By Thomas Grant, Jr.
About two weeks ago, the Chapin softball team was one loss away from post-season elimination.
The Lady Eagles responded with four straight wins to claim the Class 5A District Five title.
On Wednesday, they found themselves in a similar position in the Lower State playoffs following a 7-0 loss Monday to Summerville. Chapin played host to Berkeley for the second time in the postseason in an elimination game.
The Lady Eagles won the first meeting 5-4 on May 10. All five runs were scored in the first inning and the Lady Eagles managed to hold on for the victory.
Another win over the Lady Stags meant a rematch at Summerville Friday for the Lower State championship. Chapin would need two wins to advance to the state final.
The Lady Eagles’ winning streak began May 3 with a 4-2 win over Fort Dorchester. Trailing 1-0 in the Bottom 6th, Eason Davis tied the game with a leadoff solo home run.
Chapin added an RBI triple by Andee Dircks, an RBI double by Reagan Haggard and RBI single by Riley O’Mara to complete the “team RBI cycle” for a 4-1 lead.
The Lady Patriots picked up a run, but were eliminated 4-2 by Chapin as pitcher Ella Majchrzak finished the game with her eighth strikeout.
On May 7, the Lady Eagles avenged their playoff-opener loss to Cane Bay in a 5-2 win. Majchrzak threw six shutout innings, struck out three and allowed four hits. She also went 2-3 with a solo home run and Dircks had a 2-run double.
To reach the Lower State final, the Lady Eagles had to defeat Sumter twice on the road the next night. They came out swinging with four runs to open the game. As Majchrzak shut out the Lady Gamecocks for five innings, Chapin added to its lead in capitalizing off four errors in the 8-1 victory.
Sumter took a 1-0 lead in the deciding game, only for Chapin to respond with seven unanswered runs.
The Lady Gamecocks cut the lead to 7-4, only for the Lady Eagles to score seven runs in the third inning to go up 14-4.
Chapin then answered Sumter,’s six-run rally in the fourth by scoring six runs over the next three innings for the 20-10 win in the District final.
Both Majchrzak and O’Mara had three RBI and Nicole Stockwell went 4-5 with two RBI for the Lady Eagles.
All-STATE SOFTBALL SELECTIONS
CLASS 5A: Ella Majchrzak & Andee Dircks (both of Chapin) Allie Boone (Dutch Fork) and Livi Warren (Lexington)
CLASS 4A: Precious Bross (Irmo)
CLASS 3A: Ainsley Minchew and Carley Melton (both of Gilbert) and Mackenzie Sease (Swansea)
CLASS 2A: Symari Bowers (Mid-Carolina) and Samantha Padgett (Pelion)
Photos courtesy of Ed Walker
