Please see an important note and question about the future of this report in the This and That Section at the bottom of this report.
Local Notes
Clinton HS
- Softball: Clinton 18 – Columbia 0… The Red Devil softball team traveled down to Columbia HS yesterday also to take on the Capitals and the only information I have on that game at this time is that the Red Devils took and 18-0 win in 4 innings… If I get more information on this game, I will bring it to you later.
- Up Next in Softball… The Red Devils will be traveling to Laurens to take on the Raiders today.
- Baseball: Red Devils 18 – Capitals 0 (3)… The Red Devil baseball team traveled to Columbia HS yesterday to take on the Capitals… In my 50 years of either umpiring or covering baseball this game was the most one-sided game in the shortest amount of time I have ever known about on the highs school varsity level as the Red Devils defeated the Capitals 18-0 in just 3 innings… The Red Devils scored all their runs in the first inning and had only 5 hits in the game with 4 of them in the 1st inning…. How is that possible you ask… Three Capital pitchers gave up 16 walks, a few wild pitches and hit batters to go along with 2 Capital errors and you can get that kind of result… No Red Devil had over 1 hit, but Owen Glenn’s was a 3-run homer… It also helps when the Zack Lawson and Collin Lollis pitched those 3 innings and not only gave up no hits or runs but also struck out all 9 batters they faced… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here
- Up Next in Baseball… The 7-4 Red Devils will be heading to Strom Thurmond HS to take on the Rebels in non- region action today at 6:00 pm.
Laurens
- Baseball: Raiders 11 – Vikings 1… The Laurens Raiders actually hosted the Emerald Vikings yesterday in region action at Ed Prescott Field and I am pleased to report the Raiders took an 11-1 win in 6 innings… The Vikings scored a single run in the 2nd inning to take the early lead but the Raiders scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning and rolled on to the 11-1 win…The raiders simply outhit the Vikings 11-1 and the Raider runs but one were earned… Five of the Raiders 11 hits were for extra-bases with Logan Martin leading the Raiders at the plate going 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs… Bennett Edwards went 2 for 3 with a double, a triple and had 3 RBIs… Grayson Ledford picked up the complete game win striking out 7 and walking just 2… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Baseball… The Raider baseball team was scheduled to travel to Emerald HS today to take on the Vikings at 6:00 pm
- Softball: Fury 23 – Raiders 7… The news is not as good where the Raider softball team is concerned as they fell to the Fountain Inn Fury 23-7 last night at LDHS… The Fury led 12-3 going into the 7th inning where they scored 11 runs but the Raiders did not “roll over and play dead” as they scored 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to make the final score 23-7… The Fury outhit the Raiders 25-8 and only 20 of their runs were earned as the Raiders had 3 errors in the game… Eight of the Fury’s hits were for extra-bases as they had 6 doubles, a triple and a homer… Only one of the Raiders hits was for extra-bases and that was a 3-run homer by Ashlyn Messer who went 2 for 3 on the night… Carly Edwards and Zealy Martin also has 2 hits each for the Raiders… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here
- Up Next in Softball… The Raiders host the Clinton Red Devils today in a 5:00 pm game… As you may or may not recall, the Red Devils took a 7-2 win over the Raiders earlier in the season at Clinton.
Laurens Academy
- Up Next in Baseball… The Crusader baseball team will be hosting the King Academy Friday.
- Softball: Wardlaw 17 – Crusaders 5… The Crusader softball team hosted the Wardlaw Patriots yesterday and the only thing I have on that game at this time is the final score and it is not good news for Crusader fans a Wardlaw took a 17-5 win… If I get more information on this game, I will bring it to you later.
- Up Next in Softball… The Crusader softball team will be hosting the King Academy Friday
Thornwell
- Baseball: Ware Shoals 22 – Thornwell 2 (4)… The Saints baseball team hosted the Ware Shoals Hornets yesterday and they forgot their wasp and hornet spray as the Hornets rolled to a 22-2 win in 4 innings… Simply put, the Hornets outhit the Saints 13-3 and 6 Saint errors and 12 walks issued by 3 Saint pitchers aided the Hornets cause…. Zack Crowe was the only Saint to get more than 1 hit as he went 2for 2 with an RBI… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Baseball… According to their schedule on MaxPreps, the Saints baseball team will travel to Ware Shoals for a rematch with the Hornets this Friday at 7:00 pm
- Up Next in Softball … The Saints softball team is scheduled to travel to Ware Shoals for a region game with the Hornets at 5:00 pm Friday.
Local Sports Schedules: All schedules subject to change right up to game time.
- School District 55: To see the sports schedule for this week at LDHS, click here.
- School District 56: To see the sports schedule for this week at CHS and CMS, click here
- Laurens Academy: Click on each of the following to see their schedule on the LA website: Softball and Baseball … To see the MaxPreps schedule and results for the teams click on one of the following you are interested in: Softball…. Baseball
- Thornwell: To see the Thornwell schedules and results click on their MaxPreps pages click on one of the following you are interested in:: Baseball… Softball
- PC Sports Calendar… To see the PC athletics sports calendar, click here.
