Daily Archives: 05/18/2021
Community Calendar
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Veterans’ Haven to hold opening event
The new Veterans’ Haven of Honor, a project that has been in the works for a while, will hold an untraditional groundbreaking ceremony on May 31 at 11 a.m. at 219 N. Palmetto St. in Liberty.
An acquired building and property will be turned into an emergency shelter for homeless veterans of Pickens County.
Rather than a groundbreaking ceremony, volunteers will paint a red, white and blue stripe down the front of the building.
Bike pump track part of efforts to enhance Central-SWU trail system
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
CENTRAL — A trail system resulting from a partnership between the town of Central and Southern Wesleyan University 
now features a pump track.
A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by bicycle riders “pumping” or generating momentum by up and down body movements rather than pedaling or pushing. Such tracks are considered relatively simple to use and cater to a wide variety of rider skill
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Courier Obituaries 5-19-21
IDA MARTHA FINLEY CANTRELL
CUMMING, GA — Ida Martha Finley Cantrell went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus, on May 5, 2021, at the age of 83.
Martha was born to Willie Mae Benjamin Finley and Ernest Edward Finley on Aug. 3, 1937, in Pickens.
As a child, she played the drums in the marching band and helped her father in their family-owned grocery store alongside her sister, Francis, and brother, Ernest Jr.
Upon graduating high school, Martha moved to Atlanta to pursue a career as a registered nurse. She attended Crawford W. Long Nursing School in Atlanta, then went on to work as a registered nurse in pediatrics then spent most of her
Daniel girls fall in state title match
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
COLUMBIA — After the most dominant season in program history, the Daniel High School girls’ soccer team faced its biggest challenge on Saturday morning against Oceanside Collegiate for the Class 3A state championship.
The Landsharks proved to be a more than worthy opponent for
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Lions’ comeback cut short at state
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
COLUMBIA — Down 3-0 in the first half, the Daniel High School boys’ soccer team was in uncharted territory against Brookland-Cayce during Saturday afternoon’s Class 3A state championship match.
The Lions, who had outscored opponents 127-20 over the course of the season, responded the only way they knew how, scoring just before halftime to cut into the deficit.
Then, just minutes into the second half, the Lions scored
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Lions’ Pearman named Gatorade Player of the Year
CENTRAL — More than five months after helping lead the Daniel High School football team to its first state title in 22 years, the honors are still rolling in for Trent Pearman.
The Lions’ starting quarterback, a rising senior, was announced Thursday as the 2020-21 Gatorade South Carolina Football Player of the Year, joining offensive lineman Kevin Breedlove (1998-99) as the only other honoree in program history.
Starting the season as a backup, Pearman made his first start
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Pickens Rec Report
By Cheri Anthony
Pickens Rec Director
canthony@pickenscity.com
Oh my goodness, what a gorgeous day! Our Diamond Day celebration was a tremendous success!!! We want to thank all of our friends, relatives and visiting teams from Easley and Westminster who came to enjoy the day with us and 
supported this event.
During the noon festivities, our 10th annual PYAC Town Creek Speedy Ball Race was run. 606 colorful plastic balls raced down Town Creek in just less than 12 minutes. We are immeasurably grateful to all the folks who sold and helped us with this fundraiser. The rec department was proud to award three sellers who went above and beyond. These participants were first place
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County baseball, soccer players named all-state
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — South Carolina all-state teams were announced for boys’ and girls’ soccer and baseball last week, and Pickens County was well represented, with nine players on the three teams.
The most impressive selection of the bunch was Easley High School senior Kasten Harvey. Harvey, who was named to the all-state team as a pitcher/shortstop, also earned Region I-4A Player of the Year honors and was named the South Carolina Class 4A Player of the Year.
The honors come for Harvey after a dominant year on the mound and in the batter’s box. On the season, Harvey is
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second on the team in batting average (.395) and RBIs (25), while leading the team in home runs (3) and stolen bases (20).
