Friday night, four Lexington County softball teams won to advance in their district bracket, while three moved on to the district final.

5A

Lexington

The Lexington Wildcats advanced to the final of the 5A Upper District 2 bracket in style with a Madison Rogers two-run home run. The sixth-inning homer gave the Wildcats an 11-1 lead over Blythewood which immediately brought the run rule into effect, ending the game.

The Wildcats got big contributions across the lineup Friday night. Kiley Shelton went 4-4 from the plate with three RBI and a home run, Maggie Hinz and Karley Shelton each collected two hits and Sam Craig and Livi Warren both reached base twice while driving in two runs.

Karley Shelton was also the winning pitcher, tossing a complete game with seven strikeouts.

Lexington Head Coach Laurie Epps was pleased with her team’s performance.

“Well I knew we didn’t play that well on Wednesday night so coming out tonight,  I was hoping that we would play up to the caliber of what we’re capable of playing and we did. We showed up, we put some bats on balls, we made things happen,” Epps said after the game. “Karley did a great job on the mound for us, our defense played well behind her so it was just a good night all around.”

The Wildcats are now in an advantageous situation as they await the winner of Blythewood vs. JL Mann/Boiling Springs. Lexington will take the field against one of those teams Wednesday night and will advance with a win. 

Chapin

The Chapin Eagles followed up their blowout win against Stratford with a close 4-3 win over Ashley Ridge to advance to the 5A Lower District 6 final.

It was a thrilling victory as Chapin trailed 3-1 after three innings and 3-2 after six. The Eagles went to the bottom of the seventh down one run.

Chapin started the pivotal final frame with a Maddie McMillion single and an Eason Davis walk to put two runners on with no outs. After Ella Majchrzak flew out to left the next at-bat, Aspen Mayers reached base on an error that advanced all runners, leaving the bases loaded with only one out.

Reagan Haggard stepped up and played the role of walk-off hero as she knocked a hard ground ball to left, scoring both McMillion and Davis to give the Eagles a thrilling walk-off win.

Like Lexington, Chapin will have the advantageous position of waiting until Wednesday to play the winner of Ashley Ridge and Carolina Forest. 

White Knoll

The White Knoll Timberwolves fought off elimination with a dominant 10-0, run rule win in five innings over West Ashley Friday night. 

The Timberwolves scored in each inning, with the second inning being the highest scoring output with four runs. 

Lydia Faulk, Allie Royer and Jaden Ekovich all collected two hits each during the big win. Allie Cole led the team in RBI with three. 

In the circle, Grace Blume pitched all five innings, giving up only three hits and striking out seven batters.

“Tonight was a great bounce back from the heartbreaker loss at Conway on Wednesday night,” White Knoll head coach April Farr said after the game. “Our kids are having fun and playing for each other. They fed off each other tonight and did the little things that help you win. They played some stellar defense behind their pitcher which was one of the keys to winning the game. That defense fueled our offense.”

The Timberwolves will now face Conway on the road again after their 16-1 loss to Berkeley Friday night.

“We spoke about getting to the district championship game and what it would take after losing the first game in district. I told them we will not look ahead on what we have to do if we get there. We are just focusing on one game at a time,” Farr said. “It doesn’t matter what is ahead of us if we can’t win the game we are in.  So we will take it one day at a time and have some fun doing it.  Now we focus on the next game which is at Conway on Monday. Our team is ready and looking forward to traveling back there and hopefully come out on top this time.”

4A

Irmo

The Yellow Jackets’ season came to an end after two playoff games last week.

Irmo lost the playoff opener against South Florence 16-1 and two nights later, fell to James Island 9-5 to eliminate them from the postseason. 

They finished the season with a 5-15 record.

Airport

The Airport Eagles lost their playoff opener to Westside Tuesday night by a score of 9-4, sending them into the losers bracket of Upper State Bracket 1.

The Eagles were able to fight off elimination with a hard fought 5-4 win over Indian Land two nights later. 

Airport’s season officially came to an end on Saturday with a 6-1 loss to five-seeded York.

The Eagles end the 2023 season with a final record of 15-10.

3A

Gilbert

Following their dominant 17-0 win over Phillip Simmons Wednesday night, the Gilbert Indians lost to Loris 6-2 at home to fall to the losers bracket.

Loris put up three runs in the first inning and led for the entire game. Gilbert entered the final inning down 6-0 and while they managed to put up two runs in the inning, it wasn’t enough to spark a seventh inning comeback.

Gilbert will host Darlington Monday night in an elimination game. The winner will play at Loris on Wednesday and will need to beat them twice in order to advance out of the district. 

Brookland-Cayce

The Bearcat softball team was eliminated from postseason play Friday night with an 8-2 loss against Waccamaw. They also dropped the playoff opener to Beaufort by a score of 6-1.

The Bearcats’ season ends with a final record of 9-8.  

Swansea

After winning their playoff opener against Battery Creek 10-4, Swansea was defeated by Aynor by a score of 11-4 in the following game.

The Tigers are still alive in postseason play and have a chance to fight off elimination Monday night against Crestwood at home.

2A

Gray Collegiate Academy

After dominating Blacksburg 17-1 in their playoff opener, the Gray Collegiate Academy Eagles continued their impressive tear through the 2A Upper District 4 bracket with a 13-3 win over Abbeville Friday night.

Taylor Corley, Kaley Anderson and Madison Knapper all collected three hits each. Knapper, Corley and Madoxx Long all hit home runs as well. 

Corley had an electric day pitching as well, striking out 13 batters.

Gray advances to the district final and will await the winner of Abbeville and Blacksburg.

Pelion

The Pelion Panthers' season came to an end after two playoff games. 

They dropped their playoff opener to Abbeville by a score of 5-2, sending them to an elimination game. In the elimination game, the Panthers were shutout by Blacksburg 3-0.

The Panthers’ season ends with a final record of 8-11.