South Florence players taking skills to next level

FLORENCE — Three members of the South Florence softball team were among six players to sign college letters of intent Thursday.

Jasmyn Holliday, Abby Yarborough and Kelsey Pruitt signed to play softball at Spartanburg Methodist.

“They are three quality players and three quality leaders,” South softball coach Bobby Jones said.

“I gave all three of them the MVPs because you couldn’t distinguish them.

“Each of them stepped up in different times and situations.”

All three players were instrumental in helping the Bruins advance to the Class 4A championship series, where they lost to Gaffney.

Holliday, a center fielder, led the Bruins with a .479 average and had a team-high five homers.

Pruitt, a third baseman, hit .409 with a team-high 37 RBI. She also was named the Florence District 1 Female Athlete of the Year.

Yarborough, a shortstop, hit .425 with four homers and 29 RBI.

All three players hope to play two years at Spartanburg and move up to play at the Division I or II level.

“We want to play at the Division I level and coach (Rick) Pauly is a good coach and they have gotten a lot of good player into a lot of good schools,” Yarborough said.

Two South football players, Troy Jones and Marcus McLean, also will be playing in college next season. Jones signed with North Greenville and McLean is going to Ohio Wesleyan.

“They are a couple of kids we are real proud of and they are going to produce at the next level,” South football coach Lynn Fleming said.

Jones was the quarterback for the Bruins this season and threw for 1,361 yards and seven TDs. He said he also considered Newberry before making his decision.

“I went up to their spring game and really liked it,” Jones said. “I got a feel of how their offense ran. They run the spread offense and it’s a good fit.”

McLean, who started out as a quarterback in junior varsity, was moved to linebacker his past two seasons for the Bruins.

McLean said he was drawn to Ohio Wesleyan, a Division III school outside of Columbus, Ohio because of academics.

“We went and checked the school and I loved it,” McLain said.

Zach Giles also signed a letter of intent to run track at Claflin in Orangeburg. Giles won the Region 6-4A championship in the 400 and finished fourth in the Class 4A state meet.

“They have a good program and smaller team,” Giles said. “I just got to go out there and show I could do a good job.”