Wednesday’s area sports briefs

Brooke Elliott and the Blue Jackets had no interest in prolonging the District VIII finals.

Aynor jumped on Silver Bluff with five runs through three innings and Elliott struck out 13 batters in a five-hit, complete-game effort Wednesday to propel the Blue Jackets to the Lower State tournament.

Having made it to the district finals unscathed, Aynor had two chances to win Wednesday, but didn’t need an extra game.

“It felt great,” Blue Jackets coach Sandie Jones said. “The girls came out with seriousness and were ready to play.”

As has been the case all season, Elliott proved a workhorse on the mound.

“She is doing an awesome job,” Jones said. “She was throwing the ball well, hitting her spots with velocity and speed.”

Hannah Feaver had a pair of solo home runs and Jesse Johnson was 3-for-3 at the plate for Aynor, which will begin the double-elimination Lower State tournament at Johnsonville on Saturday.

“It feels good. We all have a good vibe right now,” Jones said. “Our minds are in a good place, we’re playing well as a team and we’re gelling. As long as we keep that up and keep the team together, we’ll continue to be successful.

“But we told the girls that from this point on it’s not going to be easy by any means. We’ve just got to take it to the next level and keep giving a little more of what we have.”

High school softball

▪ (At) Georgetown 13, Marlboro County 0 (5) | Kirsten Vause doubled, tripled and drove in five runs to help the Bulldogs advance to the Class AAA, District VII finals.

Georgetown heads to Berkeley on Friday needing to win a pair of games to advance to the Lower State tournament. The Bulldogs lost 5-1 to the Stags in the second game of the playoffs.

“We’re going to have to show up,” Georgetown coach Whitney Ramsing said. “We always talk about three components: hitting, pitching and solid defense. We know that we have to work together as a team. If we do that, hopefully good things will happen.”

▪ (At) Andrews 3, Waccamaw 2 | The Yellowjackets scored three runs in the bottom of the first and that’s all they would need behind starter Kirby Evans, who struck out nine in the win.

Isabel Sanchez went 2-for-3 and drove in the Warriors’ two runs with a double in the top of the first. Waccamaw ends its season 19-9.

▪ (At) North Myrtle Beach 4, Airport 0 | Makala Gore drove in two runs to highlight a three-run fourth inning as the Chiefs advanced to the Class AAA, District VIII finals, where they will face Hanahan needing to win two games to reach the Lower State tournament.

High school baseball

▪ (At) Waccamaw 1, Barnwell 0 (9) | McKinley Grooms singled in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Warriors won the Class AA, District V title.

After the leadoff hitter walked in the ninth, Waccamaw failed to advance the runner on a pop out off a bunt. Wes Lee then hit a ground-rule double, keeping runners on second and third. After a strikeout, Grooms came through with the big hit.

“I was thinking we have bad karma here,” Warriors coach Jeff Gregory said of the ground-rule double that likely would’ve scored a run had it stayed in the park. “Every hit we got here today came with two outs and nobody on. I would have cranked him on first [on the double], but it bounced over. It is what it is. But then Grooms came through with the hit. That was do-or-die and they had to do it and they did.”

The run made a strong start from Carter Fox hold up. Fox allowed two hits while going the distance and throwing 97 pitches to help set up the Waccamaw rotation for the Lower State tournament.

“I’m very happy with [getting it done] in one game,” Gregory said. “That helps us with our pitching. We’ve got a good rotation here. I’ve got four good guys and I can trust them to go deep.”

▪ Myrtle Beach 2, (at) Hilton Head 0 | Praise Thorsen struck out seven in a three-hit shutout to help the Seahawks advance to the Class AAA, District VII finals.

Myrtle Beach will play at Aiken on Friday needing to win a pair of games. The Fighting Green Hornets beat the Seahawks 6-0 in Myrtle Beach in both teams’ playoff opener.

“We came to Hilton Head with revenge on our minds because they knocked us out last year,” Seahawks coach Tim Christy said. “We’ll go to Aiken with the same attitude.

“We got a great pitching performance from Thorsen and we played tremendous defense behind him. When you get to the playoffs it’s all about pitching and defense and finding a way to win.”

▪ (At) South Aiken 3, Socastee 2 (10) | The Thoroughbreds scored the winning run on a walk in the 10th inning to win Class AAAA, District VI.

▪ Swansea 3, (at) St. James 1 | The Sharks were eliminated from the Class AAA, District VIII playoffs.

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Wednesday’s area sports briefs."