North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
Coach Krystal Mante checks with her batter during the Lady Chiefs 3-0 victory over Chapin in the SCHSL playoff game on May 8th. The Chiefs win in that game sent them back to Conway for a 7-4 victory and a final playoff game, a district championship 1-0 loss to St. James.
By John Smtihson
The North Myrtle Beach High School Lady Chiefs softball team made it all the way to the SCHSL 5A Division II District 4 championship game with a 7-4 win over Conway in last Monday’s elimination game at Conway and a 1-0 loss to St. James last Wednesday at St. James.
The Lady Chiefs have been in the loser’s bracket of the tournament since they lost to Conway 7-6 on May 6th. They then beat Chapin 3-0 at home on May 8th before going back to Conway last Monday and beating the Lady Tigers.
After a scoreless first inning at Conway the Chiefs loaded the bases in the top of the second on singles by Lilly Carney, Izzy Bruno and Sierra Bendik. Faithlyn Lewis struck out for the second out of the inning, but Chloe Butler doubled to right clearing the bases for a 3-0 lead. Carolina Porter doubled Butler home and the Chiefs led 4-0.
The Chiefs added two more runs in the top of the third. Sadie Olson walked and Carney singled. Both runners moved to second and third on an error in right field. Hadley Leonhardt singled to center, and Olson and Carney scored for a 6-0 Chiefs lead.
Conway scored one run in the bottom of the third after a Chiefs error and walk were followed by a fielder’s choice grounder moving the runners to second and third. A line drive sacrifice fly scored one run, and it was 6-1 after three innings.
The Chiefs last run of the game came in the top of the fifth. Olson walked, stole second and moved to third on Carney’s groundout. She scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Leonhardt.
Conway had a single and double in the bottom of the fifth but Bendik struck out the last batter to move to the sixth inning.
Conway used a single and a walk to get two runners on in the bottom of the sixth. A groundout moved the runners to second and third and a single scored both and it was 7-3 going into the seventh inning.
Conway loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and one run scored on a walk. Bendik closed out the game with a strikeout and a Bendik to Carney putout for the win. It was another gutsy pitching performance by Bendik in the playoffs. She gave up nine hits and walked five but still only gave up two earned runs. Butler and Leonhardt provided the offense with three RBIs each.
The Chiefs went to St. James last Wednesday to take on the Lady Sharks, the number one seed in the tournament and one of the top teams in the nation with one loss and a 27-1 record. They also had to face senior pitcher Raegan Tibbitts.
Tibbitts was dominating as usual. She gave up only two hits to the Chiefs and struck out 13 batters. The Chiefs had two runners on in the fifth inning and went down in order in four innings.
Bendik gave up her only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning on a single by Roloson and double by Centracchio. She was able to work out of trouble every inning after that. She gave up four hits, walked two and struck out five.
Coach Krystal Mante released a statement after the loss. “Our season came to an end against St. James. We took a very tough and heartbreaking 1-0 loss against them, but we are unbelievably proud of our team. We had a great season and went toe to toe with the number 22 ranked team in the nation in a very good game in the district championship. We want to thank our seniors Sierra Bendik, Lilly Carney, Hadley Leonhardt, Izzy Bruno, Chloe Butler and Sadie Olson. We are going to miss you guys like crazy and we know you guys will excel in your next chapter.”
