LUDOWICI — The inaugural Long County Esports season has officially begun. Splash Smash held their first regular season match on Wednesday, Feb. 23 and came up just short against the New Manchester Jaguars.

Jimmy Barreto took the starting position for Splash Smash and chose his main Isabelle from Animal Crossing. His character took on Sora from Kingdom Hearts and came up just short two games to none.

In the first game, Barreto was on the ropes early, quickly going down two stock. He made a comeback, nearly bringing the stock back to even before dropping the first game.

He took an early 3-2 lead in the second game and looked to put his opponent away before a costly aerial mistake tied the score up. This momentum was all his opponent needed to eliminate the last two lives on Barreto’s Isabelle to give the Jaguars the first set.

Patrick Mcclennon was next and proved his worth immediately. He won the first game handily, pulling off two “zero death” kills. A “zero death” kill is when you eliminate an opponent’s stock without taking damage.

Mcclennon went off his normal path using the character Ludwig, a Bowser Jr. variant from the Super Mario series. He faced off against Pokemon Trainer, his usual main.

He recorded another zero death in the second game and won 2-0 to even the score at one set apiece.

It came down to Tristan McNeal in the third set. He picked his main Sora and took on Sonic, the titular character from his game franchise.

McNeal quickly realized he had made a mistake in Game 1, using the wrong controls for his character. This led to an early advantage for the Jaguars in the third set.

His opponent jumped out to a 3-1 stock lead in the second game, but McNeal made a valiant comeback to even the score at one. However, his character had taken too much damage to pull off the comeback.

This 2-1 series loss (4-2 overall), brings the Tide’s record to 0-1. They will be back in action next Wednesday against Ridgeland High School.