The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: East Clarendon softball rides Gaskins' arm to state title

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As the East Clarendon softball team made its run to the SCHSL 2A state championship this spring, there was one constant for the Lady Wolverines: Laiklyn Gaskins.

The senior threw nearly every inning of their magical run to the program's first state title since 2017. In the decisive second game of their championship series with Saluda, she jumpstarted the offense with a triple, scoring the game's first run before delivering a gem in the circle to secure the win.

EC head coach Jason Newsome always had faith that Laiklyn could lead the charge to a state title. Her mindset in the circle set the tone for a young group of Lady Wolverines, and it paid off this spring.

"She has an ability to compete and to just kind of stand up in a moment when other people don't," Jason said. "You never doubt that she's going to compete and give you a hundred percent every time. Whether she's really sharp that day or whether she's not sharp that day, she's going to give you all she's got."

PLANTING THE SEED

Laiklyn's run to all-state and championship pitcher started back in 2020. As the world came to a standstill during COVID-19, she found herself in the same position as many young athletes. She was bored out of her mind and needed an outlet.

"I was stuck at home, and I was really, really bored," Laiklyn said. "I played travel ball, and I told my mama, 'I want to pitch,' and she was like, 'No, I don't think that's a good idea.'

Tina Coker, Laiklyn's mom, had a couple of reasons to be hesitant. The first was any mother's concern: the closer you are to the batter, the more likely you are to get a screaming line drive back at you. But Tina was also concerned because learning from a computer screen was already hurting Laiklyn's ability to focus on schoolwork, and pitching would just be an added distraction.

"I was like, 'Let's make a deal. You show me how bad you want it. Let's get through your schoolwork at home without any problems, and you go out and pitch and show me you want it,'" Tina said.

So, Laiklyn went into the yard and pitched at the wooden door on their shed over and over and over. Eventually, she pitched a hole through it, and Tina had to get her a net. After getting her first taste in the circle during travel ball, her head coach, David Hanner, suggested she get a pitching coach.

"Is she good?" Tina recalled asking in response. "She just got out there, and she was so determined. I was just amazed. That one thing just fixed a problem at home during COVID, and it got us to where she's at today. She's very determined, she's headstrong, and a lot of people believed in her, and she showed up for them."

COACHING GURUS

In the intervening years, Laiklyn worked with Bill and Gracyn Royce, a father-daughter duo who has coached some of the tri-county's top pitchers. During her early days in the circle, she had a great teammate to learn from right at East Clarendon, as Maddie Newsome was an all-state pitcher who eventually played college ball at North Greenville and Coker.

"Whenever she was pitching at East Clarendon, I was in right field, so I would watch her every step that she'd make. I think that really helped me and pushed me forward to be a pitcher more and more and more," Laiklyn said. "They've all helped me through my pitching journey."

This spring, Maddie was a constant resource for Laiklyn, which helped the senior make that final push.

"I was like, 'Coach Jason, I can't go up to Sumter every day to get pitching lessons; I need somebody here.' He said give it a little time, Maddie is coming," Laiklyn said. "She finally started coming, and she started helping me a little bit. I think it really helped me a lot."

Jason took over the softball program last year, though he was familiar with Laiklyn from years of watching Maddie pitch. During that year between Maddie's graduation and Jason assuming the role of head coach, Laiklyn spent a year learning and growing on the bump. Jason just wanted to come in and reinforce what she was already getting from a great lineup of coaches.

"Softball pitching is its own animal; you have to have experience. Coach Royce, obviously, has that. His stable of pitchers has been very successful over the years, so it was good for me, when I came in, to find out she's going to Coach Royce," Jason said. "I'm familiar with him and what he's teaching, so we were able to reinforce some of those things on a daily basis for her. It helped her, and it helped our team.

"Having that close working relationship with skill coaches, all that does is benefit the players. I hope that's been good for Laiklyn; I think it has. It's definitely been good for our program."

