Playoff scoreboard: Catawba Ridge, Legion Collegiate softball prevail. What’s next?
Catawba Ridge and Legion Collegiate earned wins on the first day of play in the Upper State series. Fort Mill and Andrew Jackson were defeated.
Softball Upper State playoffs
Byrnes 3, Fort Mill 2
The Byrnes Rebels topped the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets 3-2 in 10 innings in the first game of the 5A Upper State series at Fort Mill.
The Jackets took a 1-0 lead after one inning, but Byrnes tied it with a run in the top of the fourth.
Neither team scored again until the 10th frame. Byrnes tallied twice in the top of the inning for a 3-1 lead. The Jackets’ rallied for one in the bottom of the frame, but could not pull it out.
Fort Mill is now 17-5 on the year.
Game two in the best-of-three series will be on Wednesday at Byrnes.
Catawba Ridge 3, Lugoff-Elgin 1
The Catawba Ridge Copperheads toppled the Lugoff-Elgin Demons 3-1 in the opening game of the 4A Upper State series at Catawba Ridge.
The Demons took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but the Copperheads responded to tie the game in the bottom of the frame.
Catawba Ridge rallied for two runs in the sixth to win the game.
Chloe Burger pitched a complete game to earn the win. She allowed only two hits and struck out 12.
Audrey Wilson led the offensive attack. She got two of the Copperheads’ five hits and drove in all three of the runs.
Catawba Ridge improved to 23-7 with the win.
Game two in the best-of-three series will be Wednesday at Lugoff-Elgin.
Legion Collegiate 8, Chesnee 7
The Legion Collegiate Lancers edged the Chesnee Eagles 8-7 in the first game of the 2A Upper State series at Legion Collegiate.
The Lancers scored three in the second to take a 3-0 advantage. The Eagles rallied for five in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.
Legion Collegiate scored two in the home half of the sixth to tie the contest. The two teams traded runs in the seventh and it went to extra innings knotted at 6-6.
The Eagles took a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth, but the Lancers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the inning to win the game.
Malloree Sexton led the Lancers at the plate. She got three of their nine hits and drove in four runs.
Taylor Watson pitched a complete game and recorded the win. She allowed nine hits and struck out four.
Legion Collegiate improved to 22-6 overall on the year.
Game two in the best-of-three series will be Wednesday at Chesnee.
Buford 11, Andrew Jackson 1
The Buford Yellow Jackets defeated the Andrew Jackson Volunteers 11-1 in the first game of the 2A Lower State series at Andrew Jackson.
The Jackets took a 1-0 lead after one inning, and added two more in the top of the fourth. The Vols cut the deficit to 3-1 with a run in the bottom of the fourth.
Buford had nine hits and took advantage of six Volunteer errors in getting the win. They tacked on five more in the fifth and three in the sixth to complete the scoring.
Skylar Huffman led Andrew Jackson with two hits.
The loss dropped the Vols to 14-6 on the year.
Game two in the best-of-three series will be Wednesday at Buford.
What happens next?
When the Upper State champions have been determined, they will play the Lower State winners in a best-of-three series next week for the state championship.
This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 10:07 PM.