Ex-Lakeside girls lacrosse standout sets precedent with college scholarship

Former Lakeside High School girls lacrosse standout Ashlee Williams has become the first girls player from the area to earn a college lacrosse scholarship. She has inked to play at Erskine College in Due West, S.C.

//

Williams helped lead the Panthers to the state playoffs this season in just her third year playing the sport. Lakeside's program is only four years old, and most people in the county probably did not even know we had lacrosse at two of our high schools.

The support and interest for the sport in growing in the area, and you will likely see more schools join Greenbrier and Lakeside in fielding a lacrosse team.

Williams was also a talented softball player at Lakeside, playing on the varsity squad the past four seasons. She started playing lacrosse as a sophomore. As a junior she earned the team's "Extra Mile Award," and by her senior season she was one of the team's captains.

Williams also flourished in the classroom. She graduated from Lakeside with honors, sporting a 3.9 GPA.

Congratulations to Ashlee and her family.

Another title

Nolan Belcher will be getting a shiny new ring sometime soon.

Belcher went 3-1 this year for the national champion South Carolina Gamecocks.

I would say Belcher has had a pretty good run. In the past six seasons, he has three state high school crowns and now a college national title. In the final college baseball polls, Belcher and his Gamecocks held down the top spot, while in-state rival Clemson was ranked fourth.

The Tigers featured two players with local ties this year. Former Evans infielder Kevin Caughman walked on to the Clemson squad this year, and spent the season as a redshirt for the Tigers. Also, Evans resident Kyle Parker was an All-American performer for the Tigers.

Parker, who is also the starting quarterback for the Clemson football team, had a monster year on the diamond. He hit .344 with 20 homers and 64 RBI. He became the first college athlete to ever throw 20 touchdown passes and hit 20 home runs in a single season.

In June, Parker was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Colorado Rockies. It is expected that he will give up his final two seasons of football to sign a lucrative baseball deal.

Kyle's younger brother, Kendal, will also have a decision to make very soon. He will have several football scholarship offers on the table this fall.

He is a rising senior linebacker at Lakeside, and last season he was among the area leaders in tackles.