Tuesday's latest Region 5-5A battle in The Swamp pitted two pitchers each headed to the Palmetto State's 2 biggest schools. 
Taking the mound for host team River Bluff was Ricky Williams, a righthanded commitment to Clemson University. Opposing him was Chapin righthander and University of South Carolina commit Cade Austin. 
Through 7 innings, the two nearly matched each other with strikeouts and hits allowed. A pair of early errors, however, enabled Chapin to take an early lead and hold on for the 2-1 victory.
The Eagles improved to 8-5 overall, but more importantly, 6-1 in Region 5-5A. 
 "That was definitely a fun game," Austin said. "One of the best we've been in this year." 
Austin finished with 12 strikeouts and allowed just 2 hits in 6 1/3 innings. Both hits came off the bat of Noah Lebron, including a leadoff solo home run in the Top 2nd. 
Those were the lone blemishes for Austin, who also issued just 1 walk in the game.
"My first pitch tonight, obviously was a mistake," he said. "You can't really make too many mistakes in (Class) 5A. You see what happens.
"It just set a fire in me not to let it happen (again). I was determined not to give up another hit." 
Chapin took a 2-0 thanks in part to 3 errors by the Gators in the top 1st. With runners on 1st and 3rd and Austin at the plate, the Eagles attempted a double steal in which Michael Becker reached 2nd base safely and the catcher misplayed the baseball.
This allowed Chris Veach, who reached on a leadoff single, to safely reach home. Austin then hit a groundball that was fielded for an error by Noah Lebron at shortstop and allowed Veach to score. 
Like Austin, Williams was unfazed and held the Gators mostly off the basepaths the rest of the way. He finished with 11 strikeouts, walked just 1 and allowed just 1 hit after the first inning.
River Bluff mounted a final rally in the bottom 7th. Cameron Ferrell reached 1st on a walk and pinch runner Drew Beard promptly stole 2nd base. 
Williams faced Austin at the plate and hit a groundball fielded by Veach at shortstop. He attempted to throw out Beard at 3rd base, but the ball was dropped during the rundown. 
Chapin head coach Scott McLeod replaced Austin with reliever Drew Highfill. With the Gators a base hit away from a walkoff win, he got both William Chastain and Ethan Tyler to strike out swinging to end the game.
Game 2 of the 3-game series is set for Wednesday in Chapin. 

South Aiken 3, Airport 1
The Eagles were held to 3 hits and managed their lone run on a wild pitch in the bottom 7th that scored Sam LaFrage. 
Parker Whittle struck out 3, but gave up 8 hits in 4 1/3 innings for Airport.

Gray Collegiate 11, Calhoun County 0

SOFTBALL
White Knoll 9, Dutch Fork 0
The defending Class 5A champion erupted for 6 runs in the top 7th and pitcher Andrea Lyon struck out 15.
It was the 27th consecutive region victory for the Lady Timberwolves, who pounded out 12 hits in the contest. Shelby Davies was 1 of 5 players with 2 hits and she drove in a team-high 3 runs on a home run in the 7th.
Lyon had 2 RBI, one coming on her lone hit of the game. Briannah Workman, Hannah Goodwin, Lexi Winters and Mackenzie McElroy also had RBI.

Lexington 10, River Bluff 0
Perri Rouillard went 3-3 with 4 RBI, Allie Light had a 3-run home run and University of South Carolina signee Hannah Kumiyama drove in 2 runs to lead the Lady Wildcats.
Light had 9 strikeouts to improve to 5-2 on the season. 

Gilbert 14, Pelion 0 
Savanna Rosson struck out 13 batters and allowed no hits to lead the Lady Indians to another Region 5-3A victory.
Rosson, Amaya and Leah Kearse and Taylor Dreher all had multiple hits for Gilbert. 
North Augusta 19, Airport 0 (3 innings)
 

BOYS TENNIS

Lexington 5, River Bluff 1

The Wildcats improved to 9-1 overall and swept through Region 5-5A play with Tuesday's win over River Bluff.

Read the column on head coach Alyssa Peterson by Thomas Price in this week's Lexington County Chronicle.  

(SINGLES)

Albert Zhu (RB) def. Patrick Cronin 6-3, 6-2

 Zack Howard (Lex) def. Avery Adams 6-3, 6-3

Hampton Cope (Lex) def. Sai Nallu 6-1, 6-1

Daniel Mahoney (Lex) def. Phoenix Springer 6-2, 6-2

Mehul Jain (Lex) def. Jackson Teal 6-1, 6-1

(DOUBLES)

Connor Hewson/ Alex Fellers(Lex) def.  Rohan Nath/Ben Williams 6-0. 6-2