 47' 07" which was over a foot further than second place finisher Brenden Carter from Stratford. Fellow Bulldogs senior Carmelo Martin just missed out on a state title by three-thousandths of a second in the 100m event with a time of 10.36 just being edged out by Nigel Ancrum from Spring Valley. The Boiling Springs boys 4x100m team finished with a seventh place finish with a time of 42.58 which was just over a second behind first place Springs Valley. The Bulldogs girls 4x100m team also had a podium finish with a sixth place finish in a time of 48.76 which was just over a second behind first place Blythewood. In the 3A state championships being held at Lower Richland High School on Saturday, the Chapman Panthers had some strong finishes of their own. Panthers junior Rashawn Cunningham finished in second place of the long jump event with a distance of 22', which a foot behind first place Elijah Chalmers from Marlboro County. He also came away with a seventh-place finish in the boys high jump event. Chapman sophomore Alius Hill came away with a fourth-place finish in the boys triple jump event recording a distance that was less than a foot behind first place Jeremiah Bonano from Phillip Simmons. The Panthers boys 4x800m team finished in seventh-place with a time of 8:28.6 behind state champion Dreher. Chapman's Kaley Jackson won a state championship in the girls discuss event as she tied with Savannah Floyd from Gilbert with a distance of 123' 07". Mya Jackson recorded a third-place finish in the girls long jump event as she also came away with a seventh-place finish in the girls 200m event for the Panthers. Senior Polly Addington finished in fifth place with a time of 1:08.85 in the 400m event which was just four seconds behind first place Carolie Cassidy from Camden while seventh-grader Marquisha Sturdivant added a sixth-place finish in the girls high jump event. While the Bulldogs and Panthers were competing for state championships on Saturday, the Chesnee Eagles competed for the titles on Friday night at Spring Valley High School in the 2A state meet. Chesnee's Clay Davis came away with a second-place finish in the boys shot put event with a distance of 46' 06" which was just behind first place finisher Chase Brightharp from Strom Thurmond. The Eagles Terrell Kesler also finished in ninth place of the 100m event which was less than four-tenths of a second behind first place finisher Gregory Bryant from Strom Thurmond. Chesnee girls 4×800m team (Olyvia Stowell, Lanie Arrowood, Olivia Wampler, and Claire Walker) took fifth place at the 2A state meet and set a new school record with a time of 10:49. BLYTHEWOOD, SC - The Boiling Springs baseball team entered their game against Blythewood in familiar territory, having to win two to move on, but the magic from this miraculous run finally ran out on Wednesday night as they fell to Blythewood 8-6 to end their season just short of the 5A state championship series.
During the run through the 2023 5A playoffs it didn't seem like the magic was ever going to run out for this team as they entered Wednesday night with an unreal 6-0 record in elimination games. In the first part of the game on Wednesday night, it seemed like the magic was going to keep going for this team as they held a pretty strong lead with just a few innings left until a possible game two. Blythewood took the first lead in the bottom of the first inning as L Penfield worked a walk before eventually coming around to score on an infield single by C Weathers to put the Bengals up 1-0. In the third inning Boiling Springs took their first lead of the game which started with Titus Hutchins getting on base with an infield single before moving to second base on a Luke Compton groundout to first base. Hutchins tied the game for the Bulldogs at 1-1 when Justin Dawkins roped a double to leftfield. Dawkins moved to third base on a Jackson Cole single to right field with two outs while Cole was able to move to second base on the Bengals throw. Corben Childers followed Cole to the plate delivering a single to centerfield that scored both Dawkins and Cole to put the Bulldogs up 3-1 over the Bengals. L Penfield struck again for the Bengals in the bottom of the fourth inning as he hit a two-out homerun to centerfield to cut the Bulldogs lead to 3-2. Boiling Springs bounced back in the top of the fifth inning as Luke Compton led off the inning with a single and later scored on a Jackson Cole single to left field to make the lead 4-2 in favor of the Bulldogs. Cole advanced to second base on a Corben Childers single to right field before both advanced to second and third bases as Rylee Douglas worked a walk to load the bases. Cole made the lead 5-2 when he scored on a wild pitch to Chansen Cole before he also brought home Childers later in the at-bat on a single to left field to make the score 6-2 in favor of Boiling Springs. In the bottom of the fifth inning Blythewood scored four runs to tie the game at 6-6, with three of those runs scoring with two outs. They ended up adding two more runs in the bottom of sixth inning to take an 8-6 lead and the Bulldogs were unable to respond. While the season didn't end the way that the Bulldogs had