Powdersville baseball stays alive in state finals with controversial finish in 12th inning

POWDERSVILLE – Walk-off obstruction.

In a wild and controversial finish to a classic in the Class AAA state championship series, Powdersville baseball beat Hanahan, 5-4, in 12 innings Wednesday to force a deciding game in the best-of-three series.

Powdersville appeared to have a runner thrown out at home to end the 12th inning. But Hanahan catcher Hudson Sprovero was called for obstruction, not giving runner Kolbe Giles a lane to the plate. 

Hanahan’s brief elation for a narrow escape turned into disbelief and then disgust as the Hawks watched Powdersville celebrate its first win in a state championship.

“I feel for those guys,” Powdersville coach Wade Padgett said. “Two really good teams playing a great game. I hate that it ended that way. But we’ll get to play a third game.”

Powersville (24-10) and Hanahan (30-4) will settle it at 3 p.m. Saturday in a neutral site game at Gilbert High School.

Hanahan scored three in the top of the seventh to take a 4-3 lead and Powdersville forced extra innings with a run in the bottom half. With two outs and Giles on first base after a walk in the 12th, Jack Hunsinger also worked a walk on a full-count pitch to bring up Chance Kennedy, the team’s leadoff batter.

Kennedy drilled a line-drive single to center and Giles raced around third toward the plate, Sprovero caught the throw on the base line and waited there for Kennedy.

“We were going to be aggressive because that’s how we’ve had to win games the whole season,” said Padgett, who was also the third-base coach who waved Kennedy home. “The players and fans will probably tell you that I’ve been really good at getting us thrown out at the plate. But when you’re in the 12th inning and you have a chance to score, you have to try.”

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Eli Hudgins pitched 6.2 innings of shutout relief of starter Blane Jordan. Hudgins came on in the seventh and allowed a two-run single to tie the game, but he ended that frame with two strikeouts and gave up only one hit the rest of the way.

Hanahan left a runner on third base in the 11th as Powdersville first baseman Landon Fowler knocked down a wild throw on a grounder to keep the Hawks off the board.

Powdersville had the bases loaded and one out in the eighth. Kennedy singled, took second on an errant picked try and third on another. Hanahan intentionally walked two batters and got two infield outs to escape unharmed.

Todd Shanesy is a former award-winning writer who now covers high school athletics for the Greenville News, Spartanburg Herald-Journal and Anderson Independent Mail in the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at todd.shanesy@shj.com. Follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, at @ToddShanesySHJ.