Family Photographer in Hanahan, SC

HANAHAN, S.C. (WCBD) – Hanahan residents are still frustrated over trains that continue to block area roadways for hours at a time.

One train was seen blocking Hanahan Road for hours Wednesday morning, and before that, Hanahan town administrator Mike Cochran told News 2 a train sat blocking roads for more than 20 hours straight recently.

The road the trains are blocking is a major thoroughfare for people driving to and from Rivers Avenue and Hanahan.

“We’ve got about 7,000 cars a day that cross the tracks right here, and in the last several months, we’ve had multiple instances where the tracks just get blocked by a parked train,” said Cochran.

Drivers are forced to add additional time to their commute; it also slows emergency responses.

“From the city’s perspective, if you’re trying to get an ambulance through the city, you’re crossing here in order to get over to the hospitals,” he explained.

Technically, blocking the road is illegal according to more-than-100-year-old state laws. But the fine is only $5 to $20, and it is difficult to enforce.

“We have contacted CSX and spoke with them on several occasions, and they’re aware of it, but it really is frustrating for our residents and frustrating for everybody involved,” said Cochran. “Last week, it sat there for over 30 hours.”

Cochran said he has a plan that may give residents a way to know when a train is stopped in the area. The county owns the library at the corner of Murray Drive and Highland Park Road. He’s asked about placing a camera there.

“I said is there a way that we could put a camera, or the county put a camera, on the library? If they were to put a camera on that library and point it toward the tracks, we would have a constant feed of exactly what the status of the tracks are.”

The video would also be streamed online.

“We’ll have that ability to push that information out, so while it’s not a perfect solution, it will at least allow an option because right now the only way you know if the tracks are blocked it’s the drive to them.”

News 2 reached out to CSX to see if they have any plans to change their policy of blocking trains for hours at a time. We are waiting to hear back.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Four Lowcountry high school baseball teams punched their tickets to division championship games in the Hanahan Invitational Tournament on Wednesday.

In the Steadman Division Championship game, James Island will face Ashley Ridge. That game is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday at Hanahan High School.

In the Hatfield Division Championship game, Summerville will face Wando. That matchup is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, also at Hanahan High School.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13TH, 2022 Scores:

STEADMAN DIVISION

SITE: HANAHAN HIGH SCHOOL

GAME 37: 5:00 OCEAN LAKES, VA 1 VS. PROVIDENCE, NC 3

GAME 38: 7:30 HANAHAN, SC 2 VS. HICKORY GROVE, NC 1

SITE:

JAMES ISLAND CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL

GAME 39: 5:00 LUCY BECKHAM, SC 17 VS. OLYMPIC, NC 7

GAME 40: 7:30 OCEANSIDE COLLEGIATE, SC 0 VS. JAMES ISLAND, SC 10 – SEMIFINAL

SITE:

GOOSE CREEK HIGH SCHOOL (SEDGEFIELD MIDDLE SCHOOL)

GAME 42: 5:00 STRATFORD, SC 12 VS. PINEWOOD PREP, SC 13

GAME 43: 7:30 GOOSE CREEK, SC 4 VS. TIMBERLAND, SC 1

SITE:

ASHLEY RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

GAME 44: 5:00 WOODLAND, SC 2 VS. REAGAN, NC 14

GAME 45: 7:30 ASHLEY RIDGE, SC 10 VS. ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE, DC 6 – SEMIFINAL

HATFIELD DIVISION

SITE:

SUMMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL (GREGG MIDDLE SCHOOL)

GAME 46: 5:00 HICKORY, VA 0 VS. ARDREY KELL, NC 10

GAME 47: 7:30 CATAWBA RIDGE, SC 2 VS SUMMERVILLE, SC 9 – SEMIFINAL

SITE:

WEST ASHLEY HIGH SCHOOL

GAME 48: 5:00 FORT DORCHESTER, SC 7 VS. HILTON HEAD, SC 2

GAME 49: 7:30 WEST ASHLEY, SC 6 VS. NANSEMOND RIVER, VA 7 9 INNINGS

SITE:

BISHOP ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOL

GAME 50: 5:00 BEAUFORT, SC 4 VS. RANDLEMAN, NC 7

GAME 51: 7:30 BISHOP ENGLAND, SC 6 VS. MAMARONECK, NY 3

SITE:

WANDO HIGH SCHOOL

GAME 52: 5:00 PHILIP SIMMONS, SC 5 VS. BAMBERG EHRHARDT, SC 4

GAME 53: 7:30 WANDO, SC 12 VS. ST. EDWARDS, OH 10 – SEMIFINAL

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

More than 30 high school baseball teams from multiple states will compete for titles in the 52nd annual Hanahan Invitational Tournament set for April 11-14.

