Month: April 2021

Just four nights removed from throwing 126 pitches against Orange, Cedar Ridge pitcher Hayley King earned her fifth win of the season on Tuesday night. King threw three innings in the circle as the Red Wolves earned an 11-1 win over Northern Durham at Knights Softball Field. Alex Matthews, who started at first base, threw the final two innings. But Matthews impact was felt in the second inning when she hit a two-run single. In the fourth inning, junior third baseman Takia Nichols delivered the big blow with a three-run homer to left field. It was Nichols 19th career home run, a school record in baseball or softball. It was the best performance of the season for the Red Wolves, who defeated a Northern Durham team that has already clinched a spot in the 3A State Playoffs. Cedar Ridge, now 5-4, will return home to face the Knights on Wednesday afternoon in Hillsborough. First pitch will be at 5:30. You can hear the game on Hillsboroughsports.com. Special thanks to Curran Campbell for broadcasting Tuesday night’s game and for filing this afternoon with the victorious pitcher.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior third baseman Takia Nichols. In addition, we’re introducing our first retro pick of the season. For the week starting 3/28, the Red Wolf of the Week is shortstop Ava Lowry. Nichols is the all-time home run leader in Cedar Ridge history, softball or baseball, with 18. Last week against Chapel Hill, she added to the total with a lead off homer in a 20-0 Red Wolf win. Nichols leads the team with a .667 average. Despite being walked 13 times, Nichols is still tied for the team lead with 14 hits and 16 RBIs. Lowry also had 14 hits and 16 RBIs. On March 29, she hit two home runs against East Chapel Hill in an 18-5 win. Lowry has already committed to play at North Carolina Wesleyan. Nichols and Lowry play on the same side of the infield and have formed a tight bond. So much so that they wanted to do this interview together because they enjoy each other’s company. Cedar Ridge will return to action tonight at Northern Durham. The Red Wolves will host the Knights on Wednesday night in Hillsborough. Congratulations to two very deserving Cedar Ridge Red Wolves of the Week: Takia Nichols and Ava Lowry.

Football season is over across Hillsborough, but there’s still plenty of awards to hand out. The Cedar Ridge Interior Lineman of the Year is Ryan Long. The past four years have tested the meddle of Cedar Ridge football players who have remained dedicated to the program. There’s been four head coaches in that span. In 2018, there was no varsity program. Whether on the junior varsity team or varsity program, Long has stayed dedicated as a starting guard on offense and a defensive tackle. Long’s high school football career is over, but his service is just beginning. After he graduates in June, Long plans to enlist in the Navy. He’s already slated to travel to Illinois and El Paso, Texas to start his training. Wherever life in the Naval Academy takes him, Long will always check up on Cedar Ridge football to see when the day arrives when the foundation that he and the rest of his classmates built starts to pay off with victories.

Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A four home run first-inning turned out to be more than enough for Bryse Wilson to earn his fourth Major League victory.

On a weekend where the notorious Chicago wind blew out of Wrigley Field, Wilson calmed down after a shaky start to help the Atlanta Braves rout the Chicago Cubs 13-4 on Sunday night.

Wilson actually had a plate appearance before he threw his first pitch. That’s because the Braves hit four home runs in the first inning. All of the dingers came off of Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks, who came the first pitcher in the 145-year history of the franchise to surrender four home runs in the first inning. Freddie Freeman, Travis d’Arnaud, Ehire Adrianza and Guillermo Heredia all hit dingers in the first inning.

It was the first time the Braves hit four home runs in the first inning since May 28, 2003 against Cincinnati.

Wilson allowed three runs over five innings, including two homers to Anthony Rizzo. The five home runs in the first inning was the most in a Major League game since a Houston-Baltimore game on August 19, 2016.

“Bryse kept it together and righted himself after a shaky first inning,” said Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker, a member of the Durham Bulls during its Carolina League days in the mid-1980s. “He throws the ball really well.”

After Rizzo’s homer, Chicago’s Kris Bryant scored after a throwing error by Atlanta third baseman Austin Riley to narrow Atlanta’s lead to 6-2.

Wilson required 31 pitches to get out of the first inning, but he needed just 38 pitches over the next four innings to earn the win.

In the second inning, Wilson allowed a leadoff double to Chicago’s David Bote, who was immediately thrown out at third after Hendricks attempted a sacrifice bunt. Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman retired Bote. Ian Happ flew out to Heredia and Willson Contreas grounded out to Riley to end the inning.

Rizzo hit his second homer of the game to lead off the third and cut Atlanta’s lead to 6-3. Wilson retired the rest of the Cubs’ order in just seven pitches, striking out Javier Baez on three tosses to end the inning.

