By MONTE DUTTON

Clinton High School, undefeated at 11-0, is playing for the state boys’ tennis championship on Saturday in Cayce at 10 a.m.

Red Devil teams have already won the Class 2A state title in football and reached the Upstate final in girls’ basketball.

This is always a tall order, never more so than the present. Classes A, 2A and 3A are combined in tennis. The Low Country has won 18 of the last 22 titles. All four of the Upstate wins were by a private school, Christ Church. Clinton won four straight titles from 1971-74, another in 2000, and has won six Upstate titles since, falling in the finals in each.

It really doesn’t take much imagination to understand why private and charter schools have an advantage in the sport. No public school from the Upstate has won the 2A championship since Emerald in 2007.

So that’s why it’s tough. Here’s why this Clinton team is tough, too.

The Red Devils have already defeated the top-seeded Upstate school, Chapman, and two private schools, Christ Church and Saint Joseph’s, in the playoffs.

The finals are at Cayce Tennis Center, 1120 Fort Congaree Trail, Cayc 29033.

Oceanside Collegiate, of Mount Pleasant, began the season ranked 16^th nationally. The Landsharks have won four straight titles. They play Philip Simmons, of Charleston, for the Low Country title today.

Clinton 4, Christ Church 2

# 1 Singles Nathan Meade defeated Judd Windham 6 – 0, 6 – 2

# 2 Singles Edwin Orr lost to Carson Bowers 6 – 4, 5 – 7, (8 – 10)

# 3 Singles Matthew King defeated Jacker Hendrix 6 – 1, 6 – 4

# 4 Singles Jacob King defeated Keith Patel 6 – 3, 6 – 4

# 5 Singles Cooper Stinson defeated Powers McKissick 0 – 6, 6 – 2, (10 – 8)

# 1 Doubles DID NOT PLAY

# 2 Doubles Jake Meyerholtz & Malakye Brewer lost to Ellis Trail & Hutch Lyman 6 – 1, 6 – 0

What with the demise of WLBG radio. GoLaurens.com is taking over as the official broadcast partner for all District 55 athletic events.

This collaboration will bring enhanced coverage of LCSD 55 sports, including live streaming of games, interviews with coaches, athlete spotlights, etc. GoLaurens.com will stream all varsity football games along with select Raider basketball, baseball and softball games through GoLaurens.com’s digital platforms.

“Partnering with LCSD 55 allows us to connect the community more deeply with Raider Athletics,” said Billy Dunlap, Publisher of GoLaurens.com. “We are committed to bringing high-quality, reliable sports streaming that will engage with fans and give them a great listening and viewing experience.”

The new partnership takes effect this summer, with full coverage rolling out for the upcoming football season.

Tickets are on sale for the Laurens County Sports Awards, to be held at Presbyterian College’s Belk Auditorium on Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m.

For more information, go to GoLaurens.com.

Presbyterian College lost in baseball again, of course.

The latest horror was Western Carolina’s 5-4 victory, on a walk-off double by Trent Turner in the bottom of the ninth inning n Cullowhee on Wednesday night.

In fact, back-to-back doubles – the first was by Wyatt Stanley – sank the Blue Hose to their 13^th loss in the last 14 games. The only exception was a 14-2 victory over Charleston Southern on April 25. PC (17-29) lost six straight before and seven straight after that game.

WCU (24-24) swept the three-game, midweek, non-conference, separated series with the Blue Hose, winning twice in Cullowhee and taking the lone series meeting in Clinton. Snapping a three-game slide, the Catamounts improved to 17-7 at home.

On the positive side – and gosh knows there hasn’t been much – Trey Fenderson stole three bases. Jackson Hugus and Jake Randolph each lashed their sixth doubles, Brody Linker ripped his ninth, and four PC pitchers – starter Jeremiah Hampton, Sean Hollister, Luke Gibson and Robbie ze Boykin – each had scoreless stints of various lengths on the mound.

Not so fortunate were three others. Jacob Fields (2-2) didn’t retire a batter.

PC once led 3-0.

The Blue Hose return to Big South play with their final conference series, traveling to Spartanburg to.face USC Upstate. First pitch in Friday’s opener at Harley Park is set for 6 p.m.

Five PC softball players received mention on the Big South honors teams.

Senior slugger Kendall Owens grabbed her first all-conference award by landing a spot on the second team, as did sophomore

Kasey Wolfe, who who made second team for the second time.

Mallory Fletcher made honorable mention, while rBaxleigh Arnette was all-freshman.

Junior pitcher Peyton Duncan was PC’s representative on the All-Academic team.

Clinton’s baseball playoff trek continues Thursday evening at 6 p.m. in Chesnee against the 17-10 Eagles, the Region 1-2A champions. Clinton (19-6) is the runnerup in Region 3. While the Red Devils were defeating Saluda, 5-1, the Eagles were slamming Pageland Central, 9-2.

Laurens’ home game against Blue Ridge (11-11) begins at 6::30. The Raiders are 17-10.

While the Gamechanger app suggests that Thornwell’s softball team fell, 9-5, to “TBD,” further review suggests it was Lamar that put the Saints away.

It’s tough to report a story when the winner’s heroics were handled by Nos. 8, 24, 10, 11 and 3. I suppose one could buy a lottery ticket.

But .. Karleigh Porter, Madi Porter, Bree Deese, Ember Turner and someone referred to merely as “Karson” drove in the Thornwell runs.Skyla Bates had two hits.

Lewisville squeaked by the Saints’ baseball team, 19-3. The Lions scored seven and 12 runs, respectively in the two innings in which they batted. Five Saints’ hurlers failed to solve the Lewisville batters, 10 of whom walked.

Logan James and Parker Workman each had a hit for Thornwell.

Most of my books are available on Amazon.

What can I do to get you to sample my fiction? How about a cheap sample of short stories, Longer Songs? The stories all originated in songs I’ve written. It’s been a few years since I published it.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is about a group of people who get themselves unwittingly entangled in a conspiracy of politicians, businessmen (I didn’t write business persons because the ones in the novel are all men), law-enforcement personnel and the intelligence community.

Two of my novels, Lightning in a Bottle and Cowboys Come Home, are available in audio versions.