Catawba Ridge Baseball And Softball Claim State Titles

FORT MILL – Being on the diamond has been a passion for Owen Noonan and Kendra Murray since they were tots in T-ball. Now, as high school athletes, they’ve been prepared for this moment since the start of the season.

“We said we’re here we’re bringing it home we’re winning this this year,” says rising Junior first baseman Kendra.

At Catawba Ridge High School in Fort Mill, excellence is standard. But that goes without saying for these two now state champions, Copperhead baseball and softball gaining those titles just one night apart last week.

“It hit me the last inning does such a close game was back and forth throughout the game” said softball head coach Michael Kidd. “I could tell as I was calling pitches and I had tears streaming down my face. I knew at that point, it was about to happen.”

Head baseball coach Stas Swerdzewski is still trying to process the win, sharing that it still hasn’t fully hit him just yet. “I’m just so happy for our guys. I mean, what people don’t realize is how difficult it is to win one of these. It’s just indescribable feeling, because you work so hard for it.”

Last Thursday, softball won the first two games of the series battle against the South Florence Bruins with a score of 10 – 7.

As for baseball on Friday night, the Copperheads were able to strike in their best-of-three series with a 7-3 win against the North Myrtle Beach Chiefs.

For both teams, they hope bringing home the first state title for their respective programs leaves a lasting impact at Catawba Ridge.

“It’s everything you could have ever dreamed of for the team,” says rising Senior second baseman Owen.  “it just, it sets a standard for the other programs to come, that this is the expectation.”

“The program here is just fantastic,  it’s just absolutely amazing to have this happen to both softball and baseball programs” says Coach Kidd.

“Wwhen you look at the system that we’ve got here at catawba, ridge, you know, our athletes are prepared to play our athletes are, you know, getting bigger, faster, stronger, too.too. you know, you don’t have to necessarily go to a special school for that to happen.”