By Thomas Grant Jr.
Picture above is Lily Sundell of Lexington (Photos by River Bluff High School)
A two-point halftime lead in the Class 5A Division I Lower State girls’ lacrosse final Tuesday against River Bluff was too close for comfort Lexington head coach Tiffany Tortorello.
Her “pep talk” at Wildcat Stadium before the second half was simple and direct to her players.
“If you want to be as good as we are, we have to show that we’re good as we are,” Tortorello said. “And I said to them I didn’t think that we played Lexington girls lacrosse the first half. Pretty much just leave it out on the field and show me what Lexington girls lacrosse looks like because we haven’t seen it yet this game.”
The Lady Wildcats took the message to heart. They proceeded to score 13 straight goals to pull away for the 19-5 victory over the Lady Gators.
With the win, Lexington (16-1) will face Spartanburg at 11 a.m. Saturday at Irmo High School for a shot at its first-ever state title.
Lily Sundell had six goals and Izzy Saville scored four of her five goals during the scoring run. Both acknowledged Tortorello’s message helped the team overcome early nervousness and take control of the game.
The Lexington girls lacrosse team celebrates the 19-5 win over River Bluff.
“She really just reminded us what was like to not make it to the state and everything that we had worked for and just not getting there,” Sundell said. “She just reminded us all that we had worked for, all that we had accomplished and not give up then and play our game.”
Sundell scored Lexington’s first two goals to help Lexington take a 3-0 lead. Ella Kate Patterson put River Bluff on the board, but Anna Bargar answered with a quick goal to make it 4-1 at the end of the first quarter.
Saville answered a River Bluff goal to open the second quarter to make it 5-2. After Bella Adler extended the lead to 6-2 midway in the second quarter, the Lady Gators’ Molly Bruzzi scored two unanswered goals to enter the half with momentum down 6-4.
Lexington pounced on River Bluff to open the second half. It started with three goals in the first two seconds by Sundell, Bargar and Saville.
Two more goals by Sundell and Saville and one each from Barger and Lillian Young extended the lead to 16-4 at the end of the third quarter.
The Lady Wildcats added three more goals in the fourth quarter. By the time River Bluff finally scored in the second half with 32 seconds left, the historic outcome was already a formality.
“It honestly feels unreal, but I’m so excited,” Saville said. “I can’t wait until Saturday.”
The 2025 season ended for Lexington and River Bluff boys lacrosse last Friday. The Wildcats fell 11-2 to top-seed Wando, while the Gators dropped a 10-9 heartbreaker to James Island.
BASEBALL/SOFTBALL
The Lexington baseball and softball teams wrapped up their respective Region 4-5A titles last Friday.
Both teams are expected to open the district playoffs as top seeds.
The Wildcats defeated River Bluff 8-2 to sweep the season series and claim the region baseball title. Logan Blight went 2-4 with two RBI, Grant Kissner was 3-3 with an RBI and Reider Carlson allowed two hits and struck out four in 5 2/3 innings for the victory.
The two teams met the following day in a non-region contest. River Bluff scored all of its runs in the fifth inning of a 5-4 win in The Swamp.
Dominick Norton had two RBI and Walker Goodwin had two hits and an RBI for the Gators.
The next night, the Lady Wildcats defeated River Bluff 11-1 in six innings to finish 10-0 in the region.
Shay Scott went 2-4 with four RBI, Livi Warren was 3-4 with three RBI and Emma Melinauskas drove in two runs.
Haley Manz struck out five and allowed just one hit in three innings.
SOCCER
The rosters for both the Clash of Carolinas and North-South All-Star soccer matches were released over the weekend.
Selected to the Clash on June 21 at the OrthoCarolina Sportsplex in Pineville, N.C. were Julia Salo of River Bluff, Alyssa Frazier and Sidney Kitts of Lexington were selected for the South Carolina girls’ roster.
The South Carolina boys roster includes Jay Etheredge and Noah Mitchell of Gray Collegiate and Barrett Wilson of Lexington.
The North-South matches are set for June 14 at T.L. Hanna High School. A total of four girls’ players – Sophie Hoffman (Gray Collegiate), Jaylynn Kemmerlin (Lexington), Layne Powers (Brookland-Cayce) and Hannah Riddle (River Bluff) – were named to the South team.
J.J. Evans of Gray Collegiate and Ethan Alexander and Nathan Nelson were selected to the South boys team.
TENNIS
River Bluff boys tennis team
The River Bluff boys tennis team is headed back to the postseason.
The Gators wrapped up their fifth straight Region 4-5A championship with a 5-1 win over Lexington. They will play host to the Mauldin/Dutch Fork winner on Thursday.
