Front row: Christopher Wright, Francisco Valdez, Carlos Tollinche, middle row: Angel Capellan, Amaury Martinez, Ulises Noboa, back row: Julio Frias, Alejandro Flores Salas, Juan Eury Almonte, Artur Kusio, MVP – Victor Batista, Cristian Cruz, Francisco Martinez

A.C. Flora High School’s on–campus baseball stadium is one of the most attractive in the Columbia area. Financial support from the town of Forest Acres has helped in the continuing project to make it bigger and better.

Head Coach Andy Hallett’s nearly decade–long string of winning includes the 2001 Class AAA State Championship and last year’s handsome 19–9 record.

Such success brings out larger than average throngs to a layout that improves with notable appearance upgrades. “Two–hundred spectators for a high school game is good,” said Hallett, “but we’ve had crowds of 800 or more.”

The Falcons’ achievements often make it the site for Class AAA playoff games. Flora (21–5) opened the District 4 Lower State playoffs Thursday, April 21, with a win over Union. They followed with Saturday’s 10–2 triumph over Eastside of Greenville in which Ben Halligan (7–0) was the winning pitcher.

Halligan, who has signed to play at Winthrop University, was one of four Falcons with two hits. The others were Chachere Freeman, Kyle Strasburger, and Addison Walker. However, the big blow was Charlies Cobb’s grand slam. “We’re playing like we should,” said Coach Andy Halligan. “After going through a hitting slump, the bats are hot. Thank goodness the pitching has been good from the start.”

Regarding Halligan signing with Winthrop, Hallet said, “Coach (Joe) Hudak got a steal. I’m not going to name any other coaches around the state, but let’s just say they missed out on a really good one.”

Lady Falcons advance

A.C. Flora’s softball team (25–3) edged Clinton 10–9 Monday to advance in the Lower State playoffs. Aimee Ginter (12–2) was the winning pitcher. Mary Baker had three hits to lead the offensive attack.

On the soccer fields….

The final week of the SC high school soccer regular season is underway. Columbia area SC Independent School Association teams are ranked in the boy’s top four. They are No. 1 Cardinal Newman (10–3–0), Ben Lippen (15–5), Heathwood Hall (7–3) and Hammond (15–3–1).

Among the girls, Cardinal Newman (6–4) is second behind St. Joseph's (10–4). Hammond (4–9) is in fifth place.

Among local schools in the SC High School League’s Class AAAA, only the Irmo boys (15–2) and Irmo girls (14–3) are ranked sixth or higher. The Yellow Jackets are fourth, and the Lady Jackets are in sixth place.

Brookland–Cayce (16–3) tops the girl’s AAA standings with Dreher (9–8). The B–C boys (13–7–1) hold at No. 5, Dreher (11–9–1) is in 11th place A.C. Flora (12–8–1) is No. 14.

Two weeks of playoffs begin next week leading to the championships the weekend of May 14–15.