Atlanta right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. suffered a lower abdominal injury as he slid into first base during a pickoff attempt in the fourth inning. Acuna eventually scored off a sacrifice fly from d’Arnaud to extend the Braves lead to 7-3, but left the game shortly afterwards.

Wilson retired the Cubs in order in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Contreras reached on an infield single, but Rizzo lined into an unassisted double play by Freeman, who doubled Contreras off first. It turned out to be the final pitch of Wilson’s night.

In the top of the sixth, Heredia put the game on ice with a grand slam to center to vault the Braves into a 13-3 lead. Wilson got another at-bat before he was replaced in the bottom of the inning. He struck out swinging.

It was Wilson’s first start since Game 4 of the 2020 National League Championship Series, where he outdueled Los Angeles Dodgers Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw to win 10-2 and bring the Braves on the brink of its first National League Championship since 1999.

Wilson’s background in football at Orange High was a constant source of discussion for ESPN play-by-play man Matt Vasgersian and colorman Alex Rodriguez during Sunday night’s broadcast. Vasgersian mentioned that Wilson originally committed to play baseball at UNC before opting to sign with the Braves organization straight out of Orange High, where he led the Panthers to four consecutive Big 8 Conference Baseball Championships. He was also a member of Orange’s varsity football team from 2013-2016, where he was a linebacker, running back, wide receiver and backup quarterback under head coach Pat Moser.

Kayla Hodges: For the first time since they joined the Colonial Athletic Association in 2014, the Elon women’s soccer team won the CAA Tournament championship on Saturday. The Phoenix defeated UNC Wilmington 1-0 at Tiger Field on Towson, MD. Hodges earned the start on an Elon defensive back line that held the Seahawks to two shots on goal. In addition, Hodges was named 2nd-team All-Colonial Athletic Association for the season as a midfielder. Elon is 6-3 and will await their selection to the NCAA Women’s College Cup. The selection show will be Monday night. The tournament begins April 27.

Mia Davidson: Mia Davidson reached another milestone for the Mississippi State softball team over the weekend. During Sunday’s game at Missouri, Davidson reached 200 hits for her Bulldog career with a home run to left field. It was Davidson’s 63rd career home run, which leaves her four behind Rafael Palmerio on Mississippi State’s all-time home run list, baseball and softball. Missouri swept the three-game series against Mississippi State. On Sunday, the Tigers held on for a 6-5 win. Davidson went 1-for-2. In a doubleheader on Saturday, Missouri won the opener 5-2 and the nightcap 4-3. Davidson went 0-for-3 in each game. This season, Davidson is hitting .304 in 41 games. She has eleven home runs and 25 RBIs.

Montana Davidson: Montana started both games of Saturday’s doubleheader for Mississippi State at third base. She went 0-for-2 in both games. Mississippi State is 22-19 overall, 0-12 in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs will host Jackson State in a doubleheader on Tuesday.

Tori Dalehite: The UNC Greensboro softball team swept a three-game series against Chattanooga at Frost Stadium in Tennessee. The Spartans swept a doubleheader on Saturday against the Mocs. In the opening game, Dalehite entered the game as a pinch runner and scored off a groundout by Maycin Brown to help the Spartans win 6-3. In the second game, Dalehite scored another run as a pinch runner. Dalehite touched the plate off a three-run homer from Kayleigh Willis. UNC Greensboro battled back from a 5-0 deficit to win 8-6 in nine innings. The Spartans are 21-14 overall, 6-3 in the Southern Conference.

Jaden Hurdle: Two former Orange High teammates found themselves on opposite sides on Saturday. Hurdle, a first baseman for Patrick Henry Community College, faced Catawba Valley Community College, led by former Lady Panther second baseman Grace Andrews in Martinsville, VA. Patrick Henry swept the doubleheader, capturing the opener 3-2 in eight innings, where Hurdle went 0-for-3. Patrick Henry edged the Red Hawks in the second game 7-6. Hurdle pitched the nightcap, earned the victory and added a two-run home run. She threw a complete game, allowing six runs off six hits. Hurdle struck out three to improve to 3-1.