The tournament has two divisions named for former Hanahan High Hawks baseball coaches, Tom Hatfield and Bill Steadman. Hatfield started the HIT in 1970 as a way to get a few local teams together for games during spring break. Steadman followed Hatfield at HHS and the tournament eventually swelled into a premier spring break stop as more teams from outside South Carolina accepted invitations to visit the Lowcountry.

States represented in the 2022 HIT are South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and New York. Another squad will make its way into town from Washington, D.C.

“We do have some strong teams coming in,” Hanahan coach Brian Mitchell said. “We know locally we have some great teams but we have our hands full trying to win it. The team from D.C. is the team to beat. Their head coach is something like 316-80. They’re loaded. There is some quality baseball coming to town. We’re going to have to hunker down and play well.”

Eight of the local clubs are ranked inside the top 10 of their respective classifications by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association.

Last spring, Summerville High School rallied from a five-run deficit to edge Blessed Trinity from Roswell, Ga., with a run in the bottom of the seventh. It was the difference in the Green Wave’s 8-7 victory in the championship game. The 2021 field was smaller due to COVID concerns.

Summerville went on to capture the Class AAAAA Lower State title in 2021.

“It’s a good gauge to see how you’re playing going into the end of the season,” Mitchell said. “If you do well in the HIT, you’re going to go on and do well in the playoffs.”

Host sites for the first two days of the tournament are Hanahan, Goose Creek, James Island, Ashley Ridge, Summerville, West Ashley, Bishop England and Wando. Semifinal sites will be determined later. Hanahan will host the championship games on April 14.

There is also a junior varsity division, which was won by the host school last spring. Fifteen of the 17 squads set to compete are from the Charleston area.

52nd annual HIT schedule

(Monday, April 11)

Steadman Division

At Hanahan

2 p.m. – Timberland vs. May River

5 p.m. – Game 1 winner vs. Ocean Lakes, Va.

7:30 p.m. – Hanahan vs. Olympic, N.C.

At James Island Charter

5 p.m. – Lucy Beckham vs. Reagan, N.C.

7:30 p.m. – Stratford vs. James Island

At Goose Creek

2 p.m. – Beaufort vs. Cane Bay

5 p.m. – Game 1 winner vs. Oceanside

7:30 p.m. – Goose Creek vs. St. John’s (D.C.)

At Ashley Ridge

2 p.m. – Bamberg vs. Woodland

5 p.m. – Game 1 winner vs. Ardrey Kell, N.C.

7:30 p.m. – Ashley Ridge vs. Ben Lippen

Hatfield Division

At Summerville

5 p.m. – Pinewood Prep vs. Hickory, Va.

7:30 p.m. – Hickory Grove, N.C. vs. Summerville

At West Ashley

5 p.m. – Hilton Head vs. Randleman, N.C.

7:30 p.m. – Catawba Ridge vs. West Ashley

At Bishop England

5 p.m. – Fort Dorchester vs. Providence, N.C.

7:30 p.m. – St. Edwards, Ohio vs. Bishop England

At Wando

5 p.m. – Philip Simmons vs. Mamaroneck, N.Y.

7:30 p.m. – Nansemond River, Va. vs. Wando

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Just six days before the primary election day, Charleston and Berkeley County have some of the highest turnout numbers in the state during the first year of early voting.

In both counties, people were flooding in and out casting their votes by the minute. Hanahan Library is one of three polling locations in Berkeley County that’s seeing a steady increase in voters day by day.

“Berkeley County is getting good percentage coming out early,” Doreen Thompson, one of the polling managers at Hanahan Library, said. “I can’t say overall how the percentage is, but for this area that we’re working right now, we’re getting fairly well.”

Records show that around 3 million people were registered to vote in 2020, but only about 22% of those people voted.

