The high school sports season is nearing its conclusion and athletes are returning to regularly scheduled competition after some time off for spring break. 

April is the last month of the regular season for soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball, tennis and track. The golf season wraps up not long after during the first week of May.

During the spring season, teams and athletes from Lexington County have reached new heights and set records along the way. With only a few weeks left, the playoff anticipation is building. 

Baseball and Softball  

Baseball teams in Lexington County were the most active over spring break with many teams competing in tournaments or out-of-region contests. 

Two county teams met for a non-region game early last week. Airport, one of the hottest teams in the area, hosted the defending 5A state champions, River Bluff. 

The Eagles and the Gators played a close contest that River Bluff came out on top of 4-3. Jack Rivers drove in the scoring run with a single in the top of the seventh. Beau Hollins went 3-4 in the game at the plate, earning an RBI. 

River Bluff also beat Oceanside, 12-0, and A.C. Flora, 1-0, last week. Colby Reynolds doubled in the third inning of the A.C. Flora game to get the Gators on the board. 

Lexington is another team that played a handful of games last week. The Wildcats earned four wins in four days to improve their record to 18-6 this year. 

The team started with a win against T.L. Hannah and followed that up with victories against Dreher, Cardinal Newman and Blythewood.

Batesburg-Leesville, Chapin, Gilbert, Gray Collegiate, Pelion, Swansea and White Knoll also captured wins last week to create some momentum before their return to region action. 

Softball action was on pause all week during spring break, but during this week’s return to action teams off to good starts like Chapin, Gray Collegiate, Lexington and Swansea will look to continue winning games. 

Lacrosse

Only a handful of lacrosse teams took the field last week, with the rest enjoying their vacation. 

Dutch Fork was the only boys team in the county that played last week, splitting two games with a win and a loss. 

The Silver Foxes started with an 8-5 win over Christ Church. The team was guided to victory by its senior leadership. 

Grant Dupree had a hat trick. Will Puckett and Carter Hunt scored two and had an assist each, and Cam Meyers scored one goal. 

The team’s luck did not last through the second game last week as Dutch Fork lost to North Carolina’s Charlotte Catholic 16-7. Hunt scored three goals in the game and four other players had one.

Chapin, Irmo, River Bluff and White Knoll played on the girls side. But Chapin was the only team that walked away a winner. 

The Eagles beat Wando 13-8 to improve to 12-2 overall this year. The team thrived off its senior duo Jules Brown and Ava-Claire Collins. 

The two combined for 11 of Chapin’s 13 goals. Junior Brooke Holmes had the other two goals for the team. 

Irmo, River Bluff and White Knoll lost their games in near blowout fashion. 

The Yellow Jackets fell to Wade Hampton 20-4 after eight goals from Generals junior Morgan Siglin. That loss dropped Irmo to 3-10 this season. 

River Bluff lost 15-3 to New York’s Penn Yan Academy. White Knoll played the closest game, losing by eight to Georgia’s Evans High School.

This is the final week of competition before playoffs begin. The state tournaments will start the following week. 

Soccer

Soccer action was on full hiatus except for the Gray Collegiate boys team, who hosted the Nike Palmetto Cup. 

Gray won the tournament’s Palmetto division after beating Blythewood, 2-0, and Westside, 2-0, while tying Hannah in a scoreless draw. 

Joey Sullivan was named MVP of the Palmetto division, and J.J. Evans, Junior Gonzalez, Jay Etheredge and Carlos Vasquez were named to the All-Tournament team.  

The soccer season has been going on since February and will continue through the last week of April. Most regions are still wide open and teams from Lexington County have a real shot of coming out on top. 

This week’s return to play will feature many games that could affect the order of the standings,

Irmo’s boys will face A.C. Flora on April 10 in a matchup between that region’s top two teams. Swansea will look to keep its lead over Brookland-Cayce and Gilbert with a win over Lower Richland. 

Then there is the boys 5A Region 4 race, which is wide open with all four teams still having a shot to win it. After this week though, teams will begin to separate themselves. 

The girls had similar action taking place this week. 

5A Region 4 can still go anyone’s way, but Chapin has a nice lead sitting at 4-0 with wins over all the other teams entering this week. 

Gilbert is second in their region, sitting a game behind Dreher. The Indians will have a chance to join the Blue Devils in the top spot on April 12. Gilbert will be looking to avenge an earlier 4-1 loss to Dreher on the road.

Once the standings take shape, the postseason will begin on April 29 with Lexington County set to be well represented. 

Big Performances

Jules Brown scored six goals in Chapin’s win last week against Wando.

Grant Dupree scored three goals for the Dutch Fork boys lacrosse team in their win against Christ Church. 

Jeremiah Guess got three hits in five at-bats and two RBIs for the Swansea baseball team in their win over Westwood.

Jackson Cionek went 2-3 and hit a solo home run in the Lexington baseball team’s win against Blythewood.

Games to watch

Airport vs. Brookland-Cayce girls soccer — April 11 — 7 p.m. 

Chapin vs. River Bluff girls lacrosse — April 11 — 7 p.m. 

Lexington vs. Dutch Fork boys lacrosse — April 11 — 7:15 p.m.

Batesburg-Leesville vs Pelion baseball — April 12 — 6 p.m. 

Swansea vs. Brookland-Cayce softball — April 12 — 7 p.m.

Lexington vs. River Bluff boys soccer — April 12 — 7 p.m.