By MONTE DUTTON

It is admirable for a coach to eschew excuses with a stiff upper lip, and that’s what Clovis Simmons did after Clinton’s victory 4-2 over Saint Joseph’s Catholic in the Class 2A/3A Upstate boys’ tennis championship.

The non-denominational Red Devils were the only 2A team in the Upstate bracket. They defeated Christ Church Episcopal, 4-3, in the previous round. In the finals, Clinton faces Oceanside Collegiate, a charter school in Mount Pleasant.

Clinton (13-2) is the unofficial normal-public-school state champion. Facts are facts. History is history. Simmons’ game Red Devils are marching into the valley of the Little Bighorn. Thank goodness they’re just playing tennis, where slaughters are figurative.

Wednesday was a great day at the Clinton Middle School courts, where Clinton trailed early in three of the top four singles flights, or draws, or whatever one calls them. The Red Devils roared back to win all four of them. It was glorious.

The Landsharks of Mount Pleasant won last year’s championship, 6-0, over the Red Devils and are seeking their sixth straight. They rarely lose a set. Their depth chart is as deep as Ohio State’s in football. They lost one senior from last year’s team. No. 1 Alex Lozano is now playing at The Citadel. Miracles occasionally happen. A miracle is what it will take.

An Arizona congressman who once ran for president, Morris K. Udall, said, “We’ll fight till hell freezes over and then lay siege on the ice.” That’s a tack the Devils will take.

“Most teams have good numbers one and two. We’re good at one, two and three. They play more than four and five doubles and two singles,” Simmons said. “They all have played great.

“Oceanside is stacked far beyond their lineup. They’re deep. In Class 2A, in all sports, you’re just not as deep. I’m really proud of what this team has done. They’ve really stepped it up. I always tell them you don’t have to be the best. You just have to be better than your opponent today.”

Clinton lays siege on the ice at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at Cayce Tennis Center.

# 1 Singles   Matthew King defeated Whit Wilkins  6 – 4, 6 – 2

# 2 Singles    Edwin Orr defeated Jeremiah Adams  6 – 3, 6 – 2

# 3 Singles    Jacob King defeated Hampton Norwood  6 – 0, 6 – 2

# 4 Singles    Jake Meyerholtz defeated Charlie Walters  6 – 3, 6 – 1

# 5 Singles    Cooper Stinson lost to Alexander Millener  6 – 2, 2 – 6, (10 – 5)

# 1 Doubles  DID NOT PLAY

# 2 Doubles   Malakye Brewer & Ethan Wargo lost to Brodie Miller & Byron Webb  6 – 0, 6 – 3

Clinton (16-4) dominated Landrum, 10-0, needing only five innings to get past the Cardinals in the 2A softball playoffs.

Me-Me Smith and Lyla Kuykendall each went 3/3 for the Red Devils. Smith doubled twice and drove in six runs. In the circle, Smith stopped Landrum (10-11) on four hits.

Laurens Academy (13-7) keeps on trucking – or perhaps crusading — in the SCISA baseball playoffs.

The Crusaders needed three games to get past Andrew Jackson Academy, and lost, 7-1, to Dorchester Academy in game one. At home on Tuesday, they came from seven runs down to win, 11-9.

Wyatt Little went 3/4 with two runs scored. Caleb Hardy and Evan Asalone each drove in two.

Nine runs in the fifth inning did the trick.

Signs of the times: McBee eliminated Thornwell (10-13) from the Class A baseball playoffs, 26-1, scoring 19 runs in the first inning. … Laurens (9-14) won its April 16 softball game over Southside, 28-6, then lost its final four games by a combined score of 49-14.

Sorry I’m late. To borrow a phrase from my youth, it “come up a cloud,” and it took several hours to figure out how to get the wi-fi working again.

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