PITCHING IN THE PLAYOFFS

While Laiklyn's journey to dominance in the circle started in 2020, East Clarendon's run to the state championship started last spring. The Lady Wolverines saw their 2024 postseason end almost as quickly as it started, losing two home playoff games in the district tournament. That lit a fire under Laiklyn and her teammates, especially because it meant that her older sister, Ashlyn, graduated without a state title.

"My sister graduated last year, and it just wasn't their year to win the state championship, I guess," Laiklyn said. "I came out here, and I was like, 'We're going to win this; like I've had dreams about it, I can't go to sleep some nights. I knew we had a good team this year, and I knew we would come together as one and just put it together and put it all to God.

"I really just focused on a lot of energy; that's what we really base our team off is leadership and energy. If we don't have energy, then we don't have it."

That focus and mindset were important for an East Clarendon squad largely built around freshmen and sophomores.

"It sets a great model for those younger kids," Jason said. "Talent is important, and being able to know the game is important, being able to practice your skill set is important, but to win championships, it takes a certain mentality. And she's had that; she's always had that."

That mentality served Laiklyn well throughout the postseason. They opened with comfortable wins over Andrew Jackson and Timberland, with a 6-5 win over Andrew Jackson the only true close call in the early stages of the playoffs. A 9-5 win over Marion and an 8-5 win over Buford sent EC into the lower state championship against Marion. Their final matchups with Marion would define their postseason.

HIGH-STAKES ADVERSITY

When East Clarendon hosted Marion on May 23, it was the fourth meeting between region rivals in the span of just three weeks. That familiarity was evident early, as Marion mashed their way to a 16-2 victory. Laiklyn failed to get a fifth out in the loss, surrendering 11 runs, though only two were earned thanks to a handful of EC errors.

Tina had a front-row seat as East Clarendon's season seemed to be spiraling out of control.

"I told her to get it together and calm down, but that first home run hit off her, she said it made her mad, and we just couldn't get it together," Tina recalled. "She said, 'I couldn't get it back together, Mama, but I know we had a second game coming.'"

With their season on the line, Jason wasn't going to give the ball to anyone other than his star senior. He also knew that Marion has seen just about every pitch she had to throw, so they needed to get creative.

"That was one of the things in between games that I asked Maddie to talk to her about, just, 'Hey, in Game 2, we're gonna have to figure something new out,'" Jason said. "It was the fifth game in a three-week span that we had played him, so there was nothing new that we could throw at them that they hadn't seen already. We were going to have to figure out some different pitch sequence and we were able to settle on a strategy, and she went out there and just executed."

Laiklyn was untouchable, throwing a complete game shutout while allowing just three hits. When the lights got the brightest, she stepped up.

"I think I really pitched better with a lot of pressure under me. I just like a lot of pressure," Laiklyn said. "Mentally, there is a different gear that I have to find. I just have to dig deep, dig to the bottom of my heart and just pitch the best I can. That's the only way I can do it."

While East Clarendon still needed two wins over Saluda to claim a state championship, that win over Marion was the defining moment of their run.

"I told her after that night that I don't know that I'd ever been more proud of her," Jason said. "She came out and really just didn't pitch very well against Marion in the first game. She knows that; we've talked about it. It would have been really easy during that game for her to come back into the dugout and pout and just kinda sulk. But she came in and she was a leader in the dugout; she cheered for her team.

"I think that gave the team some semblance of confidence that the second game was gonna be OK. I mean, she didn't make it out second inning in the first game, then to have the mental toughness to come out and pitch a shutout in Game 2 with all that on the line, that's impressive."

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK

The week of the state championship was far from a picnic for East Clarendon. They played two games against Saluda, but neither game came on its originally scheduled date because of thunderstorms. Game 1 was Tuesday, May 28, and EC once again relied on their ace. Laiklyn carried a shutout into the sixth and allowed just three hits in a 2-1 victory. The next night, they drove the bus through a torrential downpour to Saluda, but the field was unplayable. They hopped right back on the bus and went back home. Laiklyn and her fellow seniors graduated the following night before a Saturday trip to Saluda on the last day of May.

