The Grind, presented by the Bank of Clarendon: Clarendon Hall's Berry humbly pushes Lady Saints to success on court, diamond

Clarendon Hall's Sidney Berry isn't your typical star athlete.

On the basketball court, she put the team on her back for the last two seasons and helped carry the Lady Saints to the SCISA 2A state championship game for the first time in more than 50 years just a few weeks ago. She's played an integral role as the softball team won consecutive state titles.

But in all of those wins, Sid doesn't come out screaming, pumping her own chest. She celebrates with her teammates with a wide grin, often looking to give the attention to someone else. For head softball coach Jeff Bays, that's just part of what makes Sid special.

"She's not arrogant, she's not out there to put on a show; she's out there to play, to enjoy herself and to help the team," Jeff said. "She's just a great kid from a great family. She's so pleasant to be around."

SELF-DRIVEN

Sid never needed an outside push to take her game to the next level. It's in her blood.

Her father, Bill Berry, was a three-sport athlete at Swansea, winning a state title in wrestling before signing to continue the sport at The Citadel. He said he was always the athlete willing to stay after practice to get a few more reps. His daughter followed right in his footsteps.

"She'll be leaving practice and call me and say, 'Hey, dad, I need to come run tonight,' or, 'I need to shoot." She's just very self-motivated," he said. "She'll get at least an extra hour to hour of quality work in that she said she knew she needed to do as opposed to being told to do. And that's with every sport. The beauty of it is that it's not like I'm saying, 'Hey, let's do this.' They ask me."

Sid has played softball since she was 5 years old. Bill saw that she had a knack for the sport right away, but basketball is her one true love. In the last two years, she really attacked the sport with an extra edge. That partially came from attending one of Dawn Staley's camps at South Carolina with her sister Ashlee.

"That opened our eyes because there's really good people that go to those camps," Sid said. "You just like see all the great players that are out there, and you get to play against them in little pickup games while you're there and just stuff like that helps open your eyes to like, 'No, you need to work and you need to get better because there are people out there that are better than you.'"

So Sid and Ashlee got to work. The pair spend countless hours working together in every sport. In the fall, it's volleyball. Then they shift their attention to basketball in the winter before a spring filled with softball. During the summer, it's a little bit of everything as they gear up for another busy year.

"It was just what I was feeling that day," Sid said of how she prioritizes different sports in the offseason. "Maybe I wanted to hit a softball that day or maybe I wanted to go outside and play one-on-one with my sister. It just depended on the day.

"I think you just have to manage it wisely, set aside time for this sport and this sport."

Jeff has coached a ton of talented softball players during his time at Clarendon Hall, but Sid's desire to improve always stands out.

"No one is harder on Sidney than Sidney. She expects a lot out of herself, and you can see when she makes a mistake, she knows what she's done," the CH coach said. "She expects a lot out of herself, so she works extremely hard. If she makes a mistake during practice - of course we can't do this during games - but he just says, 'Give me another one.' Even when we're pitching to her, it's the same way. She's not satisfied with that last cut that she took. She really wants to succeed, and that's reflected in work that she puts in, the expectation she has for herself."

That hard work paid off. Jeff has watched Sid blossom from an eighth-grader who was shocked to have a chance to scrimmage with the varsity against Wilson Hall to a player who hit over .400 last season.

"I'll never forget in the middle of that scrimmage I'm like, 'Sid, get your glove, go to third,' and her eyes got as big as quarters. She was like, 'Who, me?' From there, her confidence has grown so much. She's such a gem out there on the field," Jeff said. "She started out toward the bottom of my lineup her freshman year, and last year she made it up to the top of my lineup. She ended up batting fifth or sixth most of the year, but she's just improved so much. Watching her grow has been really special."

Through all of that hard work, Sid credits her dad for always being willing to drop everything to help his daughter.

"He's been the person who has helped push me," she said. "Some nights, my sister might not want to go out there, but my dad would always go out there and put in the extra time with me and help me to become the best I could be."

Sid also benefits from having a sister who is less than a year younger than her. Bill has seen them push each other to become the best versions of themselves.

"Ashlee really started coming on strong this year, especially as a defender. She gets after it too, and she would get out there and do some one-on-one with Sid and was able to defend her pretty good. It pushed her pretty good this season to have her little sister," Bill said. "We'd all get out there together and do drills, and then they always would do a little one-on-one. It definitely helped her because old dad is getting a little older, I'm not as good with her with the one-on-one."

Ashlee always love getting the chance to compete with her sister, especially on the basketball court.

"We've always been competitive since we were little," Ashlee said. "We play one-on-one basketball outside, and beating her is the best thing ever because that opportunity doesn't happen often. We hit softballs to each other and soft toss to each other. We also hit the volleyball together and see how many times we can hit it. Sidney is always pushing me to be better and do more things because she does not like to sit still. If I didn't have Sidney as my sister, I wouldn't be the person I am today, and there is only God to thank for that."

