Bishop England and Hanahan High sports updates
The Hanahan Invitational Tournament will celebrate its 48th year when the first pitch is thrown out Monday at eight area sites. Like all great tourneys, HIT has evolved through the years and that will be reflected in this year’s format.
Because of pitch-count limitations in place by the South Carolina High School League and other state governing agencies, there will be two fields and two champions crowned this year.
Past champions had to survive five games to claim the top prize. This year, the path to the championship will require four games.
“What you need is four guys who can pitch seven innings,” Hanahan coach and tournament director Brian Mitchell said. “But that’s a tough chore because this is high school baseball. That’s a lot of pitching.”
The HIT was founded by Tom Hatfield in 1970 and included a small group of local teams. A few years later, Bill Steadman took over and built HIT into one of the best spring-break baseball tournaments on the East Coast.
This year, there will be a Hatfield Division champion and a Steadman Division champion when the tourney, which totals 32 teams, concludes at Hanahan next Thursday with 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. championship games.
Pool play will be held at Hanahan, Bishop England, Ashley Ridge, Summerville, Berkeley, James Island, West Ashley and Wando.
CELEBRATING BE BASEBALL
The 1997 Bishop England baseball team, which won the school’s first state championship in the program’s history, will be honored before the Bishops host Hanahan on Friday at Father Kelly Field on Daniel Island.
The Bishops went 30-8 and won the Class AA state championship. The team featured Drew Meyer, who was in his sophomore season in ’97. He went on to be an All-American at the University of South Carolina and was the first-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2002. Aaron Feldman was another key player on the team. He went on to play in the College World Series as a member of the Tulane baseball team.
Members of the team who are expected to attend the ceremony include Meyer, Brett Davey, Brian Jenkins, Charles Sharp, Derek Anderson, Lawrence Crosby, Miles Owen, Peter Barber, Ronnie Burbage and Scott Howell.
The late Dave Morrow will also be recognized. He coached the 1997 and 1998 state championship teams at BE. He will be represented by his wife Jackie and their children, Drew and Dava.
MITCHELL SHINES IN TRACK
Hanahan sprinter Quincy Mitchell turned in two national elite performances at last weekend’s Father Kelly Classic, which was contested at Bishop England High School.
Mitchell’s standout efforts came in the 100- and 200-meter dashes where he turned in times of 10.67 and 21.91, respectively, to claim the gold medals.
Teammate Jamie Watson also turned in a national elite effort, clearing 6-6 in the high jump.
In the girls’ meet, Bishop England’s Allison Seney had a national elite effort in the pole vault, clearing 10-6.
Woodland won the girls’ meet with 86 points. Bishop England was seventh with 53 points and Hanahan was 10 with 22 1/3 points.
Summerville won the boys’ meet with 90.5 points. Hanahan checked in at fourth with 74 points while BE was fifth with 59 ½.