Thursday’s area sports briefs
St. James tennis coach Lee Cannon said he never lets his team show up opponents with an excessive celebration; he takes it down the road.
“When we win we get on the bus and drive a quarter mile down the road … we pull in somewhere and we go nuts. We never do it in front of the other players’ faces,” he said. “We didn’t win the state championship, when we win the state I’ll let them do it then and there.”
The Sharks had plenty of cause to celebrate, though. After notching the school’s first-ever playoff win against Aiken in the first round, St. James eked out No. 2 doubles in a tiebreaker for a 4-3 win to extend their longest ever postseason run. But the match wasn’t without a bit of controversy. Cannon said he and his team agreed to put Joseph Martinez and Nick Klintworth as No. 2 doubles, despite what they had done for a majority of the season – a risk that would eventually pay off with a 3-6, 6-2 (10-7) win and the match’s decisive point.
“It was like gambling kind of – a risky move. But at the same time it paid off,” Cannon said, noting that Hartsville boys tennis coach Brian Howell was perturbed by the Sharks’ choice to alter their normal lineup to gain an advantage.
“We all bought in and said ‘this is what we’re doing’ … we bought in, we believed in it.
“He was a little fired up and got me fired up. Unfortunately I didn’t just sit on the bench and watch the match. I lost the moment because I was defending what we talked about on the bus.”
Jeffrey Dayton (6-0, 6-0), Aaron Ficklin (6-3, 2-6 (10-7)) and the doubles team of Dayton and Christian Heath (6-1, 6-1) earned the other three points for St. James, which will face the winner of Myrtle Beach-Hilton Head; that playoff matchup was rained out on Thursday.
St. James 4, (at) Hartsville 3 AAA second round
Singles: Jeffrey Dayton (SJ) Def. Dalton Capobianio 6-0, 6-0; Weston Light (H) def. Christian Heath 6-3, 6-2; Kameron Skinner (H) def. Carlos Cordero 6-0, 6-0; Aaron Ficklin (SJ) def. Hunter Purvis 6-3, 2-6 (10-7); Jaylin Goodson (H) def. Sullivan Young 6-4, 5-7 (10-7)
Doubles: Dayton/Heath (SJ) def. Capobianio/Light 6-1, 6-1; Joseph Martinez and Nick Klintworth (SJ) def. James Teal and Mac Johnson 3-6, 6-2 (10-7)
Rec.: SJ 8-7
High school girls soccer
▪ Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach 4, Beaufort Academy 0 | The Lady Saints advanced for the first time in school history to the SCISA A-AA State championship game where they will face Hilton Head Christian.
Goals: Katya Durocher 1, MC Butler 2, Julia Markley 1. Assists: Katya Durocher 2, Julia Markley 1. Saves: Emily Johnson (GK) 7.
CCU softball
Coastal Carolina softball overcame a pair of deficits and set a new conference home run record in a 4-3 victory over No. 7 seed and host Campbell Thursday evening in the opening round of the Big South Tournament, according to a university release.
The second-seeded Chanticleers (32-22), who trailed 2-0 and 3-2 in the game, will face the winner of the final opening day matchup between No. 3 Winthrop and No. 6 Presbyterian in a 4:30 p.m. game on Friday.
Morgan Noad and Kelsey Dominik hit home runs for the Chants, giving them 81 for the season to break the single-season mark held by Longwood, which hit 80 in 2013.
This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Thursday’s area sports briefs."