Bishops claim IP Baseball Classic title with 3-1 victory
The Bishop England baseball team captured the Class AAA state championship last spring. This spring, the Bishops just might prove to be the best team in the state regardless of classification if the prestigious International Paper Baseball Classic is any indication.
The Bishops claimed the title of the Georgetown-based tournament Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Boiling Springs to complete a 4-0 effort that saw the Bishops outscore foes 28-10 in the four games.
“They play the game hard and have a ton of life and enthusiasm when they play,” Bishop England coach Mike Darnell said of his team.
Ryan Gaffney was the winning pitcher in the championship game, pitching a complete game and allowing only one run to be named the tourney MVP.
Geoffrey Gilbert, Leo Albano and Jacob Moore joined Gaffney on the all-tournament team. Gilbert, who has already committed to Clemson, struck out 10 batters in the 11-1 victory over Summerville in Saturday’s semifinal.
“For the most part we pitched well this weekend,” Darnell said. “We didn’t play as good of defense as we would like, but we were able to get out of some jams. We put pressure on defenses while we were hitting which seemed to make a huge difference.”
The Bishops had their bats working. Corey Cochran and Moore both batted .444. Albano hit .429 while Matthew Lobeck hit .417 and Gilbert .400. Albano also had a strong pitching effort with seven strikeouts in four innings.
STATE WRESTLING
The Class AAA state individual wrestling tournament was recently held at the Anderson Sports & Entertainment Center and Hanahan and Bishop England fared well. The Hawks finished in 11th place with 27 points while Bishop England was tied for 21st with 10 points.
Brooks Cribb and Kevy Bell of Hanahan both claimed bronze medals. Cribb finished third in the 152-pound weight class with a victory over Jaylon McCaslan of Emerald.
Bell claimed third in the 220-pound division with a decision over Kahvon Brown of Camden.
Bishop England’s Anthony Battista also claimed a bronze medal with a victory over Michael Freeman of Woodruff at 132 pounds.
HAWKS WIN SOFTBALL TOURNEY
The Hanahan Hawks softball team did it again. The Hawks won their fourth straight Battle of the Bases tournament, claiming the title game with an 8-3 victory over Cane Bay.
Drayton Siegling was named the tournament MVP while Rachel Shelly and Madeline Ferris were also named to the all-tournament team.
TRACK AND FIELD
The Philip Simmons boys’ and girls’ track and field teams more than held their own in the first major meet in the school’s brief history.
The boys team finished in 10th place Saturday at the Adidas Lowcountry Invitational, which was contested at Woodland High School. The girls finished in 13th place.
The girls had a good showing with a seventh-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay.
The Hanahan boys and girls also competed in the meet and both teams finished in ninth place.
Meanwhile, the Bishop England girls’ and boys’ teams both finished in eighth place at the Sandlapper Classic Saturday at West Ashley High School.
Aidan Richter led the Bishop boys with a second-place finish in the 800-run with a time of 2:04.21. The 4x1,600-meter relay team also finished second while the distance medley team captured a bronze medal. Jacob Wilkins also collected a bronze in the discus.
In the girls’ meet, Bishop England’s Emma Albano picked up a bronze medal in the discus and was fourth in the shot put. The 4x400 relay team placed third while Patricia George was fourth in the 400-meter dash.