Isaac Cramer, the director of the Charleston County Board of Elections, is one of the main people in charge of making this happen.

“With our equipment and our poll managers and our training and our recruitment, we’re expecting a high turnout,” Cramer said. “Reality will probably be about that 20% number, but we are expecting a high turnout if that happens, so voters don’t have a long wait as they head into the polls.”

As of now, Charleston County has the fourth-highest number of early voters in the state. In 2018, only 1,700 people cast their votes in the first 30 days using in-person absentee voting. This year, the numbers have doubled to 3,600 in the first six days using early voting.

“Our intent with every election is to find access for every voter,” Cramer said. “So, Charleston, we’ve always led the state in ballots casts ahead of election day. We were actually the model for this legislation with the off-site early voting locations, but with the tight window of time between legislation passing and early voting starting, we weren’t able to expand to multiple locations across the county. But in November, we will have seven locations for early voting. So, we do anticipate this county to lead the state in early voting as we have had in the past.”

Cramer says that if you have not voted already, please visit scvotes.gov to find your polling location. He says he wants you to be best prepared on June 14.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

With the amount of talent on Hanahan High School’s roster, lofty expectations are probably reasonable as the sun comes up on another baseball season for longtime coach Brian Mitchell and the Hawks.

Mitchell, who has more than 300 career wins, returns a stacked group from a squad that captured a region title and won 18 games in 2021. The Hawks entered the season ranked No. 7 in Class AAA by the S.C. Baseball Coaches Association.

“We have a solid group of returners,” Mitchell said. “Our main goal is to win the region but if our kids play like they’re capable, they have the ability to play deep into the playoffs.”

That includes a journey all the way to the final week of the postseason where the Hawks haven’t flown since 2012. They also placed runner-up in the state in 2010.

“In terms of velocity and just knowing how to pitch, this is probably the deepest we’ve been on the mound,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got a lot of guys back who have already shown they can swing the bat.”

The Hawks finished 3-1 in the Sandlapper Classic in the preseason, beating Chesnee (7-2), Spring Valley (10-1) and Dutch Fork (2-0) before falling to Carolina Forest (4-3) in the championship game.

Three returning players batted over .300 last spring, paced by senior shortstop Aryan Patel, a Citadel signee. Patel batted .359 with 20 RBIs and 28 runs scored. He walked 21 times and his .495 on-base percentage was the highest on the team.

Also in the middle of the infield, senior second baseman Ethan Walker batted .328 and scored 22 runs with a .471 on-base percentage. Senior outfielder Mason Woznac chimed in with a .316 batting average.

In the Sandlapper Classic, Patel led the Hawks with a .538 batting average and knocked in three runs. Walker and Woznac hit over .400 in the tournament. Woznac drove in three runs and scored four times.

Senior third baseman Brick Nichols and senior first baseman Foster Nicodin are returning starters on the corners. Nichols, a Francis Marion signee, batted .274 with 15 RBIs and Nicodin launched four home runs last season. Both hit over .300 in the Sandlapper Classic while Nichols scored four runs.

Junior Braylon Mitchell, the coach’s son, and junior Camden Kackley will see plenty of time on the infield dirt depending on who is pitching.

In addition to Woznac in left field, brothers Hunter and Landon Gomes are starters in center and right. Additional outfielders are junior Brayden Joseph, junior Kwame Parker and junior Harry Swindal.

Nicodin and junior Nick Cappello are the most experienced arms returning to the bump. Nicodin was 4-1 with a 0.53 earned-run average and fanned 35 batters over 26.2 innings in 2021. Cappello was 3-1 with a 3.36 ERA while striking out 39 batters in 33.1 innings.

Nicodin and Cappello picked up victories in the Sandlapper Classic along with Hunter Gomes. They struck out 14 batters in 14.2 innings while allowing just five hits and one earned run.

Mitchell, a College of Charleston commit, is back on the mound after coming on strong at the end of last season. He was called up from junior varsity and threw 12 innings, going 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA and one save. He fanned 15 batters and picked up a clutch victory over Bishop England in the region championship game.

Patel and Nichols are capable arms out of the pen who could also draw some starts. Junior Jacob Collins, junior Lucas Brown and senior Max Ballard figure to log some innings, too.

Cappello, junior Mason Brady and junior Joey Smith are the team’s catchers.