Month: March 2018

Mia Davidson: The freshman Mississippi State catcher currently leads the Bulldogs in batting average, hits, home runs, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage (.803, over 150 points better than Morgan Bell, who is in 2nd place), and on-base percentage. And she has a stolen base. On Saturday during the Bulldog Slamboree, Davidson hit a two-run homer to center in the first inning. The Bulldogs swept the Bulldog Slamboree with wins over Lamar, Mercer and a doubleheader sweep against Sam Houston State. Mississippi State is now 16-3 and ranked #25 in the country.  

Mackenzie Cates: The senior shortstop for the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears softball team, Cates has helped the Bears win 5 straight games, reaching a 15-4 record overall and a #15 ranking in NCAA Division II. On Saturday.in the opener of a doubleheader against Francis Marion, Cates went 2-for-4 with an RBI as the Bears won 5-1. Later that day, Lenior-Rhyne completed the sweep as Cates with 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI as the Bears prevailed 8-2. Last Tuesday, Lenior-Rhyne swept another doubleheader against Belmont Abbey in Hickory. The Bears took the opener 8-0, where Cates went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Through 19 games, Cates, a native of Efland, has hit .309 with one home run and 7 RBIs. She also has three doubles and is 2-for-2 on stolen bases.

Brandon Andrews: The first Ceda Ridge centerfielder/pitcher played in two games over the weekend for Nicholls in the Cox Diamond Invitational. Andrew threw two-thirds of an inning, striking out one, in a 6-3 loss to Ohio State. Andrews also pitched in an 11-5 loss to Eastern Michigan. Nicholls is 1-9.

Brad Debo: The N.C. State baseball team is off to a 10-2 start. Catcher Brad Debo, who graduated from Orange in 2016, has started ten games as a catcher, hitting .333 with two doubles and eight RBIs. On Friday, when the Wolfpack defeated Bowling Green, Debo went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI as Wolfpack Coach Elliott Avent won his 800th career game. On Saturday in a 21-4 victory over Campbell, Debo went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI.

Stephen Tanner: A former goalkeeper for the Cedar Ridge lacrosse team, Tanner earned the win in net for Greensboro College in a 10-7 victory over Hampton on Saturday. Tanner made five saves in playing 75 minutes. On Friday, Greensboro edged Alma 10-9, where Tanner earned another win by making eight saves. So far this season, Tanner has started eight games. He is 5-3 with a .478 save percentage and a 9.05 goals against average. The Pride is 5-3 overall in the NCAA Division III South Athletic Conference.

Since the Cedar Ridge girls basketball team was the only squad from Hillsborough to make the state playoffs, it would figure that the coach of the Red Wolves would receive a top honor.

Felton Page has been named the Big 8 Co-Coach of the Year. Page received the honor in a three-way tie with Teddy McKoy of Southern Durham and Ovester Grays of Hillside. Despite injuries to guard Madison Wardlow and Logan Woody, Page coached the Red Wolves to its first winning season since 2013-14. They defeated Orange at Jim King Gymnasium en route to a 4th place finish in the Big 8, which led to its second consecutive state playoff birth. The highlight of the season was a 49-43 victory over Southern Durham where Madison Wardlow scored 16 points and Yolanda Simpson scored 13. The Spartans would go on to finish 2nd in the conference behind only archrival Hillside.

Wardlow, a junior, was named to the All-Big 8 team. She was Cedar Ridge’s leading scorer at 12.4 points per game. Her season high came on December 2nd when she scored 20 points in the Red Wolves’ 45-42 victory at Goldsboro. Wardlow had a string of five consecutive games in double figures, and 10 out of 11, at one point during the season. Wardlow started the conference season with consecutive 19 point games against Chapel Hill and Northwood in early December. She also scored 17 in Cedar Ridge’s two vicories over Northern Durham.

Despite suffering an injury to her right foot in early December against Hillside, Orange junior guard Icez Barnett was named to the All-Big 8 team. Barnett averaged 10.8 points per game, second on the team. She had a season-high 22 points and 15 rebounds in a 67-65 loss to Lee County on December 11th, then followed with 20 points and seven rebounds the following night in the conference opening win over East Chapel Hill. After suffering the injury against Hillside on December 15th, Barnett returned to score in double figures in each of Orange’s last seven games, including 15 points in a win over Cedar Ridge in the opening round of the Big 8 Tournament.

Yolanda Simpson and Taylin Jean of Cedar Ridge were named to the Honorable Mention team. Orange’s Lauren Cates and senior Janet Myers were named to the Honorable Mention team for Orange.

After leading the Orange boys basketball team in scoring for the 2017-18 season, Mitch Portman has been named to the All-Big 8 Conference team.

Portman was the leading scorer for Orange against Chapel Hill on January 9th, finishing with 17 points. Portman was sidelined for the heart of the conference season after taking a knee to the head against Hillside on January 23, which placed him in concussion protocol. This was the 2nd year where Portman was a varsity starter.

Cedar Ridge’s Mekai Collins also made the All-Big 8 team. Collins scores 22 points as the Red Wolves defeated Orange on January 26th, its first win over the Panthers in three years. Collins, a sophomore, was the leading scorer on the Red Wolves, averaging 15 points per game. Collins also scored 22 points in Cedar Ridge’s 57-41 victory over Jordan-Matthews on November 17.

