High school sports, April 20: Long birdie lifts Seahawks in golf playoff

Brooks Dyess drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff, lifting Hilton Head Island past Bluffton in a five-team match held on the Barony course at Port Royal Golf & Racquet Club.

After the Seahawks and Bobcats tied atop the leaderboard with team totals of 161, the teams nominated one player apiece to settle the deadlock. Dyess (47) and Bluffton’s Drew Weary (45) were put forth, even though both had just posted their worst rounds of the season.

After Weary tapped in for a two-putt par, the teams watched as Dyess’s long birdie try toppled into the cup.

Bluffton’s Alex Weary took medalist honors with a 1-under-par 35, three shots ahead of teammate Brandon McBride and Hilton Head Island’s Caden Edwards. The Seahawks also got a 39 from Charlie Farrell.

Beaufort posted a team total of 179, led by a pair of 41s from Tommy Holloway and Matthew Campbell. Battery Creek was paced by Porter Mahan’s 52.

SOFTBALL

Whale Branch 16, North Charleston 2: Karen Rivers and Chyla Simmons each homered as the Warriors erupted for 11 hits on the afternoon.

Rivers ripped a two-run homer in the fourth, driving home a third run with a fifth-inning triple. Simmons led off the third with a solo homer, also driving home another run with a single in the fifth.

Nya Simmons also produced two hits, giving the Warriors seven from the top three hitters in the lineup. Pitcher Jenna Shipley held North Charleston to just one hit over five innings, striking out seven.

BOYS’ TENNIS

Hilton Head Prep 5, Porter-Gaud 4: Doubles victories by the duos of Marcus Ferreira/Frank Lin and Sam Fried/Rodney Sturgis lifted the Dolphins after the teams had split six singles matches.

Ferreira/Lin rolled to an 8-2 victory over Porter-Gaud’s Cross Tolliver/Jack Kammerer, while Fried/Strugis was an 8-6 winner over Manning Snyder/Malone Vingi.

Ferreira, Fried and Lin also won their singles matches, with Fried closing his out in a second-set tiebreak that went 14-12.

BOYS’ SOCCER

Hilton Head Island 3, Beaufort 0: Nicholas Hoffman scored twice in the second half to complement Koben Barrientos’ early goal as the Seahawks notched their eighth consecutive win.

Barrientos put the Seahawks in front with his goal 14 minutes into the contest. Hoffman opened things up with goals in the 57th and 79th minutes.

Windsor Forest 7, Hilton Head Prep 1: The Dolphins struggled to control possession against their large-school Georgia opponent. Prep’s only tally resulted on a Windsor Forest misplay when a backpass eluded their goalkeeper for an own goal.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Windsor Forest 4, Hilton Head Prep 2: Charlotte Covington and Catherine Sheehan scored the Dolphins’ goals in a losing effort.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 10:00 AM with the headline "High school sports, April 20: Long birdie lifts Seahawks in golf playoff."