hoped, the 2023 Bulldogs baseball team left their fans with a lot of special memories as they won a region championship, a district championship, and were the Upper State runners-up, all while having to battle back for each of those. It's a team that will be remembered by their fans as a team that refused to give up and when their backs were against the wall they responded in impressive fashion as after losing their season series to Dorman to start region play, they then went 8-1 in region play to capture the region and like was mentioned earlier went a combined 6-1 in elimination games during the 5A playoffs, which is almost unheard of as it included victories over two of the top 10 teams in state against Lexington and TL Hanna. Earlier this week, Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lipscomb talked about how proud he was of the resiliency of this Boiling Springs baseball team. "This team has had their backs against the wall numerous times this season," said Lipscomb. "Whenever we loss this year they just bounced back and that's a sign of a good team. I'm just really proud of this group of guys." With the loss against Blythewood, the Bulldogs now will say goodbye to 10 seniors who have been key pieces to the Boiling Springs program over the years. Those seniors are Aaron Sewell, Andrew Coley, Rylee Douglas, Jackson Cole, Luke Compton, Hudson Wilson, Jackson Reel, Corben Childers, Mason Collins, and Ty Stanford. BOILING SPRINGS, SC - The Boiling Springs baseball team has become accustomed to being the comeback kids and on Monday night it was no different as the Bulldogs waited for the last two innings of an eight inning game to defeat TL Hanna 2-1 in an elimination bracket game/
With the victory the Bulldogs return to familiar territory from the district playoffs as they'll now travel to Blythewood looking to win two against the team that put them in the elimination bracket to begin the Upper State series. "We like to make it interesting here at Boiling Springs," said Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lipscomb with a laugh. "What do you say about a group like that as it would have been easy to quit after going down 1-0 but it shows what kind of leadership we have with this team. We're one of the few teams still getting to play baseball this time of year and we're thrilled to get the opportunity to play for the Upper State championship on Wednesday." Through the first five innings Boiling Springs pitcher Jackson Cole and TL Hanna pitcher Easton Thomas both were pitching masterpieces as neither allowed the other team to cross home plate while barely allowing any baserunners. In the top of the sixth inning, the Yellow Jackets drew first blood when Owen Alexander worked a walk before advancing to third base on a groundout as the Bulldogs defenders weren't able to get back to cover third base after a groundout to third base. The Yellow Jackets scored the first run of the game when Seth Manning dropped a single just out of the Boiling Springs second baseman's reach to go up 1-0 before Cole struck out the final batter of the inning. Boiling Springs was unable to get a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Cole kept the Bulldogs close as he struck out all three batters for the Yellow Jackets in the top of the seventh inning for 10 strikeouts in the game. "Jackson was really good tonight," said Lipscomb. "He was so good all night long as he just competes. He had a big part in helping us beat a really good team tonight." In the bottom of the seventh inning, Bulldogs senior Corben Childers worked a walk before being pinch ran for by Andrew Coley. On the next at-bat after two bunt attempts went foul and Coley advanced to second base on a wild pitch, Chansen Cole uncorked a pitch to deep left field that fell just feet short of a game-winning home run but turned into a RBI triple as the Bulldogs tied the game at 1-1. On the next at-bat Cole got caught in a squeeze bunt attempt that didn't materialize and was thrown out trying to get back to third base but the damage had been done as the Bulldogs sent the game into extra innings with the game tied at 1-1. The top of the eighth inning saw the leadoff batter reach base on a walk for TL Hanna but a heads up play between Bulldogs catcher Hudson Wilson and second baseman Chansen Cole saw them pickoff the Yellow Jackets runner for one out in the inning. "I saw the first time that he went around that the runner got a huge lead so I talked to Chansen at second and made a motion to him," said Wilson. "He done it again the next time and I was able to get the throw down and get him out." After the pickoff, Bulldogs reliever Josh Kanipe forced a flyout to third base before striking out the next batter sent the Bulldogs to the bottom half of the inning with a chance to win the game. With one out in the bottom half of the inning, Bulldogs senior centerfielder Luke Compton singled to right field before advancing to third base on a single to right centerfield by Justin Dawkins. The Bulldogs with runners on the corners saw one of their leaders get a clutch hit as senior catcher Hudson Wilson hit a game winning single to right centerfield scoring Compton giving