Month: March 2021

The Cedar Ridge softball team seemed to do it all in its conference opener against Northwood.

Be on the verge of losing in five innings? Check. Come back from a seven-run deficit to take the lead? Check. Score 12 runs in a span of three innings? Check.

Unfortunately, the list of accomplishments also included losing in extra innings.

Northwood’s Shakhai Mole scored off a grounder by freshman Carolina Garner in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Chargers past Cedar Ridge 17-16.

As you may have guessed, it was a night of offense. The two teams combined for 35 hits, eight extra base hits and 18 walks.

It was a costly loss for the Red Wolves since the Big 8 Conference standings will only include the first games against league opponents, the same format that was used in volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball this year.

In what will probably be a theme this season, Cedar Ridge’s Takia Nichols hit a solo homer to lead off the third inning, then was intentionally walked in her final four plate appearances. That included an intentional pass in the fifth inning–with the bases loaded.

Even with Nichols’ powerful bat taken out of her hands, Cedar Ridge still managed to erase an 11-4 deficit in the fifth inning, incredibly starting a seven-run rally with two outs. After Olivia Aitkin reached on an infield single Marlee Rakouskas lined a hit to center field. Alexandria Matthews’ bloop to the outfield scored Aitkin. Sophomore Anaya Carter walked to load the bases, which led to the Nichols walk, bringing in Matthews.

ShiLi Quade reached on a bunt to first to score Matthew. Junior Ava Lowry came up with a three-run double to clear the bases. Aitkin, in her second at-bat in the inning, double to left to score Lowry and tie the game at 11-11.

Northwood took the lead back with a run in the fifth when Caroline Dorshimer scored off a groundout by Garner.

The Chargers led 14-11 when Cedar Ridge scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning. Carter hit a leadoff single, followed by the obligatory Nichols walk. Quade loaded the bases with another bunt single. Lowry’s sacrifice fly to left scored Carter. Aitkin hit another sacrifice fly to plate Nichols. Senior Reagan Rhul doubled to left center to score Quade and Lowry and give Cedar Ridge a 15-14 lead. Hayley King legged out an infield single to bring in Ruhl and Cedar Ridge extended its led to two runs.

Northwood forced extra innings when Zoe Hatzidakis doubled down the left field line, leading to a run from Carlee Harris. With two outs, Sarah Warfford reached on an error, leading to Hatzidakis tying the game.

Quade, now playing catcher, went 4-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. Aitkin finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and 4 RBIs. Ruhl was 2-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs. Lowry finished 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs, two doubles and three runs scored.

Cedar Ridge will host Chapel Hill on Friday afternoon at 5:30. That game can be heard on Hillsboroughsports.com.

HILLSBOROUGH-Johnny Barefoot’s debut as the coach of the Orange softball team didn’t have very much drama. But there was plenty of hitting and even better pitching.

Orange rolled past East Chapel Hill 14-1 in five innings at Panther Softball Field on Wednesday afternoon. It was the season opener for both teams.

Junior Gracie Walker earned the victory in the circle. She threw three innings and finished with seven strikeouts. Walker surrendered two hits, one runs with one walk. Freshman Kaden Robinson and junior Courtney Watkins finished out the final two innings in mop up duty.

The Lady Panthers amassed eleven hits with every player in the starting lineup getting aboard. In her first varsity game, Robinson finished 4-for-4, nearly hitting for the cycle. She had a double and a triple.

Junior Mary Moss Wirt, who has committed to play at Elon, went 2-for-3 with two doubles and 2 RBIs. Senior Emma Puckett went 1-for-3 with a double.

Orange (1-0) had a game scheduled against Vance County on Thursday but it was rained out. The Lady Panthers will host Cedar Ridge on Tuesday in what will be the only game between the crosstown rivals that will count in the Big 8 standings.

The Orange lacrosse team ended its regular season against Chapel Hill in a thrilling game last Wednesday. Here are some photos from that game courtesy of Lynda Wileman.

The old adage is to avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

Orange Coach Chandler Zirkle wasn’t afraid to speak up in a haywire final five minutes against Northwood at Auman Stadium, and it helped put the Panthers in the 3A/2A/1A State Quarterfinals for the first time in the 13-year history of the program.

