By MONTE DUTTON

And then, in the Upstate, there were were four.

Four schools, in Class 2A, to decide the representative to play for a state championship: Clinton in District 1, Batesburg-Leesville in District 2, Mid- Carolina in District 3 and Strom Thurmond in District 4.

Each of those districts began with four schools.

The Red Devils advanced past Saluda, Chesnee and Central of Pageland, the Panthers past Fairfield Central, Liberty and Buford, the Mid-Carolina Rebels past Brashier Middle College, Landrum and Ninety Six, and the Strom Thurmond Rebels past Blacksburg, Chester and Andrew Jackson.

Sixteen down to four, same as in the Low Country, where the remaining combatants are Andrews, East Clarendon, Philip Simmons and Atlatntic Collegiate.

Locally, it all gets underway on Thursday night at 7 when Batesburg-Leesville pays a visit to the Red Devils’ valley park.

If all those other locales were like Clinton, it probably required soreness and pain to overcome two days of rain.

By gosh, they got the field ready, and after waiting around as night fell and a Chesnee protest was adjudicated, Clinton was district champion after a 7-4 victory over the Eagles.

Now the Red Devils, who have won 10 games in a row, must catch their collective breaths and get ready for Batesburg-Leesville.

“Before I talk about the game, there are so many people I need to thank,” Clinton head coach Peyton Spangler said. “Michael Young, Tex Glenn, my dad, Dr. (Martha) Brothers (school principal) … it was a huge blessing even to be able to play.

“It’s funny how baseball works. The game is similar to how the last few days have been. Up and down, all kind of adversity, but our kids are tough, and we found a way to get it done.”

It’s not supposed to be easy. That plus, baby, the rain must fall.

Chesnee (18-12) established the degree of difficulty by scoring three two-out runs in the top of the first inning.

Control is usually a virtue of the Clinton (21-6) pitching staff. Starter Camden Finley and reliever Zack Lawson handed out five free passes, while only allowing one hit, in the first inning.

Things were looking bad, especially when the Eagles turned a roundabout triple play after Owen Glenn and Talan Campbell singled to open the bottom of the second inning. It was third base to first to third to the plate.

Oh, my.

Chesnee had only four hits in the game. Clinton pitchers issued nine walks. Clinton fielders committed two errors (and that was charitable).

It is, however, dangerous to count the Red Devils out. Clinton put up five runs in the third, most notably on shortstop Jaydon Glenn’s three-run double. Leading up to Glenn’s towering two-bagger to left were Angel Vargas’s base hit, a Tanner Finley sacrifice, a walk and two hit batters.

Clinton took the lead on RBI singles by Owen Glenn and Campbell.

The Eagles drew back within a run Coy Wall’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly, which occurred an inning after Clinton wiggled out of a jam as a result of the umpires huddling and ruling Chesnee’s Carson Gossett out due to interference near second base. The Eagles played the rest of the game under protest.

The protest might have carried more weight had it not been for Brett Young’s two-run, sixth-inning homer that gave Clinton its final, 7-4 margin.

Then Isaac Cane – four innings, two hits, an unearned run, two walks, five strikeouts – struck out Klay Davis to, uh, end the game?

“Sometimes with Isaac Cane, the frustrating part of coaching him is it’s hard to get a lot out of him emotionally,” Spangler said, “but that’s also his greatest asset.”

In other words, the freshman is unflappable.

The umps called in the protest, and the two teams milled around near their dugouts for a half hour or so until Clinton’s victory was affirmed.

“When adversity strikes, you’ve got to run to it,” said Spangler.

Clinton went 3-0 in district play, which means nothing now as the Red Devils enter another four-team, double-elimination process.

This Laurens High baseball team had high aspirations. It was a powerful, talented assemblage that came up short of its goal, a state championship that it just missed a season ago. It ended too soon in Upstate District A this time.

The Raiders won against Travelers Rest, 13-0, and Blue Ridge, 12-1. Both losses were to Daniel, to which they lost, 2-0, won, 5-3, and on Tuesday, lost, 10-1.

All three games against the Lions were on the road. It was a consequence of entering the playoffs as the runner-up in Region 1-4A, which was in turn a consequence of falling to Fountain Inn three times in the regular season.

This year’s Raiders started slowly, regained their footing, slipped again versus the Fury and built momentum entering the postseason, only to succumb to the pressures of the road.

It was another fine team, 20-9, against a stiff schedule. Catcher Bennett Edwards and second baseman Zay Pulley were selected by the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association to play in the North-South Game.

Daniel (21-8) scored two runs in the first inning and led 7-0 before the Raiders finally scored in the top of the sixth.

Edwards and third baseman Coleman Coker each got two of Laurens’ six hits. The rest of the batting order was a combined 2/19. Coker’s hit was a double. Ben Willis, Coker and Tristan Buzbee each stole bases in a game when there wasn’t much use for them.

Ian McCrary blanked the Raiders for 4-1/3 innings, fanning six and walking two.

Coker scored the only Laurens run after belting a one-out double. Madden’s grounder drove him in.

Ryland Paxton took the loss, hampered particularly by four walks.

Third baseman Tim Simpson did the bulk of the Daniel damage. He drove in three runs with two singles and a double in four at-bats. Greyson Davis and Spencer Conn each had two of the Lions’ 13 hits.

Thornwell Charter (7-10) took a similar farewell from the Class A softball playoffs, falling, 11-1, to the Horse Creek Academy Stallions in Aiken.

Karleigh Porter gave the Saints a short-lived edge with a first-inning single, but Horse Creek tied it in the second and tackled 10 more runs over the following three innings.

Five different batters each had two of the Stallions’ 12 hits.

Third baseman Layla Sistare drove in three runs for Horse Creek.

Madi Porter, Karleigh Porter, Camden Nelson and Skyla Bates divided the four Thornwell hits among them.

In Kershaw, Clinton’s softball season ended at 14-11 as North Central (16-7) defeated the Red Devils, 7-0.

Thank God it’s over.

Presbyterian baseball wound up 17-33 after losing, 22-5, to Central Florida (28-24) in Orlando on Tuesday night.

By the rather arbitrary and difficult-to-chart standards of the Blue Hose record book, where the negative is generally verboten, no PC team has ever lost lost its last 11 games, or 17 of its last 18, for that mattter. The major-league record belongs to the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, who lost their last 20 games.

Four different UCF batters had three hits. After PC took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Knights scored seven in the bottom half and 11 in the sixth.

Presbyterian tried nine pitchers. Six gave up runs. The other three pitched less than an inning.

The last time something went south in this much of a hurry, it was launched from Cape Canaveral.

The Blue Hose yielded 60 runs in their last four games and double digits 18 times during the season.

As you know by repetitive mention, I have written many books that are available on Amazon.

The most recent is The Latter Days, which is about an old scout and a young baseball phenom.

Some are about sports and most have a connection. I like ‘em all because I wrote them. If you’d like some samples, check out my collection of short stories, Longer Songs.