Boiling Springs a 2-1 victory and sending them to the championship game of the 5A Upper State championship. "I just went to the plate trying to be simple and get a deep flyball," said Wilson. "I knew it didn't matter if it got down, I just needed to get the ball in the air. Throughout the game I just tried to stay middle backside and get the ball up the middle in each at-bat." Wilson led the Bulldogs going three of four at the plate with three singles and a RBI as he registered three of the Bulldogs six hits in the game. Wilson has been a special player for the Bulldogs during his career as he's gone from the outfield to shortstop, to catcher in his four seasons playing varsity baseball. "It was hard transferring to catcher at first because I really liked playing the infield," said Wilson. "I've gotten used to it and have gotten to where I like it a lot more though now because I enjoy throwing people out." The willingness to chance positions like he has done for the betterment of the team just shows his character according to Coach Lipscomb. "Hudson is a team first type of guy and that's his motto," said Lipscomb. "He was starting in the infield, and we had a big time need behind the plate last year and he steps up and does a great job. He's just an athlete and after debating on making the move to catcher he worked hard and earned him a scholarship playing the position." Boiling Springs will now turn their attention to Blythewood in a better situation than they saw them the first time as the Bulldogs will have a majority of their pitching available. The Bulldogs will have to win two to advance to the 5A state championship series and the first game at Blythewood will begin at 5:00 PM. "Blythewood is a very talented group but we belong there just like they do," said Lipscomb. "We don't look up to any other team as our focus is on ourself. We believe in ourselves and are going to fight to the end. We've done this before and plan on doing it again before playing for a state championship." Throughout the Upstate of South Carolina on Saturday multiple local teams and athletes battled for upper state championship crowns and the opportunity to punch their ticket to the state championship meets.
The 5A upper state meet was held at Dorman High School where the Boiling Springs Bulldogs competed against the top track athletes in the upper state. On the boys side of the meet the Bulldogs Carmelo Martin qualified for the state championship meet after finishing in second place in the upper state meet with a time of 10.46, just two-tenths of a second behind Nigel Ancrum from Springs Valley. Spencer Eison from Boiling Springs also qualified for the state championship meet in the triple jump with a distance of 46-06, finishing just behind Jaylen Bostic of Spring Valley. Meanwhile at the 3A upper state meet at Seneca High School, the Chapman Panthers had numerous kids qualify for the 3A state championship meet. Chapman's Rashawn Cunningham won the Upper State championship in the boys long jump event with a distance of 22'01" and a fourth-place finish in the high jump to qualify for the state championship meet. Abe Fyffe qualified for the state championship meet in the boys shot put event with a distance of 50'02", just over a foot behind first place Avery Butler from Seneca. Taylor Dunning also qualified for the state championship meet in the boys pole vault event after a third place finish at upper state with a height of 1-01.00 Polly Addington qualified for the state meet in the girls 400m hurdles with a time of 1:08.43, just behind first place finisher Amari Rambert from Powdersville.. Taryn Rogers made the state meet in the girls long jump event with a distance of 16'01" for a third-place finish at upper state. Kayley Jackson also finished in third place at upper state with a distance of 109'02" to qualify for the state meet. The Chapman boys 4x800m relay team qualified for the state championship meet with a time of 8:33.45. While those events were going on, the Chesnee Eagles were competing at the 2A upper state meet at Liberty High School on Saturday. The Eagles Terrell Kesler qualified for the state meet in the 100m event with a third place finish at upper state. Clay Davis also qualified for the state meet in the boys shotput event after finishing in second place at the upper state meet. Chesnee's girls 4x800m relay team (Olyvia Stowell, Lanie Arrowood, Olivia Wampler, and Claire Walker) finished in third place at the upper state meet to qualify for the state meet. While there may be other teams or athletes to make the state meets, the above listed were all the ones that qualified automatically as a top four finisher. The 5A state meet will be held at Spring Valley High School on Saturday May 20th while the 3A meet will be held on the same day at Lower Richland High School. The 2A state meet will be held on Friday May 19th at Spring Valley High School. BOILING SPRINGS, SC - For the second straight Saturday in a row the Boiling Springs baseball team stood on the brink of elimination and for the second straight Saturday they've walked away with the victory after defeating the #1 ranked team in 5A Lexington 2-0 in front of a loud home crowd.