Joey McMullin was named to the Honorable Mention list. Terrence Crawford and Khalil Barnett were named to the Honorable Mention list for Cedar Ridge.

Coming off a 17-7 season, the Cedar Ridge Baseball team got strong performances from its senior leaders in taking its season opener.

Senior Chris Cox homered while junior Phil Berger took the win on the mound as the Red Wolves defeated Roxboro Community School 13-3 in six innings on Saturday afternoon in Person County.

Berger, who went 8-2 with three complete games and a 1.73 ERA last season, also went 2-for-2 at the plate. Eric Zehnder, Sailor Ramos, Cooper Lamb and Matthew Kahn each had two hits for the Red Wolves, who defeated RCS for the second straight season.

For Cox, it was the 2nd home run of his career. His swatted a dinger in his sophomore season. Last season, Cox hit .389 with 22 RBIs.

Cedar Ridge continues its season this afternoon when they face Carlisle in Martinsville, Virginia. The Red Wolves home opener is slated for Wednesday, also against Carlisle.

Also on Saturday, Morehead defeated Orange 11-4 in Eden. Morehead lit up Orange pitching for seven runs in the 3rd inning. Orange was held to four hits. Caige Clayton had a two-run double in the 4th inning, the only extra base hit for the Panthers through its first two games.

Orange (0-2) will face Morehead against on Wednesday in Hillsborough. On Saturday, the Panthers travel to Sanford to face Southern Lee.

Orange baseball’s season opener can be boiled down to offense.

Voyager Academy has a lineup. Orange had Jaydin Poteat.  And the difference amount to two runs in favor of the Vikings, and easily could have been more.

As it was, Voyager defeated Orange 5-3 on a chilly Wednesday afternoon in Hillsborough. Vikings’ starting pitcher Chase Sykes finished 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs,  and earned the win on the mound by throwing four innings and yielding just two hits. Aaron Beasley, who has committed to play at Duke next season, took the save throwing three innings of relief, striking out five while also scattering two hits.

Poteat, Orange’s leading hitter for the third straight year, scored two runs, stole three bases and finished 1-for-2 with a walk. Aside from that, the rest of the Panther lineup went 3-for-21, all singles.

Orange jumped out for two runs in the first inning. Poteat drew a leadoff walk on Sykes, then generated his own run without any help from the Panther bats. Poteat stole second, then stole third and went home when the subsequent catcher’s throw wound up in left field. Joey Berini also scored in the first, drawing a walk and scoring off a single by Caige Clayton.

Starting in the 2nd inning, the Vikings tied the game and threatened in every inning afterward. Christian Rasberry, who finished 3-for-4, singled. Catcher Liam Holder and second baseman Zach Jones threw two-out walks to load the bases, leading to Sykes hitting a two-run single up the middle to tie the game.

After the Vikings loaded the bases with one out in the 3rd but failed to score, Jacob Glazer (courtesy running for Sykes) scored the go-ahead run after Sykes singled. Beasley knocked in Glazer to put Voyager ahead 3-2.

Meanwhile, Sykes and Beasley combine to retire eleven consecutive Orange batters. The Panthers went without a baserunner from the 3rd to the 5th.

The Vikings extended its lead after Brenton Fisher reached on a throwing error and advanced to 2nd when the ball dribbled into the Orange dugout. Rasberry knocked in Fisher with a single to right center.

Trailing 4-2, Orange had a chance to tie in the 6th. Poteat legged out an infield single and stole second. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Jason Slaughter singled to center to narrow the Viking lead to 4-3. Slaughter went to 3rd after a wild pitch with one out, but the next two Panther batters popped out in a failed chance to even the game.

Once again, Voyager loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but netted only one run when Matthew Dobson scored off an infield single by Sykes.

Orange is slated to travel to Eden Morehead on Friday afternoon at 5. If the game is rained out, it is slated to be made up on Saturday at 2 in Eden.

After a difficult 6-12 season a year ago, the Cedar Ridge softball team served notice in its season opener that past disappointments are exactly that—-in the past.

In her first varsity game, sophomore Tori Dalehite homered while senior pitcher Rivers Andrews threw a three-hitter as the Red Wolves defeated Eastern Alamance 4-1 in Mebane on a brisk Wednesday evening.

It was no small victory for the Red Wolves. Last season, Eastern Alamance captured the Mid-State Conference Regular Season Championship with a 15-1 record. The Eagles reached the 2nd round of the state playoffs, where they fell to J.F. Webb 3-2.

Dalehite’s two-run homer punctuated a four-run fourth inning for Cedar Ridge. Junior Tionna Carter walked to start the frame. Junior Amy Stutzer, who finished 3-for-4, sent Carter to third on a double. Andrews reached on an error,  which scored Carter. Freshman Reagan Ruhl, running for Andrews, scored on the Dalehite home run.

Dalehite’s softball debut was a long time coming. Even before her freshman seasons, she was penciled in for a starting position because of her accomplishments in summer softball. But that entire season was washed away when she suffered a torn ACL playing basketball just weeks into the 2016 season.

Junior Kymberlie Thacker finished 3-for-4.

Andrews threw a complete game three-hitter, striking out 15 and allowing just one walk.

Cedar Ridge will take the rest of the week off and face Western Alamance on Wednesday at the Red Wolves Softball Field.