Month: April 2019

The Cedar Ridge softball team captured a share of the Big 8 softball championship on Tuesday night, beating Northern Durham 12-6. In her final regular season game at Cedar Ridge, catcher Kymberlie Thacker went 3-for-4 with a double and 3 RBIs. Thacker is hitting .425 this season. In January, she formally signed with Brevard College. Earlier this year, Thacker suffered a concussion against Cardinal Gibbons, forcing her to miss six games. Regardless, the senior returned behind the plate. In her ten games since her return, Cedar Ridge has scored in double figure runs eight times. Next week, the Red Wolves will start action in the state playoffs, where they hope to be the #1 seed from the Big 8 Conference. On Wednesday night, Orange hosts East Chapel Hill. If the Lady Panthers win, they will face Cedar Ridge in a one-game playoff for the Big 8’s top seed on Thursday.

For the 2nd year in a row, the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves have won a share of the Big 8 softball championship. On Wednesday night, they defeated Northern Durham 12-6 at Knights Softball Field in Durham to finish the regular season 18-2. Senior pitcher Taylor Barnes threw a complete game for her 15th win of the season. Barnes also went 2-for-4 with a double. On Monday night in Cedar Ridge’s 12-2 win over the Knights, Barnes went 3-for-3 and scored three runs. Barnes is hitting .462 this season. After playing twice in two days, Cedar Ridge will sit back and watch crosstown rival Orange on Wednesday night. The Panthers host East Chapel Hill. If Orange wins, they will Cedar Ridge on Thursday for the #1 seed in the Big 8 Conference in the upcoming 3A State Tournament.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is freshman sprinter Jarmil Wingate. On April 18, Wingate broke the school record in the 200 meters with a time of 26.34 seconds. Wingate has also won the 100 meter dash in five of Orange’s meets this season. In the senior day meet against Cedar Ridge and Southern Durham, Wingate claimed the 100 with a time of 12.94 seconds. Last week at the Big 8 Championships at Southern Durham High, Wingate finished 4th in the 100. Last winter, Wingate was a starter on the Orange women’s basketball team that won 19 games and finished 2nd in the Big 8 Conference. Wingate still has three years of high school remaining and aims to break the school record in the 100 meter dash before it’s all over. 

One day after winning his 21st career game at Cedar Ridge, Red Wolves pitcher Phillip Berger formally signed with William Peace University out of Raleigh. Berger, who has been a varsity pitcher for four years, was joined by several of his former coaches during the ceremony at Red Wolves Gymnasium. That included Jamie Athas, who was the baseball coach at Cedar Ridge until last summer. Current Red Wolves coach Mitchell Frazier presided over the ceremony. Ironically enough, one night earlier, Berger defeated the Williams Bulldogs, where Athas is now the coach. Former Cedar Ridge football coach Scott Loosemore, who coached Berger in the fall of 2017 when he was a quarterback, drove up from Laurinburg for the ceremony. This week, Berger will complete the regular season with two games against Northern Durham and a make-up game against East Chapel Hill.

The Orange baseball team will play for the Big 8 Championship on Monday night. The Panthers completed a three-win week on Thursday night by beating Chapel Hill 10-1, its first win at Tiger Field since 2015. Cooper Hench, in his first start of the season, earned a complete game win by allowing just three hits, striking out seven. Plus, Hench went 3-for-5 with a double. The Panthers pounded out 14 hits, eight of them doubles to improve to 13-4, 11-2 in the Big 8 Conference. Orange will host East Chapel Hill on Monday night. If Orange wins, they will take its first Big 8 Conference Championship since 2016.

The Orange softball team is one win away from guaranteeing itself a share of the Big 8 softball championship. Last week, Orange swept Northern Durham in a two-game series, beating the Knights 11-4 on Tuesday and 11-0 on Wednesday. Maddie Bartlett went 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Bartlett went 2-for-4 with a double. Freshman Mary Moss Wirt went 1-for-2 with an RBI double on Wednesday. Orange will face East Chapel Hill on Wednesday in Hillsborough, their final Big 8 Conference regular season game of the season. If Orange wins, they will finish 13-1 in the Big 8 with the possibility of a tiebreaker game against Cedar Ridge looming on Thursday.

Dante DeFranco didn’t have a home run in the first 14 games of the season entering Tuesday night. Then against Northern Durham, he slammed two home runs in his first two at-bats. DeFranco went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs as the Panthers defeated the Knights 9-6 at Knights Field. On Wednesday night, DeFranco went 2-for-3 with another home run to push Orange past Northern Durham 9-6 in Hillsborough. The Panthers remain in 2nd place in the Big 8 Conference, one game behind East Chapel Hill. The Panthers and the Wildcats play in Hillsborough on Monday.

Orange centerfielder Cooper Porter’s home run on Tuesday night was the hardest he’s ever hit a ball. The second he touched it, he flipped his bat and strode around the bases in the 6th inning as Orange defeated Northern Durham 9-6 at Knights Field. In addition, Porter came in from centefield to record a four-out save, the first of his Orange career. The following night, Porter earned another save in another 9-6 win over Northern. Porter will look to continue the momentum going into Monday night’s game against East Chapel Hill, which may determine the Big 8 Championship.