On Sunday, Patrick Henry split a doubleheader with Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. Caldwell won the opener 3-2. Hurdle went 1-for-3. The Patriots earned the split with a 10-9 walkoff win in the nightcap. Hurdle hit a two-run homer in the 2nd inning. She finished 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Hurdle also started the second game as pitcher and came away with a no decision. Hurdle threw four-and-one-thirds innings and surrendered eleven hits and eight runs with two walks. Patrick Henry won off a walkoff home run from Carley Gravely. In 26 games, Hurdle is hitting .385 with six home runs and 22 RBIs. Patrick Henry is 12-15 overall, 7-5 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Grace Andrews: As for Andrews, she went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer for the Red Hawks in the opening game against Patrick Henry. In the second game, Andrews went 2-for-3 with another home run and a double. She scored twice. On Sunday, Catawba Valley swept a doubleheader against Surry Community College in Dobson. In the opening 3-1 win, Andrews went 1-for-2 with a run scored and two walks. The Red Hawks won the second game 6-5 in ten innings. Andrews went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Currently, Andrews is fifth in Region X of the NJCAA with a .488 batting average. She is tied for 10th (along with Hurdle and several others) with six home runs. Andrews leads Catawba Valley and is 7th in Region X with 42 hits. Catawba Valley is now 17-9 overall, 8-6 in Region X.

Phillip Berger: Berger earned two wins in a three-game series for Division III William Peace over Methodist. On Saturday at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, Berger came on in relief and threw the ninth inning. He set down the Monarchs in order with one strikeout. Peace got a walkoff single from Alec Seaton in the bottom of the ninth. Berger improved to 4-2. On Sunday, Berger made his regularly scheduled start and earned another win in the Pacers’ 7-5 win to open a doubleheader. Berger scattered four hits in six innings to improve to 5-2. He surrendered four runs, three earned with four walks and three strikeouts. Berger now leads Peace with five wins. He also has a 3.83 ERA. Peace is 18-13, 10-4 in the USA South Athletic Conference. The Pacers are two games behind North Carolina Wesleyan for first place in the USA South Athletic Conference East Division.

Olivia Ward: The Methodist women’s tennis team ended its season with an 8-1 win over Mary Baldwin on Sunday. Ward played #1 singles and defeated Alexis Seymore 6-0, 6-0. Last Thursday, Methodist defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 5-4 in Rocky Mount. Ward defeated Ana Aguilar 6-2, 6-2 at #6 singles. On April 9, Ward won again as Methodist defeated Averett 7-1. Ward, competing at #6 singles, won over Nakia Lee-Goodall 6-1, 6-1. Ward ended her freshman year at Methodist with a five-match winning streak. She ended the year 5-7 in singles, 1-1 in doubles.

If you were on hand for the Orange-Cedar Ridge softball game on Friday night, you aren’t likely to forget it anytime soon. The Red Wolves pulled off a dramatic comeback after they scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to even the game 9-9. As with all great games, there were great plays made by several great players for both teams. Listen to the highlights here courtesy of Hillsboroughsports.com.

As the sun started to set on a remarkable day in Hillsborough, it appeared for just a moment that Ava Lowry would make it a celebration unlike any other for Cedar Ridge.

In any other ballpark across the Big 8 Conference, it would have been. Lowry had worked the count as only she could, and sent Orange pitcher Caden Robinson’s payoff pitch towards right centerfield. As Orange’s Serenity McPherson gave chase, the only drawback for Cedar Ridge was that Lowry had hit it to the deepest part of a big ballpark.

It landed two feet shy of the wall.

Lowry would wind up with a triple in the eighth inning, but she would go no further. The most remarkable comeback win in Cedar Ridge softball history, and possibly every other sport as well, would fall just short.

Orange scored three runs in the ninth inning to escape from Cedar Ridge with a 12-9 win in extra innings. Freshman 2nd baseman Delaney Shaffer, in just her second start, went 4-for-5 with two RBIs, including the game-winning hit when she drove in junior Mary Moss Wirt with a drive to left field. Wirt led off the ninth with a liner up the middle on an 0-2 pitch.

Not that anyone in attendance, bundled up on a chilly night wearing orange or burgundy and gray, thought it would remotely reach that point to begin with. Cedar Ridge trailed 9-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning against an undefeated Orange team that had already clinched the Big 8 Championship on Tuesday with a victory over Vance County.

Besides, some Cedar Ridge fans felt that they had already sewed up a moral victory. They were the first team this year to extend Orange past the fifth inning. The Lady Panthers (8-0, 6-0 in the Big 8) had won all of its games via the run-rule, i.e. 10 runs after five innings, or 15 runs after three. On March 23, Orange beat Cedar Ridge 20-0. Their closest game had come against Vance County on Tuesday, an 11-1 win that was stopped in the fifth after Carson Bradsher drove home Delaney Shaffer.

With Cedar Ridge trailing 9-2 going into the seventh, it appeared another Orange win would be a mere formality.

Then funny things started happening.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Allen Byrd. “We come out of this game with our heads held high. What amazed me is that they never gave up. We were down seven runs, and they knew that wasn’t the time to give up. It was time to fight.”