While it's the second straight Saturday for the Bulldogs to pick up a win, it's also the second straight Saturday for Corbin Childers to pick up a win after he pitched six and two-third innings of baseball not allowing a run and only allowing two hits while striking out seven to pick up the win. "It's like I told the guys in our postgame huddle that the performance from Childers was one of the top performances I've seen from a pitcher," said Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lipscomb. "We had our backs against the wall today, knowing if we lose we're done, and he has made so many big strides throughout this year. He's gotten a lot of experience over the year and he is peaking right now. You have to tip your hat to him with the performances he's put together the last few weeks." Childers said that he kept pregame words from his coach in his mind that kept the moments not too big for him as he carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning of play. "I wasn't thinking a lot about this could be the end of our season but had the mindset of whatever happens happens just like Coach Lip told me before the game," said Childers. "I took that advice throughout the game and stayed with it and kept my confidence. I knew I had the stuff tonight to keep them swinging and missing so I just kept throwing the slider and it worked well." Boiling Springs took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning as Luke Compton worked a six pitch walk before advancing to second base on a walk to Justin Dawkins. Compton moved to third base on a fielder's choice before scoring on a single to right field by Jackson Cole to take a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats. The Bulldogs added to their lead in the bottom of the third inning as Compton once again reached base on a double to left centerfield before moving over to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Dawkins. Compton made the Bulldogs lead 2-0 when he scored from third base on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Jackson Cole. "Luke is our leader and I can't say enough good things about that kid," said Lipscomb. "He works hard in the weight room and along with Hudson and Jackson they really lead this team. Luke sets the table for us to start each game and those three guys are just top-notch kids." While some teams may find battling back from the elimination bracket difficult, it has become a very familiar spot for the Bulldogs as they had to do the same thing to win the District Championship last week. The Bulldogs enter the next few games with their pitching lining up for a strong run and Lipscomb says his guys have proven to be a group you can't count out until the final out of the game. "We have a lot of confidence going into the next few games as we got Jackson coming back as our ace on Monday," said Lipscomb. "Our players feed off his energy and we're now one win away from playing for the Upper State championship. I can't say enough about this group of kids as they're relentless and refuse to lose and if they do lose they bounce back." Aaron Sewell, who picked up the two wins last week against Rock Hill to win the district championship. pitched to the final Wildcats batter on Saturday to earn the save. Boiling Springs will continue their journey out of the elimination bracket on Monday when they host TL Hanna who fell to Blythewood 1-0 on Saturday. Blythewood will host the winner of the game against Boiling Springs and TL Hanna with either team having to defeat the Bengals twice to win the Upper State championship. ROCK HILL, SC - After starting the district playoffs with a loss to Rock Hill, the Boiling Springs baseball team battled back from the elimination bracket to defeat Rock Hill twice getting a little revenge while winning the district playoff on Monday night and advancing to the Upper State championship series.
In both games it took the Bulldogs extra innings to win the game and between the two games it took the Bulldogs 17 innings to advance to the Upper state championship series. Boiling Springs opened the first game holding a 9-3 lead after the top of the fifth inning before Rock Hill scored six runs over the next two innings to tie the game at 9-9. In the top of the eighth inning, Justin Dawkins opened the inning with a single before advancing to second base when Emory Horton was hit-by-a-pitch and then loading the bases when Chansen Cole reached base on an error. Dawkins gave the Bulldogs the lead back when he scored on a wild pitch to Luke Compton, who reloaded the bases after a walk of his own, giving the Bulldogs a 10-9 lead. