The first seven pitchers to toe the rubber against Hilton Head Island High School in the Class 3-A playoffs Friday night all left the mound in the same manner -- frustrated, beat up and ultimately unsuccessful.

The eighth, however, pitched like a playoff ace.

Socastee's Travers Woodward shut down the Seahawks for 3 1/3 innings, the last two of which were in extra frames, to lead the Braves to an 8-4 win in nine innings against Hilton Head High in the second round of the playoffs. Woodward allowed only two hits to pick up an extra-inning victory for the second straight day after Socastee defeated Bluffton High School on Thursday night in nine innings.

"I was just trying to bear down and throw strikes," Woodward said. "You can't lose your focus when the game's on the line."

Focus was never a problem for Woodward, who entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning in a pressure-filled situation. Hilton Head High loaded the bases for Greg Harrison, but Woodward got the Seahawks' No. 3 hitter to pop out to end the inning.

The Seahawks left 12 runners on base in the game, including in eight of the nine innings. The loss throws them into the loser's bracket of the district playoffs. They'll host the winner of today's Bluffton-North Myrtle Beach matchup on Monday.

"We gave ourselves opportunities to win the game," Hilton Head High coach Chris Wells said. "We had so many chances to win but we couldn't seem to capitalize, and that makes it a tough loss to swallow."

Socastee, on the other hand, took advantage of the few chances it had against Harrison on the mound. The Braves collected just five hits in the nine-inning contest, but an errant Seahawks defense committed five errors, leading to seven unearned runs. All four runs in the ninth -- three of which came on a home-run blast from Cody Rice with two outs-- were of the unearned variety charged to reliever Elliot Van Dyke, who suffered the loss.

"Our defense was really poor. I thought we played on our heels instead of playing aggressively," Wells said. "It's hard to win when you put five errors on the board. It's darn near impossible when you do it in a playoff game."

The Seahawks fought back after giving up their first increment of unearned runs. Socastee scored four in the second, but Hilton Head High responded with three of their own in the bottom half of the third. Bruce Leitner tripled to lead off the inning, followed by a Ethan Olliff single and Michael Campbell double. All scored to tie the game.

The inning seemingly gave Harrison all the support he needed. He lasted eight innings in his 133-pitch outing and gave up no hits in the last five innings he was on the mound.

"He grinded tonight. He fought like he always does," Wells said. "He caught his groove by the middle innings. And that's Greg Harrison. He's such a bulldog."

He'll be unavailable when the Seahawks take the next step of the playoffs Monday night against either Bluffton or North Myrtle Beach. The winner of Monday's game will head to Socastee on Wednesday and be forced to upend the Braves in both ends of a doubleheader to advance past the district finals.

SOCASTEE 8, HILTON HEAD HIGH 4 (9 innings)

SOC 040 000 004 -- 853

HHH 100 300 000 -- 495

WP: Travers Woodward (3-2) 3 1-3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K.

LP: Elliot Van Dyke (5-3) 1 IP, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB.

Hitters: Socastee -- Cody Rice 1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, Kyle Presley 2-for-5, R; Hilton Head High -- Elliot Van Dyke 2-for-4, BB, Bruce Leitner 2-for-5, 3B, R.