(Photo by GoFlashwin.com) River Bluff baseball
By Thomas Grant Jr.
The 2026 season ended for several Lake Murray teams.
Last Friday, the Lady Gators were shut out 1-0 by Sumter in the Class 5A Division I Lower State District Four playoffs.
River Bluff pitcher Alexis Jodie
Alexis Jodie allowed just two hits and struck out seven in seven innings. She was matched by the Lady Gamecocks’ Lillie Ivey who also gave up just two hits, but fanned 13 batters and got the go-ahead run in the Top 7th inning.
River Bluff ended the season with a 17-11 record.
A similar fate happened to Batesburg-Leesville softball. Sophomore hurler Ainsley Minchew was involved into another duel with North Central’s Mackenzie Melton.
This time, it was a Class 2A Upper State elimination game. Minchew held the Lady Knights to two hits and struck out 15 to finish her season total at 226.
She was more than matched by Melton, who had 16 strikeouts and the lone RBI of the game in a 1-0 victory.
This was the third 1-0 game outcome played the last week for the Lady Panthers. They finished the season with a 14-5 record.
Both Saluda and Mid-Carolina played for district titles on Wednesday. The Lady Tigers played host to Blacksburg, who it defeated 5-1 on May 8, in the District 4 final.
As the only undefeated team in the bracket, Saluda needs just one win to reach the Upper State playoffs.
The Lady Rebels rebounded from its 11-2 loss to Ninety-Six last Saturday with a 12-1 rout of Liberty in five innings of Monday’s elimination game. Kylie Senn led the offense with five RBI, including a grand slam in the Bottom 3rd.
Mid-Carolina faced Ninety-Six again on Wednesday needing two wins to reach the Upper State playoffs.
Lefthander Mary Grace Bryant allowed just three hits and struck out five in four innings of work.
BASEBALL
Defending Class 2A champion Batesburg-Leesville managed to return to the Upper State final on Monday.
It defeated Mid-Carolina 3-1 to win the District Three championship. Knox Bouknight allowed four hits and struck out two in 4 2/3 innings as the Panthers staked him out to a 3-0 lead.
Braydon Hallman, who collected the save, and Mason Lowe both drove in runs for Batesburg-Leesville. It begins the Upper State playoffs Thursday at Landrum, who defeated Saluda 9-7 to win the District Four title.
Gilbert was not as fortunate as its season ended with two straight one-run games against Hartsville. Needing two victories to claim the Class 4A Lower State District D title, the Indians forced a deciding game with a 2-1 win in 17 innings last Saturday.
The two teams combined for 19 hits and six pitchers used in the game which was tied at 1-1 after the first inning. An RBI single by Cooper Price in the Top 17th was the game-winner for Gilbert.
On Monday, Gilbert returned to Hartsville again for the District D title. This time, it was unable to rally from an early 3-0 deficit and was defeated 3-2 by the Red Foxes.
A similar fate occurred Monday to Lexington. It faced archrival River Bluff for the fourth time this season, this time in a District 4 elimination game.
The Wildcats won the previous three meetings two weeks ago and looked to continue its school’s streak of success against the Gators. Instead, River Bluff held of Lexington 11-10 to advance to the district final.
River Bluff jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the Top 3rd. Lexington answered with two, 2-run home runs by Graham Coleman and Jones Bell to go ahead 4-3.
A 6-run rally that gave River Bluff pound out five consecutive hits surged it back ahead 9-4 in the fourth inning. A 2-run double by Wes Goodwin extended the lead to 11-4 in the fifth inning.
The two teams exchanged runs off errors in the sixth and seventh innings. With two outs after getting a run off a sacrifice fly by Ethan Madden, Lexington put together a 6-run rally to close within a run.
The tying run was on third base when River Bluff’s Goodwin got pinch hitter Allen Hegler into a season-ending groundout. The Gators traveled to Carolina Forest Wednesday for another elimination game.
In Class 3A, Newberry saw its season end with 10-3 home loss to Georgetown.
