A year ago, the gap between Orange and Cedar Ridge softball seemed wider than ever.
Orange had the North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year in catcher Mia Davidson, now starting for Mississippi State. The Lady Panthers swept the Red Wolves, including a game at OHS that ended 15-0 in just three innings. A month later, Orange would claim the 3A state championship, long after the Red Wolves had ended a 6-12 campaign.
When the crosstown rivals start a two-game series tonight at Orange, things figure to be considerably different. Of course, Orange lost Davidson, shortstop Abby Hamlett and pitcher Christina Givens to graduation. Those departures were a foregone conclusion.
What Orange parents and fans didn’t expec at the end of lose season would be to lose head coach Eddie Davidson just days before the season opener against Eastern Alamance on March 7th. Henry Horn, who left softball coaching after a stint at Northern Durham and didn’t have any intention to return until Mia Davidson persuaded him back into it, is now the interim head coach.
With all the changes, Orange is 3-3, already as many losses as they had in all of 2017. They’re 2-2 in the Big 8, two games behind conference leader East Chapel Hill.
On the other end of town, Cedar Ridge stormed out of the gates 3-0, including a resounding sweep of Northwood to open the Big 8 campaign. Despite losing to Roxboro Community School on Monday night to drop to 3-1, the Red Wolves will have confidence agains the Lady Panthers because of two players who didn’t play last season.
Senior pitcher Rivers Andrews is 3-1 with a 0.58 ERA. he has 50 strikeouts and four walks. A third-year varsity starter, Andrews has had past success against Orange. In her sophomore season, with Mia and Montana Davidson in the starting lineup, Andrews struck out 14 in an 8-2 Cedar Ridge win. Three nights later, she fanned 13 Panthers, but Orange won 3-1 behind a two-run single from Mia Davidson. Andrews went 14-6 her sophomore season with 243 strikeouts.
Just as Cedar Ridge struggled to find a replacement for Andrews last seaosn, Orange has been hard pressed to find a replacement for Davidson, which was hardly unpredictable since she was the most accomplished female athlete in school history. Yet both of the catchers on Orange’s roster played at Stanford Middle School last year. Originally, freshman Hunter Balog was penciled into Davidson’s spot, but she was hit in the head by a practice ball the night before the season opener against Eastern Alamance. Alaysia Sanford, who was supposed to play junior varsity, was rushed to the main roster as the emergency replacement.
Another factor for Cedar Ridge has been the emergence of sophomore Tori Dalehite, who missed last season after tearing her ACL in the first high school basketball game she ever played in. While going hitless on Monday against RCS, Dalehite is still hitting .615 with seven RBIs through her first four varsity games. In fact, she homered in her first high school game against Eastern Alamance.
Kymberlie Thacker is hitting .357 for Cedar Ridge, while junior Tionna Carter is hitting .287.
Orange has depth of its own. Alisha Pettiford hit two home runs during a doubleheader with East Chapel Hill. Freshman shortstop Emma Puckett went 3-for-4 in her first varsity game, also against Eastern Alamance.
The first game of the two-game series will be tonight at Orange starting at 6:30. Cedar Ridge will host Thursday night’s game also at 6:30.