An extra special title: Gray Collegiate wins 4A softball state championship
Gray Collegiate softball coach Doug Frye was confident his team could handle the jump from Class 2A to 4A this season.
Frye’s team backed that up by defeating York 5-2 on Saturday in the deciding game of the best-of-three Class 4A softball championship series. It’s the War Eagles’ third softball state title in the last four years and the first at the Class 4A level.
This title carried extra meaning with the school’s move up two classifications, Frye said.
“We’ve been in 2A and people said we were couldn’t play in 4A,” Frye said moments after Gray’s series-clinching win. “We knew we could. We’re a good team.”
The War Eagles (32-3) had to come from behind to win the 2025 softball title after dropping the series opener 2-1. They defeated York (25-5) in the second game, 4-0, and then clinched the title Saturday.
Gray’s offense came courtesy of three home runs: a solo shot from Aspen Boulware on the first pitch of the game, then respective two-run homers from seniors Maddox Long and Kaley Anderson in the fourth and fifth innings.
“The best thing, two of them were seniors,” Frye said. “They’re going out with their last at-bats being a home run.”
York led 2-1 through three innings from a Layla Clayton RBI single and a solo home run from Marisa Reyes.
Gray replaced Long in the circle with freshman Makenzie Sease with two runners on and no outs in the top of the fourth inning. The momentum shifted the War Eagles’ way after the switch.
York stranded runners at second and third, and Long crushed her home run moments later during Gray’s turn in the fourth.
“We were down a little bit in the dugout. I knew someone had to step up and I just got in the box and did what I do,” Long said. “I’ve hit a lot of home runs, but that was probably one of the biggest ones, coming in the state championship game.”
Sease, who started in Game 1, struck out three and allowed one hit across four innings Saturday to earn the win.
“I’m shocked but I knew we could do it,” Sease said.
York was charged with three errors in the game, including one that preceded Long’s home run.
“You’ve got to make the fundamental plays. We didn’t come through when we had runners on base, and their long balls made the difference,” York coach Danny Mazzell said. “All the credit goes to Gray. ... Their coach complimented us a lot, saying we were one of the better teams they’ve played all year.”
Gray Collegiate competed in Class 2A since it opened in 2014 but moved up to 4A this school year after changes in the formula for how the S.C. High School League organizes its classifications. The more a school accepts students from outside its assigned attendance zone, the higher the classification it competes in for athletics. (Gray’s student population is 81% from outside its designated attendance zone, according to a review of public records.)
Over the course of 10 years in Class 2A, Gray won state championships in boys basketball, competitive cheer, girls basketball, football and softball. They also played in 2A title games in baseball and boys soccer.
In the school’s first year in Class 4A, the War Eagles won state championships in softball, girls track and field, and competitive cheer.
Asked about the significance of winning a title their first year in a new classification, Sease said: “4A, 5A, it doesn’t really matter. We’re going to go out there and compete and try.”