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 11-9 when Horton scored when Aaron Sewell, who had come on to pitch in relief, reached base on an error by the Bearcats. Sewell picked up the win on the mound after pitching one and two-thirds innings in relief. After taking the lead the Bulldogs kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth inning as Josh Kanipe came on in relief to earn the save while striking out one Rock Hill batter. Bulldogs starter Jackson Cole went five and a third innings giving up three earned runs on six hits while striking out five batters. Emory Horton had a big night at the plate for the Bulldogs in game one going two for three with four RBIs and scoring two runs of his own while Justin Dawkins went two for two at the plate while scoring three runs. Hudson Wilson also had a strong first game for the Bulldogs as he went three for five at the plate in the game. With the Bulldogs accomplishing their first goal of the night, it was time for them to turn to their second goal of winning game two and with the season on the line they turned to two of their youngest pitchers to bear the load. Boiling Springs pitcher Emory Horton started game two for the Bulldogs where he pitched three innings while only allowing one earned run and striking out two batters. The Bulldogs then turned to Josh Kanipe who went five innings of relief not allowing an earned run and striking out three Bearcat batters. While the Bulldogs were getting strong pitching performances from two sophomores, they got the first lead of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Hudson Wilson singled home Luke Compton from first to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. Rock Hill eventually took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning but the Bulldogs weren't going to let them have a lead for long. In the bottom of the fifth inning the Bulldogs retook the lead when Landon Stevens and Luke Compton, who were at second and third base, scored on a single to left field by Jackson Cole. The Bearcats tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning as that was the last score of the game in regular innings as both teams kept the other off the scoreboard. After Aaron Sewell came on in relief kept Rock Hill off the board in the top of the ninth inning, the Bulldogs got back to work offensively in the bottom half of the inning. The Bulldogs were able to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning with Landon Stevens at the plate. With Stevens working the count, a ball three pitch got pass the catcher allowing Justin Dawkins, who was at third base, to bolt home and send the Bulldogs to the Upper State championship series. While Sewell only pitched one inning of relief in game two (two and a third innings overall), he also picked up his second victory of the night as he was the winning pitcher of record for both games. Jackson Cole led the Bulldogs at the plate in game two as he had two RBIs while Hudson Wilson had the other RBI in the game. Boiling Springs will start the Upper State championship series on Thursday when they travel to Blythewood, who defeated Spartanburg 3-2 on Monday night. At the time of this story being posted the game time was still yet to be determined. FORT MILL, SC - The Boiling Springs boys golf team returned to some familiar territory, after falling just short in the region championship last week, by defeating the 5A Upper State field to win the championship at the Springfield Golf Course on Monday afternoon.
The Bulldogs fired a score of 304 at the course just ahead of Mauldin (305) who finished in second place. Nation Ford and Mauldin tied for third place with a score of 307. The rest of the top eight that will move on to the 5A state championship from the Upper State includes TL Hanna (309), Spartanburg (310), Dorman (314), and Fort Mill (319). The Bulldogs were led by Clayton Taylor who shot a 71 for fourth place on the individual list and Andrew Gregory who finished in a tie for eighth overall with a score of 73. Walker Ingram added a score of 78 while Lawson Miller shot an 82 and Will Waddell who shot an 88. Nation Ford's Ben Mills and Chapin's Chase Cline led the individual leaderboard with a score of 68 followed by TL Hanna's Bennett Scaletta with a score of 69 to finish in third place. Dorman's Casey Kosney (71) tied for fourth while teammate Will Ruth (72) tied for sixth place as four of the top ten golfers all competed in Region II-5A this season. Boiling Springs and the rest of the top eight will next take to the course at Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg on Monday and Tuesday to compete against the top eight teams from the lower state for the 5A state championship. BOILING SPRINGS, SC - In an early afternoon matinee, the Boiling Springs baseball team put on quite the performance to keep their season alive as they defeated Woodmont 6-1 in an elimination game in front of a large crowd on Saturday.
