Submitted

Stephen Holderness, 11-year-old son of Christie and Steve Holderness of Charleston, S.C., and grandson of Buddy and Joyce Rourke of Dillon, S.C., recently traveled to Florence, Alabama, to compete against 15 teams from six states in the Cal Ripken Southeast Regional 11-U Tournament.

Stephen has been playing baseball for St. Andrews Playground since he was six years old. He has been selected to play first base and pitch for the West Ashley All-Stars for the past three years. His All-Star team has won the South Carolina State Championship three years in a row in the 9-U, 10-U, and 11-U age brackets. They have traveled to Varina, Virginia; Morganton, North Carolina; and most recently, Florence, Alabama, to compete in the regional tournament. This year Stephen’s team made it to the semi-finals with a 3-0 record but suffered their first loss in extra innings on the third day of play, eliminating them from the tournament.

The West Ashley All-stars pitcher struggled under pressure, allowing five walks which led to a score of 2-4. Stephen was called in to close the game and shut the inning down with no more runs allowed. West Ashley was down by two runs with bases loaded and two outs going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The lead batter for West Ashley drove the ball just short of the warning track and it was caught by the Centerfielder, ending the game with a 2-4 loss.

Stephen will continue to play on the 12-U St. Andrews Rocks travel team and will travel this season to Summerville, Mt. Pleasant, Lexington, and Myrtle Beach.