Pinch hitter Tori Carden, in her second plate appearance of the year, drew a walk. Alex Matthews singled to centerfield. Takia Nichols walked to load the bases, which led Orange coach Johnny Barefoot to put in freshman right fielder Caden Robinson to pitch. Robinson struck out Emma-Rae Sharp, but Carden scored off a wild pitch. Senior catcher ShiLi Quade laid down a bunt to third and reached safely to load the bases again. Olivia Aitkin lined a single to centerfield to bring in Nichols and Matthews to make it 9-5.

Suddenly extending Orange to seven innings didn’t feel like the top priority anymore.

With Lowry at bat, Quade scored off a wild pitch. Then Lowry reached on a dropped ball in the outfield, which allowed Aitkin to come in. Second baseman Reagan Ruhl grounded a ball to Shaffer, who flipped to second base, but no one was covering. Senior Marleee Rakouskas got an infield hit on a slow roller to shortstop to load the bases again.

Carden, the tenth batter for Cedar Ridge in the 7th, came up. On a 1-1 pitch, Lowry scored off a wild pitch and moved Ruhl to third. After Carden drew another walk, Matthews grounded out to Carson Bradsher at short, which allows Ruhl to tie the game. Rakouskas, incredibly representing the game-winning run, moved to third.

After Nichols was intentionally walked, Sharp grounded to Wirt at third base, who came up with the ball and chucked it to catcher Lauren Jackson to retire Rakouskas at the plate on a force out. A game that appeared to be a breeze for Orange was now going to extra innings.

After Lowry’s near miss in the 8th, Wirt led off the ninth inning with a single. Following the RBI by Shaffer, centerfielder Serenity McPherson laced a 2-1 liner to left field to score Shaffer. Bradsher drilled a fastball to left field, which brought in Gracie Colley for insurance, but McPherson was tagged out at the plate.

Shaffer, in just her second varsity start at second base, made the game’s biggest defensive play in the bottom of the ninth inning. After Rakouskas and Carden hit consecutive singles to lead off the frame, Matthews lofted a soft liner to second. With the ball fading quickly, Shaffer dove under it to make the catch, then doubled up Carden at first. After Nichols was intentionally walked to a chorus of boos from the Cedar Ridge fans, Wirt fittingly got the final out on a grounder hit by Sharp.

Lowry, who finished 2-for-4 with a triple and a double, was responsible for ten outs (four putouts and six assists) at shortstop. Rakouskas went 3-for-4.

Bradsher finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored. McPherson went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Orange opened with three runs in the first inning. McPherson hit a leadoff single to centerfield, and Bradsher followed with an RBI triple to left field. Robinson wound up at third a dropped ball in left field to score Bradsher. With Jackson at bat, Robinson scored off a wild pitch.

McPherson scored again in the second inning after she got onboard off a single to shallow centerfield. Bradsher reached on an error, then got caught in a rundown after McPherson went to third. As Bradsher baited a throw, McPherson raced across the plate safely

It was one of seven unearned runs scored by Orange.

Cedar Ridge scored in the second inning after Lowry doubled to left field. After going to third on a groundout by Ruhl, Lowry touched the plate after a wild pitch to cut Orange’s lead to 4-1.

Jackson reached on an error to start the third inning. With Brianne Foster running for Jackson, Wirt singled up the middle. Pitcher Gracie Walker knocked in Foster with an groundout to Lowry. Shaffer singled in Wirt with a base hit to right field.

In the 80s, a walk followed by two stolen bases was known as the “Ricky Henderson triple.” Well, Bradsher increased Orange’s lead in the fourth with a Carson Bradsher home run to increase Orange’s lead to 6-1 during a sequence where she reached on a single, stole second and wound up at home after two throwing errors.

In the sixth, Brasher notched her third run of the game following another error. After Robinson moved her to second base on a groundout, Jackson lined a fastball to left field for a RBI double. At the time, it felt like an extraneous run, but it proved to be vital a short time later after Cedar Ridge scored seven runs in a 7th inning no one will soon forget.

In just her second varsity start, Orange 2nd baseman had the game-winning hit and the biggest defensive play in a classic game against Cedar Ridge on Friday night at Red Wolves Softball Stadium. After Cedar Ridge made an improbable comeback with seven runs in the 7th inning, Shaffer knocked in Mary Moss Wirt with a single to left field. Later in the inning, Shaffer scored off a single by Serenity McPherson. In the bottom of the ninth, Cedar Ridge had runners at first and second base with no one out, Shaffer caught a fading soft liner, then threw to first baseman Gracie Colley for a double play. The Lady Panthers maintained an undefeated record. They also had a regular season sweep of the Red Wolves for the first time since 2017. It was only the second win for Orange at Cedar Ridge since 2016. Orange, 8-0, will travel to Northwood on Tuesday.