With the win the Bulldogs are now heading for the district championship game where they'll have to defeat Rock Hill twice on the road to move on to the Upper State championship bracket. "I think things changed on Thursday when we were down three in an elimination game and our guys were able to find a way to win," said Boiling Springs head coach Jeff Lipscomb. "It was an emotional and exciting game and we came out today knowing what was on the line. We now get to go face a Rock Hill team that is a good team that got hot at the right time. We're excited though for the chance to play for a championship." In such a critical game for their playoff chances, the Bulldogs got an impressive performance from senior pitcher Corbin Childers, who just committed to Anderson University this week. Childers went six and two-thirds innings on Saturday as he only allowed one run while striking out 10 Wildcat batters. He said coming into such a big game that his mindset was to just stay loose and to remember to have fun. "I just wanted to have fun and stay loose the whole time," said Childers. "I wanted to stay loose and not put pressure on myself when I was down. Sometimes when I get in a hole on the mound I tend to get wild and get ahead of myself. Today I just trusted my pitches and what I was doing and stayed confident the whole time." Lipscomb said he was proud of how his senior pitcher stepped up and had everything working well from the start. "Corbin threw strikes from the beginning as he had his fastball and slider working well today," said Lipscomb. "He didn't pitch at all for us last year but today he done really well and is just a great kid that has worked hard." Boiling Springs got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning when Luke Compton doubled to left centerfield and later came home on a wild pitch to Hudson Wilson giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. In the second inning Childers helped his own cause by working a walk and later Kohen Sloand, who was pinch running for Childers, scored on a passed ball to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 over the Wildcats. Boiling Springs added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as Hudson Wilson and Jackson Cole went to first and second base on consecutive walks. Justin Dawkins followed with a single to left field to load the bases before Andrew Coley, who was running for Wilson, scored on a single to right by Emory Horton to put the lead at 3-1 over the Wildcats. The score went to 4-1 when Cole scored on a single to left field by Eli Mobley. Rylee Douglas added to the lead in the fifth inning as he reached base on an infield single before moving to third base on a Hudson Wilson single to left and scoring on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Jackson Cole. In the sixth inning Emory Horton reached base on a single before eventually making the score 6-1 in favor of the Bulldogs on a sacrifice fly to left field by Luke Compton. Boiling Springs had a steady approach at the plate as they were able to score at least one run in each inning except of the third inning. "It's baseball and somedays you can't do anything right and somedays everything goes your way," said Lipscomb. "We had two sophomores come off the bench with big hits and then we had one of those kids, Eli Mobley, come in today and smoke one to left field. We also got some bunts down as well and today was just a good day." With back-to-back victories over two quality teams, the Bulldogs will take with them to Rock Hill a lot of confidence that they may have been lacking coming off a week break due to weather prior to their first game against the Bearcats. "I feel like after the walkoff against Nation Ford that it just got us going," said Childers. "We have a lot of confidence going into those two games at Rock Hill on Monday." Boiling Springs will head to Rock Hill for the district championship on Monday needing to win two games, the first game will begin at 5:00 PM and the second game will start at the conclusion of the first game. BOILING SPRINGS, SC - After suffering a tough loss to start the 5A district playoffs, the Boiling Springs softball team responded with an impressive performance at both the plate and in the pitching circle to grab a 13-5 victory over the JL Mann Patriots in a playoff elimination game on Friday night.
"Even though we've had a lot closer and tighter games this year than this one tonight, I think tonight was the moment everything clicked for us," said Bulldogs head coach Hannah McDowell. "The energy was on a level it hasn't been at all year as all the girls lost their voices and we played like it was tied ballgame the whole game. It was probably the most fun game I've ever been a part of or that any of our coaching staff has been a part of." JL Mann got the first two scores of the game as they hit a leadoff home run to straight centerfield and the second batter also scored but from that point on, the Patriots were limited at the plate thanks to a strong pitching performance from the Bulldogs. Boiling Springs got a stellar pitching performance from freshman Chloe Sloand, who was making her first playoff start in front of the home crowd, pitched all seven innings while allowing just five runs and striking out 14 Patriots batters. She said that while she had nerves making the start, she knew her teammates had her back which brought the nervousness level down. "It felt good as the team was just working together and the energy was there in the dugout as everyone was talking each other up," said Sloand. "I just ignored the nerves because I knew that my team would be there for me." McDowell said that she couldn't be prouder of the way her young freshman pitcher stepped up in such a big situation for the team. "I could speak forever about Chloe but she has that mindset that she's going to go and get the win no matter what it takes," said McDowell. "She