Monday’s Myrtle Beach-area sports briefs

Michael Leftis’ game sure adapted well to playing 18 holes.

The senior shot a career-best, bogey-free 4-under 68 on Monday at The Country Club of South Carolina to earn medalist honors and help the Myrtle Beach boys golf team win the Region VII-AAA title by four shots.

“Best I’ve seen him play,” Seahawks coach Steve Perry said.

The key?

“Bogey free – with an eagle,” Perry said of Leftis, who made a 3 on the par-5 17th hole.

Kohler Karavan shot 72, Holden Grigg fired 74 and John David Gooden finished with a 77 as Myrtle Beach finished at 291, four strokes ahead of rival North Myrtle Beach.

“Honestly, we just wanted the boys to play good golf,” Perry said. “Winning the region wasn’t our main objective; winning state is. It was good to get started with a good round though.”

Although, Perry did admit it was nice beating the Chiefs, whom his team lost two in a dual match last week.

“Getting a little win against North Myrtle was nice considering the beat us in the match we had last week,” Perry said.

High school boys golf

Jake DuPuis took medalist honors with a 5-over 41 at Black Bear and the Lions bested the Tigers.

High school girls soccer

▪ Swansea 4, St. James 1 | Ilene de los Santos scored, but the second-seeded Sharks fell in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs.

▪ North Myrtle Beach 2, (at) Airport 1 | The third-seeded Chiefs advanced to the second round of the Class AAA playoffs.

High school baseball

▪ Green Sea Floyds 17, (at) Cross 4 (5) | Jacob Springs and Jacob Green each drove in a pair of runs to help the Trojans stay alive in the Class A, District VII playoffs.

After losing its playoffs opener, Green Sea Floyds has rallied to win two straight to face East Clarendon in the district finals. The Trojans will have to win two Wednesday to advance.

“We’ve done what we’ve had to do to get a second chance against East Clarendon,” Green Sea Floyds coach Derek Martin said. “We just need to swing the bats well and throw more strikes to give us a change against them.”

▪ (At) Myrtle Beach 3, Darlington 1 | Michael Calamari struck out 12 in a complete-game effort to help the Seahawks stay alive in the Class AAA, District VII playoffs.

“Michael was huge for us tonight,” Myrtle Beach coach Tim Christy said. “Just a great performance, 12 strikeouts … what can you say about a kid like that? He comes down and does what you ask him to do.

“It was a gutty performance by our kids with our backs against the wall.”

The Seahawks will play Wednesday at Hilton Head with a trip to the district finals on the line.

“We’re excited to play another day,” Christy said. “We lost to Hilton Head last year – they eliminated us. There’s always payback on your mind.”

▪ (At) Socastee 7, Ashley Ridge 5 | Austin Schmitz hit a pair of home runs – a two-run shot in the second and the go-ahead three-run blast in the fifth – and Ryan Beale also homered to lead the Braves to a win and berth into the Class AAAA, District VI finals.

Socastee will head to South Aiken, which beat the Braves in the opener 2-1, needing a pair of wins Wednesday to advance Lower State tournament.

▪ Beaufort 5, (at) Georgetown 3 | The Bulldogs’ season came to an end in the Class AAA, District VI playoffs.

▪ (At) Berkeley 10, St. James 2 | The Sharks fell into the Class AAA, District VIII loser’s bracket.

▪ (At) Marlboro County 8, North Myrtle Beach 7 | The Chiefs were eliminated from the Class AAA, District V playoffs.

High school softball

▪ (At) Waccamaw 11, Wade Hampton 1 (5) | McKenzie Lugin struck out seven batters and retired 14 straight batters at the end of the game as the Warriors stayed alive in the Class AA, District VI playoffs.

Waccamaw will play at Battery Creek at 6 p.m. Wednesday with a trip to the district finals on the line.

“Tonight we had to get back on track,” Warriors coach Scott Streiffert said. “We lost Thursday at Andrews in a close game. They played well and knocked us into the loser’s bracket. What we wanted to do tonight, with the prospect of four games in three days in front of us, is maybe we could get ahead and save Lugin a little bit.”

Getting the game over in five innings was key, Streiffert said, and a solid effort at the plate helped Waccamaw save Lugin’s arm.

“We had to shorten these games in the loser’s bracket to potentially have a chance on Wednesday,” he said. “We hit the ball well tonight. We got behind right out of the gate, but ‘Mac’ settled down. We had eight different players get hits. That’s the formula we need in order to win.”

▪ (At) Hilton Head 2, Myrtle Beach 1 | The Seahawks were eliminated from the Class AAA, District V playoffs.

▪ Beaufort 5, (at) St. James 3 (10) | The Sharks were eliminated from the Class AAA, District VI playoffs.

Minor league baseball

▪ Myrtle Beach Pelicans starting pitcher Tyler Skulina was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Week.

Skulina struck out a career-high eight batters while tossing six shutout innings in the Pelicans’ 2-1 win over the Lynchburg Hillcats on Sunday.

Junior golf

▪  Murrells Inlet’s Smith Knaffle shot 81-77–158 to tie for 22nd in the 10th Vicki DiSantis Girls Championship at Pine Island over the weekend.

Lancaster’s Emily Cox won the event by a stroke after shooting 72-74–146.

North Myrtle Beach’s Madison Elliott tied for 56th (83-84–167).

This story was originally published May 4, 2015 at 9:58 PM with the headline "Monday’s Myrtle Beach-area sports briefs."