"That's exhausting. Mentally, it's just very, very taxing on your team," Jason said of constantly preparing for games that were eventually postponed. "She never let the group lose focus. There's a lot of distractions that go on during that week between big crowds and just more attention than normal. I heard her repeatedly telling the team just, 'We've got to go out here and win a softball game. That's what this is, just a softball game, tune all that stuff out.' Because while that stuff's important and it's appreciated, if you don't win, it doesn't quite have the same ring to it. She stayed focused. Her intensity level has ratcheted it up throughout the playoffs. Not only just in games, but in practices, too. You can tell she really wanted it, and I'm just really happy she got it."

Tina was more than happy to make the drive to Saluda for nothing on that fateful Thursday. It just meant that Laiklyn finally got a night off.

"Thank goodness God was on our side. I feel like He was on our side because He heard me, and it rained us out," Tina said. "I know everyone was frustrated, but I was thinking, 'That's a day or two rest for my child's arm.' When she came back, she was ready. She really wanted to finish off her senior year and take them to state. It was a roller coaster ride, but it was a fun roller coaster ride, for sure."

Laiklyn was definitely frustrated by the weather, but she would've played through a tornado if it meant claiming a title.

"We were really ready for it. We were just on our toes 24/7 and came out here, busted our butts off, and that's where it got us," she said. "We had the mindset that we were going to go play up there. It was just a normal day that we had. We went over there, and it just wasn't meant for us to play that day. We all say that it's in God's hands."

The second game coming a day after graduation brought a sense of finality to everything. Laiklyn was one of two seniors for the Lady Wolverines, the second being Ann Grace Knowlton, and she could feel her high school career officially winding down.

"I think that really helped me on Saturday," she said of graduating the night before Game 2. "I think it really just was like, 'OK, Laiklyn, this is your last time. Let's go out and pitch your heart out.' I think that really helped me a lot."

Graduations always come with a world of emotions, but Tina was fine until her daughter pitched the final out of a 5-3 win that Saturday.

"My emotions didn't really hit hard until she won state for EC," Tina said. "I mean, what a way to end a career, to end the school year, to graduate and win a state championship for your team. That's when it hit me the most that my child has graduated, and here she is making history."

That final game did come with its own share of adversity. EC grabbed an early lead and never trailed, but a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh definitely kept things more interesting. East Clarendon was one out away from the title when Karen Almarez got Saluda within two runs. But Laiklyn never panicked.

"My reaction was, 'OK, I have two outs already. I just have to get one more out; it's OK,'" she recalled. "Everybody came to me, and it was, 'Laiklyn, it's OK, it's OK. We've got to get one more out.' And that next girl came up there, and we got that one more out."When Tina saw her daughter flash a smile to her teammates after allowing the home run, she knew the title was all but secured.

"She's always been good at shaking things off, and I guess she wanted it so bad. She was getting ready to pitch that second game, and she said, 'I'm gonna do this; we're going to win this,'" Tina said. "She was so determined to win. I could see it in her. When she just smiled and turned around to her teammates and was giving them high-fives, I knew she was coming back strong."

After stopping for dinner on the ride home, all of Turbeville flooded to the school to welcome the new state champions in the wee hours of the morning.

"I knew I had a good community, but I've never seen everybody come all together as one and support us and come back in," Laiklyn said. "It just replays in my head every day. I loved it."

Jason couldn't have written up a better ending for his seniors.

"East Clarendon has always had tremendous community support. As you progress throughout the playoffs, that community support just amplifies," he said. "It really is a storybook ending for her and for Ann Grace. I'm just glad I got to be a part of it."

FINAL CHAPTER?

While that state title was the last time Laiklyn will pitch for East Clarendon, she's still trying to figure out when she throws her final pitch.

After representing EC in the North-South All-Star Game last week, Laiklyn is playing American Legion softball and travel ball this summer as she decides the next steps in her career.

"I can't tell if I'm worn out on it or if I want to play more. I really think I'm ready to play more. I don't think I'm done," she said. "I've got a few calls from people wanting me to go play; they just don't have the class that I need to go for yet, so I'm trying to figure out what's the best option for me to go for.

"It is (stressful), but making late decisions is better than not making one at all."


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