showed us that when she played JV ball this year and is now stepping up and doing the same thing at the varsity level. She is very head strong about being there for her team and she has put in the work all year long." While Sloand was dominating from the pitching circle, the Boiling Springs bats were doing a pretty good job themselves on Friday night. The Bulldogs Sydnee Spencer got the bottom of the first inning started with a double to left field before moving to third on a groundout by Trey Copeland. Sayde Parris walked and later stole second base which allowed Spencer to steal home, cutting the Patriots lead to 2-1 over the Bulldogs. In the second inning the Bulldogs broke open the game as they scored six runs to take a 7-2 lead over the Patriots. With one out in the inning, Sloand worked a walk and moved to second base on a Gracen Bennett walk before moving to third and loading the bases on a Leaha Rushing single to left field. Sydnee Spencer followed Rushing with a single to left field to score Sloand and tie the game at 2-2. Trey Copeland doubled to left field one batter later scoring both Bennett and Rushing to make the Bulldogs lead 4-2 over the Patriots. Sayde Parris followed Copeland with a single to centerfield that scored Spencer to push the lead to 5-2 before Chloe Osteen doubled to right centerfield scoring both Copeland and Parris giving the Bulldogs a 7-2 lead in an inning that saw the Bulldogs bat through their lineup. Gracen Bennet led off the third inning with a double to left field before making the lead 8-3 when she scored on a groundout to third base by Morgan Hammett. With one out in the fourth inning, Emma Wilkins got an infield single before moving to second on a single by Sloand. Gracen Bennett loaded the bases on another single to left field before Wilkins scored on a single to left field by Leaha Rushing to put the Bulldogs lead at 9-3. Boiling Springs made the lead 12-3 on the next at-bat as Sydnee Spencer hit a double to left centerfield clearing the bases as Sloand, Bennett, and Rushing all scored for the Bulldogs. JL Mann added two runs in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 12-5 but the Bulldogs made the score 13-5 when Myah Salters, who was running for Parris who singled to lead off the inning, scored on a single to centerfield by Emma Wilkins. McDowell was proud of how her team was able to get their bats going in such a crucial playoff game. "I think our girls finally just trusted themselves and put the faith in what we had been doing as a team," said McDowell. "Our focus tonight was to be on time with our swings." Sydnee Spencer led the Bulldogs at the plate going four of five with two doubles and two singles while also collecting four RBIs. Boiling Springs with the win will now get a chance at some redemption in the elimination bracket as they'll travel to Blythewood, who gave them their first loss in the district playoffs, after they fell to Lexington 11-1 on Friday night. "I don't think they'll be expecting to go down there and do something special but after what we did here tonight we're just going to keep building and see what we can do," said McDowell. The Bulldogs will travel to Blythewood on Monday night in another elimination game of the district playoffs in a game slated to start at 6:00 PM. The winner of Monday's game will then travel to Lexington to win two games for the district championship on Wednesday night. SATURDAY PLAYOFF SCHEDULE 5A Baseball Playoffs Woodmont at Boiling Springs - 1:00 PM BOILING SPRINGS, SC - After dropping a tough one to start the 5A playoffs to Rock Hill, the Boiling Springs baseball team rebounded with a 4-3 victory over Nation Ford on Thursday night to stay alive in the 5A playoffs.
With the game tied at 3-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning the Bulldogs were able to get runners to first and second base with no outs before Jackson Cole came to the plate hitting a single on a 1-1 count that scored Luke Compton to give Boiling Springs the 4-3 win and give them at least one more game in the district playoffs. Both pitchers for both Boiling Springs and Nation Ford pitched stellar games for five innings as both the Bulldogs Kyle Dill and the Falcons Nick Chuttey kept the other team scoreless throughout the game. Dill ended the game with five and a third innings pitched with three strikeouts while Chuttey went five and two third innings while striking out three batters as each ended up giving up three runs. Nation Ford got on the scoreboard first in the top of the sixth inning when Paul Solari walked with the bases loaded for the first run of the game when Luke Keller scored from third base. Both Jacob Petit and Gabe Simmons both scored on the next at-bat when Bradyn Deaton hit a double to the outfield pushing the lead to 3-0 over the Bulldogs. Boiling Springs responded in the bottom of the sixth inning of their own as they scored three runs of their own. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with Jackson Cole, Justin Dawkins, and Eli Mobley all reaching base before Emory Horton came to the plate with a 3-2 count when he hit a triple to the outfield scoring all three runners and tying the game at 3-3. Bulldogs senior pitcher Corbin Childers came on in relief in the top of the sixth inning and continued into the top of the seventh inning where he kept the Falcons scoreless as he struck out three batters in his one and two thirds innings of pitching. Boiling Springs will continue their battle out of the elimination bracket of the district playoffs as they host Woodmont on Saturday with a time still yet to be determined. The Wildcats fell to Rock Hill 9-5 on Thursday night and if the Bulldogs defeat them on Saturday they will have to travel to Rock Hill on Monday having to win two games. FRIDAY PLAYOFF SCHEDULE 5A Softball Playoffs JL Mann at Boiling Springs - 6:00 PM |
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