Just nine days removed from Northwood thrashing Orange 17-6 in Pittsboro, the Panthers edged out a 10-9 victory over the Chargers in a fever-pitched atmosphere at Auman Stadium on Wednesday night. Orange’s Ryan Merrill finished with three goals and two assists. Merrill’s classmate, Caleb Davis, also had a hat trick and two assists as Orange improved to 8-3.

The Panthers will host East Chapel Hill, where Zirkle once played, in Hillsborough on Monday night.

Freshman Connor Kruse, who played at Stanford Middle School at this time last year, notched the game-winning goal when he fired the ball between the legs of Northwood’s goalkeeper with 5:27 remaining. Cy Horner assisted on Kruse’s only goal of the game.

But there was plenty that happened afterwards.

On two separate occasions, Northwood had potential game-tying goals waved off. The most noteworthy came with 4:50 remaining when Chargers midfielder Will Smith was deep in Northwood’s offensive zone and had the ball knocked away by defenseman Griffin Metheny. Smith ran out of his offensive end to scoop the ground ball and appeared to carry the ball over the midfield line, which would have resulted in an over-and-back call (similar to basketball). The officials let the play continue and Smith tallied the game-tying goal with 4:03 left.

Or so it appeared.

The referees, two of whom were college officials, gathered together and decided it was a correctable error, ruling that Smith had committed the over-and-back violation. The goal was nullified and 47 seconds was placed back on the clock. In the midst of the discussion, Northwood coach Randy Cox was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“They established themselves in the box,” Zirkle said. “The officials caught it and let the players play on, which is the right thing to do. They went down and scored, but the officials caught the mistake.”

Northwood got the ball back with 2:03 remaining and again appeared to tie the game when Ben Rogers fired the ball into the right corner of the net. Zirkle challenged that Rogers had an illegal stick. The officials put a ball in Rogers stick and it failed to come out while the head of the stick was parallel. Again, the game-tying goal was nullified and Rogers was penalized for two minutes, sending several furious Charger fans rushing towards the front gate of the visitor’s section to scream at the officials. Orange ran out the clock for the most important win in school history.

The game turned on an illegal stick penalty against Northwood midway through the fourth quarter. Northwood scored consecutive goals from Smith and Terry Moore to take a 9-8 lead, then called timeout. Once Orange went on the man-up, sophomore Jake Wimsatt whistled home the game-tying goal within seconds off a pass from Merrill. Kruse later scored the game-winner.

After losing by eleven goals to Northwood the week before, Zirkle didn’t have to work hard to coach amnesia for such a huge game.

“It was our worst game of the year,” Zirkle said. “By no means did we do everything we wanted to do tonight. We brought into our game plan and we’re getting as good as we can at this time.”

Merrill scored just 26 seconds into the game off an assist from Davis to spark a first quarter that featured four ties and two lead changes. Northwood’s Jake Mann, who has signed to play football at Oklahoma, scored all four of the Chargers’ goals in the first quarter, including one off an assist from Taylor Leverage to even the game 4-4 going into the second quarter.

Mann finished with five goals in his final lacrosse game with the Chargers.

Orange’s defense kept Northwood scoreless for the first 7:12 of the second quarter. Panther sophomore Joe Cady posted two goals to vault Orange into a 6-4 lead. Cady’s first was assisted by Merrill, the second by Davis. Laberge scored for Northwood with 4:48 remaining to cut Orange’s lead to 6-5 at halftime.

Davis registered his third goal off an assist from Jake Wimsatt to open the second half and push Orange ahead 7-5. Northwood’s Ben Rogers and Mann scored to even the game, but Merrill whipped a shot past Northwood goalkeeper Hunter Klingel to put Orange back into the lead going into the fourth quarter.

Orange goalkeeper Chase Hawkins, who made several vital saves during the second half, emerged to become an unlikely hero. After playing in net as a sophomore for Orange’s playoff win over Northside-Jacksonville in 2019, Hawkins appeared to have hung up his lacrosse jersey after the 2020 season was abandoned because of the pandemic. However, the Panthers have spent this season playing without its top two goalkeepers, who are both with the football team. Hawkins, who has been known to drive a tractor to school, was summoned out of retirement by Zirkle earlier this month and started only his second game of the year on Wednesday night.

