By CT McDonald
Some local softball and baseball teams were still standing in the spring sports playoffs at midweek while others have ended their 2022 – 2023 season.
Softball: Dutch Fork started the 5A Upper District 1 playoffs last week with a 7-1 win against T.L. Hanna and then lost to Dorman 9-0 in Round Two to drop to the losers bracket against T.L. Hanna in a third round game.
The Silver Foxes won that one 7-2 to advance to the district finals matchup against Dorman Wednesday needing to defeat the Cavaliers in two games in order to advance.
The Upper District 1 winner will advance to the upper state tournament starting Friday as the home team in the first round against the District 2 winner.
Chapin defeated Stratford 10-0 in the first round last week, and then beat Ashley Ridge in the second to advance to Wednesday’s Lower District 6 finals in the winners bracket needing to win only one game to earn the district title. The Eagles’ district finals opponent will be Ashley Ridge, again, after its win against Carolina Forest in the losers bracket.
Ashley Ridge will need to win two games against Chapin to earn the title.
The winner of the District 6 championship will advance to Friday’s first round of the lower state tournament as the visiting team against the District 5 winner.
Irmo made the playoffs and completed two rounds last week with a loss to South Florence in the first round and a loss to James Island in the second.
Baseball: Dutch Fork lost the first round of the Upper District 1 games last week 4-3 to T.L. Hanna, but then defeated James F. Byrnes 7-1 to advance to a third game, this time defeating Fort Mill 2-1 to advance to the district finals game needing to win two games to advance.
But T.L. Hanna won the district title in a 6-3 victory against the Silver Foxes early this week.
Chapin shut out Socastee in the District 7 first round and then beat Berkeley 2-0 in the second round to advance to the district title game needing to win only one game to advance to the lower state tournament. The Eagles met Berkeley again in the district championship games, and the Stags won both games by a run (2-1 and 3-2) to end Chapin’s season on Monday.
Irmo began the Lower State Bracket 2 games last week with a loss to James Island, and that was followed by a loss to West Florence that ended the Yellow Jackets’ season.
Boys tennis: After advancing to last week’s state final round in the 5A lower state brackets, Dutch Fork’s varsity boys tennis team ended its season in that round against Summerville. As reported last week, Irmo and Chapin also qualified for the playoffs, and each of them completed their seasons in previous rounds.
In last week’s boys tennis state finals at Florence, J.L. Mann won the 5A title against Summerville, and Myrtle Beach won the 4A championship against Riverside.
Girls soccer: After the 2-0 win against Woodmont in the 5A first round last week, Chapin lost a 1-0 matchup against Blythewood in the second round to complete the Eagles’ season. Dutch Fork and Irmo earned a berth in the playoffs and they each ended their seasons last week in the first round.
Boys soccer: Following Irmo’s 6-0 win against South Florence in the first round last week, the Yellow Jackets took a 6-0 loss to James Island in Round Two to end their season.
Chapin followed last week’s 6-0 first round win over Cane Bay with a 3-2 loss to Stall to end the Eagles’ season, while Dutch Fork had finished in the first round against J.L. Mann.
The soccer state finals will be held Friday and Saturday at Irmo High School with the 4A and 5A teams playing on Friday and the 1A/2A and 3A teams playing on Saturday.
