S.C. Softball Coaches preseason rankings released

The 2010 S.C. Softball Coaches Preseason poll was released Monday.

 

Two area teams were represented with St. James ranked seventh in Class AAA and Waccamaw ranked second in Class AA.

 

St. James has a new coach this season in Adam Jones, who has been an assistant baseball coach and social studies teacher at the school for four years. He replaces McEwen Dannelly, who left the position before coaching a game at St. James to become head coach at LSU-Alexandria. Dannelly had been hired to replace Denise White, who resigned in July to take the same position at Christ Church in Greenville. St. James finished last season 25-7, losing in the Class AAA Lower State bracket.

 

St. James has probably the top 1-2 pitching combo in the area with senior Ashley Brown, who went 9-1 last season, and senior Julie Marlowe, who was 16-6 with a 0.91 ERA last season.

 

 

Waccamaw went 30-3 last season and lost in the Class AA state championship series 2-0 to Crescent. The Warriors return the reigning Toast of the Coast player of the year in senior pitcher Ashley Czechner, who went 28-3 on the mound. She struck out 494 batters in 208 innings while walking 22 and giving up just eight earned runs for a 0.27 ERA as a pitcher. At the plate, she batted .318 with three home runs, 27 RBIs and 11 extra-base hits.

 

Here are the complete rankings.

 

 

CLASS AAAA

1. Gaffney

2. Mauldin

3. South Florence

4. Stratford

5. Hillcrest

6. Wren

7. North Augusta

8. Nation Ford

9. White Knoll

10. Byrnes

 

CLASS AAA

1. JL Mann

2. Brookland-Cayce

3. Darlington

3. Midland Valley

5. D.W. Daniel

6. Chapin

7. St James

8. Blue Ridge

9. Pickens

10. Clinton

 

CLASS AA

1. Crescent

2. Waccamaw

3. Abbeville

4. Hanahan

5. Central

6. Cheraw

7. Broome

8. Barnwell

9. Andrew Jackson

9. Gilbert

 

CLASS A

1. Buford

2. Chesterfield

3. Johnsonville

4. Indian Land

5. McBee

6. Lake View

7. Landrum

8. East Clarendon

9. Latta

10. Fox Creek

 

Softball Important Dates:

Playoffs begin ..............................................................April 29, 2010

State Finals...........................................................May 17 – 22, 2010
Softball All-Star Game, at USC-Aiken ………………..June 15-17

 

Memo from Michael (Bucky) Ware, Blythewood head coach, and poll coordinator for the SC Softball Coaches: 

 

We are glad once again to provide the media with our softball poll, which is built on the votes of head coaches across the state.  The Pre-Season Poll announced today is the start.  Once we’re into the season, it will be a weekly release.  We encourage you to use these announcements regularly in your coverage of high school sports.  Our coaches, players and followers will be looking for this and other reports you’ll generate, including the day-to-day scores during the season.  We are proud of our softball programs and you’ll find us cooperative on requests from the media.   -- mware@richland2.org

 

The softball poll is generated by Prep Country,  http://www.sc.prepcountry.com, a free website dedicated to the promotion of high schools and their sports.  The Prep Country coordinator is Conde Sargent, condesargent@charter.net , a retiree who enjoyed a 40-year career in Nebraska as a sportswriter-then executive on Nebraska’s version of the SCHSL.

 

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St. James has probably the top 1-2 pitching combo in the area with senior Ashley Brown, who went 9-1 last season, and senior Julie Marlowe, who was 16-6 with a 0.91 ERA last season.

 

 

Waccamaw went 30-3 last season and lost in the Class AA state championship series 2-0 to Crescent. The Warriors return the reigning Toast of the Coast player of the year in senior pitcher Ashley Czechner, who went 28-3 on the mound. She struck out 494 batters in 208 innings while walking 22 and giving up just eight earned runs for a 0.27 ERA as a pitcher. At the plate, she batted .318 with three home runs, 27 RBIs and 11 extra-base hits.

 

Here are the complete rankings.

 

 

CLASS AAAA

1. Gaffney

2. Mauldin

3. South Florence

4. Stratford

5. Hillcrest

6. Wren

7. North Augusta

8. Nation Ford

9. White Knoll

10. Byrnes

 

CLASS AAA

1. JL Mann

2. Brookland-Cayce

3. Darlington

3. Midland Valley

5. D.W. Daniel

6. Chapin

7. St James

8. Blue Ridge

9. Pickens

10. Clinton

 

CLASS AA

1. Crescent

2. Waccamaw

3. Abbeville

4. Hanahan

5. Central

6. Cheraw

7. Broome

8. Barnwell

9. Andrew Jackson

9. Gilbert

 

CLASS A

1. Buford

2. Chesterfield

3. Johnsonville

4. Indian Land

5. McBee

6. Lake View

7. Landrum

8. East Clarendon

9. Latta

10. Fox Creek

 

Softball Important Dates:

Playoffs begin ..............................................................April 29, 2010

State Finals...........................................................May 17 – 22, 2010
Softball All-Star Game, at USC-Aiken ………………..June 15-17

 

Memo from Michael (Bucky) Ware, Blythewood head coach, and poll coordinator for the SC Softball Coaches: 

 

We are glad once again to provide the media with our softball poll, which is built on the votes of head coaches across the state.  The Pre-Season Poll announced today is the start.  Once we’re into the season, it will be a weekly release.  We encourage you to use these announcements regularly in your coverage of high school sports.  Our coaches, players and followers will be looking for this and other reports you’ll generate, including the day-to-day scores during the season.  We are proud of our softball programs and you’ll find us cooperative on requests from the media.   -- mware@richland2.org

 

The softball poll is generated by Prep Country,  http://www.sc.prepcountry.com, a free website dedicated to the promotion of high schools and their sports.  The Prep Country coordinator is Conde Sargent, condesargent@charter.net , a retiree who enjoyed a 40-year career in Nebraska as a sportswriter-then executive on Nebraska’s version of the SCHSL.

 

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