Two from Midlands part of this year’s SC Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame class

Two former Midlands coaches will be part of this year’s SC Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame class.

Al Berry and Tommy Williams are part of the three-member class, along with John Daurity. The coaches will be inducted at the all-star banquet in May.

Berry coached at Lancaster and was the first coach of Dutch Fork’s baseball program, where he spent 18 years there. During his 28 years of coaching, he won 562 games, fifth most in state history.

Berry’s Lancaster teams won state titles in 1989 and 1991 and were runner-up in 1981, 1985, 1990 and 1992. He finished his coaching career at Richard Winn.

Williams coached at Lexington and Batesburg-Leesville during his 23-year coaching career, going 485-165. In his 20 years at Lexington, he led the Wildcats to 10 region titles and state titles in 1992, 1994 and 1999. Lexington was state runner-up in 1991 and 2003.

Williams and Berry’s teams met in state titles in 1991 and 1992 with Lancaster winning the first meeting in 1991 and Lexington the following year.

After his high school career was over, Williams was an assistant at Newberry College.