He wound up earning the win on a night no Orange fan will soon forget.

For the first time in the 13-year history of the program, the Orange men’s lacrosse team is going to the state quarterfinals. In a wild finish in front of an emotional crowd at Auman Stadium on Wednesday night, the Panthers defeated Northwood 10-9. Orange senior Caleb Davis finished with three goals and two assists. Davis’ classmate, Ryan Merrill, also had three goals and two assists. Just nine days prior to Wednesday’s game, Northwood walloped Orange 17-6 in Pittsboro. Chase Hawkins, the Orange goalkeeper, earned the win in net. It was only his second start of the season. Hawkins had seemingly hung up his lacrosse jersey to focus on his post-Orange professional life, but was talked into playing the postseason by Orange Coach Chandler Zirkle. Hawkins earned his second career postseason win. Orange will host East Chapel Hill in the 3A/2A/1A quarterfinals on Monday night at Auman Stadium.

Joey McMullin: On Tuesday night, former Orange guard Joey McMullin announced he was transferring from Division III Bryn Athyn College in Philadelphia. McMullin had played in one game for the Lions. In nine minutes, Mcmullin scored four points in a loss to Lancaster Bible on March 6. Originally, McMullin committed to play at Division III Pfeiffer before changing plans. McMullin was the last Orange player to reach 1,000 points for his career and was a starter on Orange’s 2017 Big 8 Conference Regular Season Championship team.

Landon Riley: Liberty closer Landon Riley earned his fourth save as he shut down #14 North Carolina again in a 8-4 win at at Worthington Field in Lynchburg, VA on Tuesday night. Riley entered the game with two out in the top of the eighth inning with the Flames ahead 6-4. He faced the minimum of four batters and struck out two of them. It was Riley’s second save against the Tar Heels in a week. Liberty tied a program record with its ninth straight win. In that span, the Flames bullpen has only allowed four earned runs over 35 and two-thirds innings. Liberty is 11-5 overall, 3-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team fell to UNC Wilmington 3-1 in its Colonial Athletic Association opener at Rudd Field on Saturday. Hodges had a shot on net for the Phoenix, who fall to 1-1 overall, 0-1 in the CAA.

Brittany Daley: Division III Methodist defeated William Peace 4-2 at Monarch Soccer Stadium in Fayetteville on Saturday. Daley, a former Cedar Ridge All-Conference performer, started at center back for the Pride. Greensboro is 3-1 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Jordan Rogers: The Division III William Peace women’s soccer team defeated Pfeiffer 2-1 in overtime at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday. Rogers started at wingback for the Pacers, who improved to 3-4 overall, 2-3 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Jaylin Jones: The Division III Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team defeated Greensboro College 16-12 at Pride Field on Friday. Jones, a defenseman for the Falcons, collected a ground ball as Pfeiffer improved to 3-1. It was their USA South Athletic Conference opener. Pfeiffer travels to William Peace tonight, then hosts Methodist on Sunday.

Bailey Lucas: Former Orange High outside hitter Bailey Lucas continues to start for the Division III Meredith volleyball team. On Saturday, William Peace swept a doubleheader from the Avenging Angels. The Pacers swept the opening match 3-0 on scores of 30-28, 25-21, and 25-20. Lucas started for Meredith and finished with 32 assists, four kills and nine digs.

Peace won the second match in five sets on scores of 20-25, 25-17, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-6. Lucas played all five sets and came away with one kill, 21 assists, and 13 digs.

Last Wednesday, Meredith defeated Pfeiffer 3-0 on scores of 25-11, 25-18 and 25-18. Lucas started once again and finished with one kill, 26 assists and four digs. Meredith is 2-3, 1-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Olivia Ward: Ward, a former All-Big 8 Conference performer at Cedar Ridge, has started her tennis career at Methodist. She has participated in six matches for the Monarchs. Methodist has an overall record of 4-7, 1-0 in the USA South Athletic Conference.

“The worst softball field there is is one with nobody on it.”

That’s what Cedar Ridge coach Allen Byrd said last March, a week after the North Carolina High School Athletic Association suspended the spring sports season.