College Sports: For any game mentioned below, click on the score for more details if available.
Men’s March Madness Bracket… For those of you who want to keep up with all that is going on in the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, if you click here it will carry you to the NCAA website where the official bracket is located… The bracket is interactive so you can click on games of interest for more information
Women’s March Madness Bracket… For those of you who want to keep up with all that is going on in the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, if you click here it will carry you to the NCAA website where the official bracket is located… The bracket is interactive so you can click on games of interest for more information.
- Gamecocks Punch Their Ticket to Final Four… The USC Gamecocks punched their ticket to Final Four in Tampa this weekend by surviving two still challenges from Maryland and Duke in the Birmingham Regionals this past weekend … The defeated Maryland 71-67 on Friday and Duke 54-50 on Sunday… click on the scores for more information about these games…. They will now face conference foe Texas Friday at 7:00 pm in a game that can be seen on ESPN…. The Gamecocks have beaten the Longhorns 2 out of 3 times they have faced each other this season…. A third win will be a challenge…. Go Gamecocks.
College Polls… In the polls below the number in parenthesis (?) indicates their rank in the last poll if it is different from the present one… If there is a score given for game(s) click on it to see details on the game(s).
Baseball
- DIBaseball.com Top 25… In the latest (3-23-25) DI Baseball.com Top 25 poll, the top 5 spots are occupied by Tennessee, Arkansas (3), Georgia (4) and Florida State (5) and Oregon State (6)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Clemson (7), Texas (8), LSU (2) Oklahoma (10) and Oregon (9)… To see the entire top 25 in this poll click here.
Softball
- ESPN/USA Softball Poll… In the latest (3-30-25) ESPN/USA Softball Top 25, the top 5 had a little change compared to last week as Texas is still #1 followed by Florida (4), Oklahoma (2), Texas A&M (5) and Oregon (6)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Tennessee (10), LSU (3), UCLA (7), South Carolina (11) and Florida State (8)… To see the entirety of this poll click here.
Pro Sports: For more information on the game(s) below, click on the scores at the start of the section.
NASCAR
- Denny Hamlin Wins at Martinsville… In case you missed it last Sunday, Denny Hamlin finally got back into the winners circle at Martinsville in the Cup Series Race… For more on this race including a link to the final finishing order for all drivers click here.
- Driver Standings… After this race, the top 5 drivers in the Cup Series Standings are now William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliot, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman… If you click here you will go the NASCAR posting that has the Cups Series standings from top to bottom… Once you get there you can click on tabs at the top of the page to see the driver standings in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series.
- Weekend Schedule… To see the NASCAR schedule for this weekend down at Darlington, click here.
- Master Schedule… If you click here it will carry you to the NASCAR website where the season schedule is posted and you can look at the Cup Series. Xfinity Series or the Craftsman Truck Series by clicking on their icon at the top of the list… In addition to the date and location, it will also give you race times and TV viewing options.
Braves…. Click on the score to go to the Braves website for a recap of the game.
- Regular Season Schedule… To see the Braves regular season schedule click here… Once you get there you can go backwards to see completed games in previous month(s) or ahead for future dates.
- Scores… To see the MLB scores by date and see the schedule for future days, click here.
- Standings… To see the standings for all the MLB teams by divisions, click here.
Greenville Drive… The Greenville Drive will start their season on Friday, 4-4-25 hosting the Bowling Green Hot Rods.
- Schedule… To see the Drive schedule click here.
This & That:
As most of you have heard by now, WLBG will be signed off the air sometime on Monday, 3-31-2025.
This was be a bittersweet moment for me as I have strived to bring you local sports to the best of my ability and throw in some college and pro sports also.
As I understand it, the WLBG website will NOT be taken down immediately.
If that is the case I may still be able to continue to post these sports reports on the website for some time to come if there if you the Laurens County sports fans want me to but don’t look for the sports report until 8:00 am weekdays or perhaps a little later (I’ll be sleeping later and not getting up at 3:00 am like I have been doing).
Obviously I will not be getting paid to do it but I will try to continue to the end of the high school sports this season if the demand is there. This will also help me to decide if in the future I might try to develop my own website if I can obtain the sponsorship to bring you what you want.
If you don’t mind, please email me at sports@wlbg.com and let me know you would like to see it continue.
That is the only way I have to judge this.
If I don’t seem to generate much interest in this that is fine I just won’t do it.
In any event I have enjoyed (for the most part) my almost 15 years doing this and meeting some great coaches, players, administrators and you the fans.
Take care and you will still be able to catch me at some athletic contest.
Go Red Devils, Raiders, Crusaders and Saints!
If you have any comments, suggestions, or want to report scores, please contact me via email at: sports@wlbg.com .
