By Jed Blackwell, Associate Editor-Publisher

Marissa Scaletta stared at a 30-foot putt on the first playoff hole of the 5A Division II state championship on Tuesday, a wicked putt that would go a little uphill and then down on a slick green.

How she came to be standing there with a state championship for T.L.Hanna hanging in the balance was a similar roller coaster.

Scaletta knocked her putt in the middle of the cup, and it proved to be the difference as the Yellow Jackets took the title in a playoff over Chapin by a one-hole aggregate tiebreaker of 18-19.

“It looked pretty good as soon as I hit it,” Scaletta said. “It got a little closer, and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, it’s going in.’ I knew I gave it a shot.”

Each team finished regulation play at 659.

They arrived at that number after a furious see-saw battle and a frantic final hole.

Chapin led by 10 entering the day, and the lead tiptoed up around 15 and shrunk back down to single digits several times throughout the day until Hanna grabbed the lead on the back nine.

The Yellow Jackets couldn’t quite close it out, though, and the Eagles steadily chipped away at the lead on the 18th hole.

Chapin’s Kataleya Furie made a routine par and scratched three strokes off the lead. Reagan Haggard’s par did the same.

Suddenly in a war for the lead, Sierra Schulze hit her approach shot to the middle of the 18th green, 25 feet from the hole.

Chapin’s Sadie Licata had a little better look, though, about 15 feet uphill from the front of the green below the hole.

Schulze drained the putt, swinging momentum back toward T.L. Hanna with the birdie.

” As soon as I hit it, it looked pretty good,” Schulze said. “I just kind of walked it in. I knew it was going. I was trying to set myself up with a par, hitting it to the middle of the green. My shot had alittle draw on it, and it was just perfect.”

Lilly Reed Black, who took medalist honors for the Eagles, made par topick up another stroke and give Chapin a one-shot lead with one group to play.

Both the Eagles’ Mia Andrade and the Yellow Jackets’ Scaletta pushed their drives right and had to punch out.

Andrade hit her approach shot right at the flag. Scaletta was left and short.

She got up and down with an excellent chip to save her bogey. Andrade’s putt from the back slid five feet by, and her five-foot comebacker had a chance to decide the tournament.

It circled the cup and came out.

With new life, T.L. Hanna headed to the first tee for the playoff.

They quickly found themselves down two shots in the aggregate, as Haggard and Furie both made par to bogeys for Olivia Wallach and Schulze.

With the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the fairway, there was more drama.

Andrade inadvertently played Scaletta’s ball into the green, incurring a two-shot penalty. As she was struggling to recover, Black nearly chipped in from just into the right rough behind the green, instead settling for par.

Serra Erlenkeuser chipped to within six feet.

That left Scaletta away, and she promptly jarred the biggest putt of the day.

“I had about a hundred in, and it was perfect for a little 52,” she said. “Just get it up in the air and get it on the green somewhere, because my putting was pretty good all day.”

Hanna needed it, as Andrade and Erlenkeuser cleaned up and the Jackets finished with the one-shot advantage.

Yellow Jackets coach Gabby Kitts said she was proud of Hanna’s’ gusty performance.

“They worked so hard,” she said. “I’m just really impressed with their play today. To comeback from a 10-shot deficit and then take that lead for a while, it was just a roller coaster today. Every shot matters, and we made some huge ones. For Marissa to make that putt after the day that she had, she needed that. I’m so proud of how she hung on. She fought for her team, and that was the cherry on top for her to make that. It’s just wonderful. They work so hard, and for that to pay off for them, it’s great.

Scaletta’s heroics came at the end of what her athletic director called “probably her worst round since seventh grade”.

“After the first nine holes, I just didn’t think there was any way,”she said. “I looked at the leaderboard at 10, and said ‘Oh my goodness, we actually have a shot. I better get my act together.’ At 18, I knew it was tied or really close. I kind of chunked my approach, but I hit a great chip, and then the scariest tap-in I’ve ever had.”

T.L. Hanna’s win gives Scaletta a chance to join her brothers Jackson and Bennett, as all three siblings now have state titles while playing for the Yellow Jackets.

“I really wanted a ring,” she laughed. “It feels awesome.”

North Myrtle Beach finished in third place at 687, with Conway fourth and Catawba Ridge rounding out the top 5.

Black made birdie at 16, and her tough par at 18 wrapped up medalist honors by a stroke over Easley’s Barrett Owens. Erlenkeuser was third,

Conway’s Reese Richardson was fourth, and Schulze finished fifth.North Myrtle Beach’s McKayla Owen and Caitlin Ferry, Scaletta,Andrade, and Conway’s Gracyn Cox rounded out the top 10 and earned All-State honors.