The thing about a baseball or a softball coach is that they never stop being coaches. Even during a pandemic.

Last spring, in the weeks after Cedar Ridge’s season suddenly stopped after just four games, Byrd would travel down the empty roads through Hillsborough to Red Wolves Softball Stadium several times a week. He knew there would be no games or practices. With the outside world sparsely populated, Byrd kept himself busy with his side job. The outfield grass needed a trim every few days. The infield had to be dragged. Byrd and his assistant, Brian Rhew, even put up a new scoreboard in left field. It was just as well, since third baseman Takia Nichols hit a home run off the old scoreboard in a game against West Johnston just before the season abruptly ended. (Nichols was intentionally walked in her subsequent three plate appearances that night).

While every senior class at every school felt like something was robbed from them last spring, the Cedar Ridge Class of 2020 wasn’t just another group. They were responsible for the most successful softball run in school history.

Just after Orange won the 2017 3A State Championship, Cedar Ridge started a run of dominance in the Big 8 Conference. In 2018, behind pitcher Rivers Andrews, Dalehite, catcher Kymberlie Thacker and 1st baseman Kara Wagoner, the Red Wolves romped their way to the first softball conference title in school history with a 17-1 overall record. They finished a perfect 14-0 in the Big 8, outscoring opposition 163-7. The Red Wolves advanced to the 3rd round of the state playoffs, where they lost a 9-inning heartbreaker to West Brunswick in Shallotte. Byrd was so uncertain the wrong team won, he reported to his job the following morning at the Mebane Police Department bleary eyed after a sleepless night.

Cedar Ridge and Orange tied for the Big 8 title in 2019, but Cedar Ridge won a tiebreaker against the Lady Panthers to take the top overall seed in the Big 8. Again, Cedar Ridge reached the third round of the state playoffs, only to lose to eventual state champion Eastern Alamance in Mebane.

A year later, the day after the North Carolina High School Athletic Association decided to suspend the spring sports season (initially until April 6, 2020, ultimately canceled outright), Cedar Ridge lost to West Johnston. The following night, the Red Wolves were supposed to face Chapel Hill in a doubleheader, but it was canceled.

“It was uncharted waters for everyone involved,” said Byrd.

Five Cedar Ridge seniors never played together again. Going into the year, the biggest part of Cedar Ridge’s senior class was already lost for the season. Tori Dalehite, the 2018 Big 8 Hitter of the Year, suffered a torn ACL in a basketball game just weeks before the softball practice started. The rest of the 2020 Class of Rachel Serre, Emma Roby, Alyssa Serre, and Cailyn Thornton still wanted a chance to win a third straight Big 8 championship.

Dalehite is still on the diamond as a freshman at UNC Greensboro, but the rest of her classmates had their softball careers come to a sudden end.

For a group that help build Cedar Ridge softball into a local power, they deserved better.

“None of those girls were going to the next level to play,” Byrd said. “From a softball standpoint, the pandemic was the end of the road for them. Our goal was to win the conference again, then make a run in the playoffs. They didn’t get a chance to experience that. Several of them would have been All-Conference. They wanted to play Orange and go against kids they had grown up playing against. It was all taken away from them.”

The good news for Cedar Ridge is, starting tonight, there will be players on the field again. They’ll start the Big 8 Conference season against Northwood in Pittsboro.

As was the case with volleyball and basketball, the Big 8 Athletic Directors have voted to count only the initial meetings between conference rivals into the conference standings. That makes tonight’s game extra important.

Nichols returns for her junior season. A freshman sensation from the first game, Nichols hit eight home runs as a rookie. In only four games in 2020, she still hit five home runs. If Nichols had a full sophomore season, its possible she could have approached the North Carolina career home run record held by former Orange catcher Mia Davidson, now at Mississippi State.

Also returning is junior Olivia Aitkin, who started several games at pitcher. Another option inside the circle is senior Alexandria Matthews. Junior Ava Lowry will return and could play first base.

The Red Wolves open with Northwood, then face Chapel Hill on Friday. Next week, they travel to Orange for a huge early season matchup.

Competition will come hot and heavy early for Cedar Ridge, but part of the allure for Byrd will be that the fields will no longer be empty.