Just as impressively, Harvey has been a force on the mound for Easley after taking over a spot in the rotation midseason. In eight games, including five starts, Harvey has pitched 28 scoreless innings for the Green Wave, giving him a perfect ERA of 0.00. In that time, he’s picked up 47 strikeouts and three complete game shutouts, while opponents have hit just .122 against him.
Harvey isn’t the only dominant pitcher on the staff, as senior Josh Woody was also named to the all-state team for the Green Wave. Woody has served as the ace of the Easley rotation, and for good reason, sporting an 0.80 ERA in 11 appearances, including 10 starts, this season. Woody leads the Green Wave in strikeouts with 69 this season in 61.1 innings pitched and, like Harvey, has three complete-game shutouts.
The final Green Wave player named to the all-state team was senior catcher Ben Freeman. Freeman has proven to be among the toughest outs in the state this year, with a team-leading .451 batting average and he makes the most of those at-bats, also leading the Green Wave with 34 RBIs and 15 extra-base hits.
While Easley was the only dominant team in Pickens County on the diamond, both Daniel soccer clubs proved to be ahead of the competition on the pitch, with three boys and three girls each being named to the Class 3A all-state teams.
Starting with the boys, senior Luis Lezama, junior Ezra White and senior Tipton Wright were all named to the all-state team for the Class 3A Upper State champions.
Lezama, Daniel’s second-leading goal scorer with 19 on the season, was a force for the Lions all year, but was especially dominant in the playoffs. Lezama had seven goals and two assists in the Lions’ run to the state championship match. Lezama also finished tied for third on the team in assists with 11.
White was the man who made the Daniel offense go all season with his own brand of stellar ball control and scoring. Daniel’s leading goal scorer with 20, White also finished the year with the team lead in assists with 21.
The last of the Lion boys’ all-state selections, Wright also earned a spot in the North-South All-Star Game after his spectacular season. Wright was fourth on the Lions in goals scored with 15 and second on the team in assists with 13.
On the girls’ side, junior Katie Hudson and seniors Reece Murphree and Lauren Watrous were named all-state from the Upper State champion Lions.
Although Hudson had just two goals and two assists on the season, those numbers don’t tell the story of how she was a quintessential part of the Lions’ identity on defense. Daniel, which only gave up 11 goals over the course of the season, was one of the most dominant defensive teams in the state due to the play of Hudson on the back end.
On the attack, there was no one more important to the Lions than Murphree. Murphree finished the season second on the team in goals scored with 24, but her greatest impact came from her passing. Murphree had a team-high 34 assists for Daniel on the year, more than 20 more than her next-highest teammate, showing deft touch whenever the Lions were on the break. Murphree was also named as a participant in the North-South All-Star Game.
Last but not least for the Lions was Watrous. The team leader in goals with 25, Watrous hit shot after shot for the Lions on the season, including two in the biggest moments of the year. Tied at 1-1 with Powdersville in the Upper State championship, Watrous drilled a shot off a pass from Murphree to send Daniel to the state title match. Then, in the state championship, she put up the equalizer off a Courtney Smith corner kick to get the Lions back in the game. Like Murphree, Watrous will also be a participant in the North South All-Star Game.
This at the very end
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Rogers golf tourney scheduled this month
PICKENS — The 17th annual Charles F. Rogers Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, May 22.
The tournament, which annually benefits a male and female senior basketball player from Pickens High School planning to attend a university, college or technical school, is set to kick off with a 2 p.m. shotgun start at Southern Oaks Golf
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Course in Easley.
The tournament will follow a captain’s choice format, and entry costs $75 per person or $300 per four-person team.
Hole sponsorships are available for $100, $75 and $50, and prizes will be awarded for first, second- and third-place teams, longest drive and closest to the pin. Entry deadline is May 21.
Lunch will be provided from noon-1:30 p.m.
“Since we established this scholarship fund, we have been blessed with so many supporting us,” organizer Butch Morris said. “We have donated more than $20,000 in scholarship money as well as donations within our community since Charles passed away in 2004.”
For more information, contact Rodney Wakefield at (864) 898-3718 or Morris at (864) 878-0373 or (864) 420-7277. Entry deadline is June 19, and all checks should be made payable to Charles F. Rogers Scholarship Fund.
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