SOFTBALL SUCCESS

The softball team at Clarendon Hall has been a shining example of excellence for Sid's entire high school career, but their roots were planted long before they reached high school.

"We actually started playing together with the Savages. We started really young, all being together and playing together, and I think that has actually helped us to just have chemistry," Sid said. "I've actually gone to Clarendon Hall since kindergarten, so all of us have been together even before we started playing softball. (It's) Basically like sisterhood, and it really helps whenever you're on the field."

When Sid was a freshman, the Lady Saints started what has developed into a dynastic run on the diamond, but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

Clarendon Hall punched their tickets to the state championship her freshman year with just two losses. They then lost two heartbreaking games to Wardlaw to end their season in tears. The first game was an extra-inning loss punctuated by errors on a team mostly consisting of freshmen and eighth-graders. The next game, they fell 9-5. Sid will never forget that game.

"I was the person that ended up striking out the last out of the game, and that just ate me alive, I did not like that," she said. "I was the one who could have gotten a hit or something, not that it would have changed anything about the game. We were losing by like four or five runs, but that just really gave me the drive to be better."

That loss fueled a fire in Sid and her teammates. Since then, Clarendon Hall has claimed consecutive state titles. First, they got revenge on Wardlaw with their own two-game sweep, claiming the victory on the Lady Patriots' home field. They were then able to grind out a win in Game 3 last spring to take down Calhoun Academy for a 2A state title.

Now, as Sid gears up for her final season as a Lady Saint, she carries a message from basketball coach Johnny Horton.

"Like Coach Johnny says, it's about being confident, but not cocky," she said. "There's a difference in those two things, and that's kind of just the mentality we have now is just to be confident, but we don't have to be cocky about it, we can just be humble and know that the Lord is ultimately in control of it all."

TRANSLATING SUCCESS TO THE COURT

While the softball team was winning state titles, the basketball team was slowing improving with a similar cast of characters. This year, Sid pushed the Lady Saints to new heights, but it wasn't easy.

Their head coach battled health issues all season, eventually missing the state semifinal against Dorchester Academy after needing to have heart surgery. But his fight only made Clarendon Hall work harder.

"I think it actually gave us a little bit of fire, knowing that our coach was fighting," Sid said. "It helped us want to fight even harder for him too."

The playoff journey was an adventure that Sid won't soon forget, highlighted by a thrilling comeback win over The King's Academy that saw the Lady Saints rally from a 14-point deficit.

"I don't even know where it came from," Sid said of the comeback where she scored 17 points with 12 rebounds. We just all started like just going crazy out of nowhere, and we ended up bringing it back and we won. It was crazy."

Ashlee credits her sister for leading the charge.

"We were down at half but coming out of the locker room, I feel like we really connected and just went off. Everyone's defense turned up but hers especially," Ashlee said of a game where she recorded her own 10-point, 10-rebound double-double. "Once she got a few stops, that's when everyone got some energy and wanted to win just for her, or at least that's why I wanted to win. I know the work that she's put in, and I just wanted to win it all for her. Unfortunately, we came up short (in the championship), but I wouldn't have traded this season with her for anything.

Part of the reason Clarendon Hall was able to make that comeback is the fact that most of the team had been in similar moments. Those just came in a different sport.

"I think it has helped a lot just how successful we've been in softball because sometimes, whenever you get into those playoff games, your emotions, you're kind of in your feelings or just kind of scared and uptight," she said. "I feel like that experience helped in basketball playoffs too, just having that experience of being in the playoffs before and making it to the state championship in softball and winning."

The Lady Saints eventually fell to Cathedral in the state championship, but it was still a happy ending for Sid.

"I think it was cool because we haven't been there since 1970, so I think it was just cool for the girls even make it that far and just show the younger ones that It can't be done if you put in the work and you practice hard and just work hard."

It was emotionally draining loss for one Berry sister in particular.

"When they didn't win the state championship, I think Ashlee was more upset than Sid because she knew it was the last time she would get to play with Sid in basketball," Bill said. "Sid took it decent, and Ashlee was crying like a baby because I think she knew it was the last go-around."

Ashlee relished every minute of sharing the court with her sister. She's excited to get one more spring together, but basketball was a little more special.

"Playing with my sister is something that's so easy to overlook in the moment, but it really means a lot to be able to play with her," Ashlee said. "I thank God for the time we get to spend together, and it's even better we're doing something we love. She's always been someone who I look up to even though we're only 11 months apart. Although we argue a lot, I wouldn't wanna be on a team with anyone else because at the end of the day I have her back and she has mine."

EYES ON COLLEGE

Sid and the Lady Saints are shooting for a third-straight state title this fall, but she's also hopeful she still has some basketball left in the tank. Sid has worked to grab the attention of some college basketball programs. For now, she just has to wait and see.

"I hope that maybe I might get an opportunity to play basketball somewhere," Sid said. "If I don't, it's in God's hands, and that's ultimately all that matters."