One just never knows what’s coming up when the high-school kids start playing various kinds of ball.

Some of it is reasonably predictable. Laurens is ranked third in Class 4A baseball, and the Raiders won their eighth straight game and second in as many nights over Hillcrest.

Thornwell hauled off and clobbered McCormick for the Saints’ third victory of the season.

Clinton (4-3), winner of four in a row, takes on Laurens at home on Wednesday. That’s the No. 3 team in Class 4A against the No. 7 team in 3A. First the JVs, with two losses between them, play each other at 5 p.m.

It’s also the day of the Red Devils-Saints game. That’s right. Great Falls is visiting Thornwell.

After requiring nine innings to dispense with the Rams in Simpsonville on Monday night, Laurens never trailed on Tuesday at Ed Prescott Field, 12-9.

They tied, releasing brief shock into the chill air.

The lead got less and less secure as the innings crawled along.

Laurens (10-2) led, 9-0, after three innings. First baseman Owen Pridgen went monster with a double, a home run and five RBI. Jireh Brown and Zay Pulley also lashed doubles.

Then it got scary. Hillcrest scored five in the fourth inning and four in the fifth. It took Pulley’s two-run double to restore the lead.

Avery Madden’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly added an insurance run.

Ben Willis earned the decision in relief of Grayson Ledford. Only three of the nine runs charged Ledford were earned. He struck out nine but also walked six.

For the second time in as many games, Clinton played a rollicking good softball game against a longtime rival, and for the second time, the Red Devils fell in anguish.

Woodruff scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to edge Clinton, 6-5, after the Red Devils lost, 4-1, to Laurens five nights earlier on a three-run homer in the second extra inning.

Clinton (6-4, 0-2 Region 4-3A) outhit the Wolverines, 11-4, but out-erred them, 7-1.

In the absence of a Woodruff roster, relatively little can be offered in its behalf, but Clinton overcame a 4-1 deficit by crossing the plate four times in the sixth inning.

Alyssa Young and Sierra Templeton collected two of the Clinton hits apiece. Halleigh Luke’s two-run double gave the Red Devils’ their short-lived lead.

Clinton’s two pitchers, Cat Wilkie and Me-Me Smith, got little support. Only one of the six runs charged them was earned.

The Red Devils visit Chester on Friday.

Thornwell doesn’t play close baseball games. The last five have been 11-1, 1-12, 1-10, 0-16 and 18-3.

The 18-3 was Tuesday night’s Saints Marching In of McCormick.

It only went three innings. In the second, Thornwell (3-6) only scored 12 runs. The field does not have a scoreboard.

Sparse details of the TCS second: walk, single, walk, single, walk, single, walk, walk, walk, strikeout, double, walk, popout, walk, walk, single, strikeout.

Parker Workman was the winning pitcher. Cole Sipes drove in three runs. Sam Robertson swiped two bases.

The Saints thumped the Chiefs similarly in softball, 17-2, in a game that lasted 2-1/2 innings.

Madi Porter managed to collect three hits, a single and a double in the first innings, and another single in the second. Thornwell (2-7) took advantage of eight McCormick errors and scored 11 runs in the first inning.

Camden Nelson was the winning pitcher. She faced 14 batters, walking two and striking out eights, allowing two hits and two runs.

The Saints visit Southside Christian on Wednesday.

Oakbrook Prep outslugged Laurens Academy (1-4) by a score of 17-10.

The teams combined fo 27 runs, 18 hits and 12 errors.

Quite a few raps still got through cleanly. Hack Hardy went 3/4 with a double. Braydon Burke singled and tripled. Burke and Caleb Hardy each stole two bases.

Will work for food, but contributions would be better. They’re both good and good for me.

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