Possibly the most versatile female athlete in Cedar Ridge history has had her high school career come to a sad and premature end.
Tori Dalehite will be forced to sit out her senior softball season after she was diagnosed with a torn ACL in her right knee. She will undergo surgery Thursday.
Dalehite suffered the injury in the final minute of a basketball game against East Chapel Hill on February 10. The Wildcats won the game 54-13.
The injury means she will have played softball, her best sport, for only two years at Cedar Ridge. In her freshman season, Dalehite tore the ACL in her left knee on the first day of basketball practice.
It has been a bittersweet winter for the Dalehite family. Her brother, Landon, was a starting guard for the Gravelly Hill Middle School Grizzlies, who defeated Phillips to win the OPAC Boys Basketball Championship on February 11 in Efland. It was the first OPAC Championship in varsity boys basketball in school history.
Gravelly Hill won the day after Dalehite was injured.
It’s a devastating loss for a Cedar Ridge team that was counting on Dalehite’s return to make another run at the Big 8 Championship. But losing players to injury has become a pattern for Coach Allen Byrd.
“I have had the privilege of coaching Tori over the past two years,” Byrd said. “Two weeks ago, I receive a phone call from Tori’s Dad informing me that Tori had just went down with an unknown knee injury during a basketball game. As a coach, this a phone call that you never want to receive. Coming off of back to back Conference Championships – back to back third round playoff runs… to hear that you may not have your “leader” is devastating. It’s simply heartbreaking.”
“However, I was more devastated for Tori,” Byrd continued. “She has dedicated most of her life to the sport of softball, she was gearing up for an amazing senior season. To have that taken away from her is heartbreaking.”
In her freshman year, Dalehite, pitcher Rivers Andrews and catcher Kymberlie Thacker all missed the 2017 season due to various injuries. The trio returned healthy the following year and the result was the best team in school history.
Behind Andrews’ dominant pitching and a deep batting order, the Red Wolves rolled to a 17-1 regular season, opening the year with a win at Eastern Alamance and losing only to Roxboro Community School.
From the time they started their Big 8 Conference schedule with an 11-0 win over Northwood, the Red Wolves were never seriously challenged. They went 14-0 to win the first softball conference championship in school history, outscoring league opponents 137-6.
In her first varsity season, Dalehite was named Big 8 Hitter of the Year after she finished with a .582 batting average with 32 hits, 32 RBIs, 29 runs and five triples, all team highs.
In the third round of the 3A State Playoffs, Dalehite hit a three-run homer against West Brunswick in the third inning in Shallote. In the fifth inning, she broke her hand after getting hit by a pitch, but still finished the game at 2nd base. The Trojans won 4-3 in nine innings. While the rest of the Red Wolves took a four-hour bus ride home, Dalehite stayed behind at the coast to get her hand examined at a hospital.
Last year, Cedar Ridge set a school record for victories (21-3) and tied Orange for the Big 8 Championship. The Red Wolves defeated the Lady Panthers in a special tiebreaker for the #1 seed to the state playoffs 8-3 at Panther Softball Field.
Though it wasn’t as dominant as 2018, Cedar Ridge still made a run to the third round of the state playoffs. They defeated West Johnston 4-3 in 11 innings after a walkoff single by Tionna Carter. On May 10, the Red Wolves romped pat West Carteret in Morehead City. In that game, Dalehite hit a two-run homer in the third inning to dead center, her final dinger for the Red Wolves.
Eastern Alamance knocked the Red Wolves out the following week. In her final at-bat, Dalehite singled against Eastern Alamance freshman pitcher Kenna Raye Dark, who eventually led the Eagles to the 3A State Championship.
Last year, Dalehite verbally committed to play softball at UNC Greensboro. Her signing ceremony took place in November.
In a time of increased specialization of high school athletes, Dalehite remained a three-sport athlete to the very end regardless of the talent level around her. She reached the state playoffs in three different sports.
Dalehite played volleyball for four years. Last fall, she was a part of a Cedar Ridge team that upset Chapel Hill and returned to the state playoffs for the first time since 2015.
She played varsity basketball for three years. As a sophomore, the Red Wolves finished 14-11 and reached the state playoffs, losing to D.H. Conley in the opening round.
“She is a leader on and off the field, and I have no doubt she will bounce back,” Byrd said. “I am a better person for having the opportunity to know Tori, I have no doubt that she will excel in the classroom and on the field, but more importantly, she will excel in this game called life.”