It would have been memorable enough if the Orange baseball team had simply beaten its crosstown rival Cedar Ridge on Thursday night.
A victory would sew up the Central Carolina Conference regular season championship. It would be Orange’s seventh straight win, its longest streak in six years. They would ensure the top seed for the Central Carolina Conference Tournament starting May 2.
It was a game Orange’s coaching staff expected to win, but there’s seldom a time when high expectations result in something even greater happening.
The perfect end to Orange’s chase for the regular season championship came in the form of a 5-inning perfect game delivered by a sophomore who played on the junior varsity team a year ago.
Cross Clayton retired all 15 of the Red Wolves that came up to bat in order on just 42 pitches for his team-leading sixth win of the season. The Panthers (14-6 overall, 9-1 in the CCC) had a season-high 18 hits in a 16-0 rout of the Red Wolves in front of a packed Orange Baseball Field Thursday night.
Orange wrapped up the regular season championship with two league games to spare. It’s the second straight conference title for the Panthers, who tied Northern Durham for the Big 8 Championship in 2021 amidst an unusual format dictated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was the final CCC game of the regular season for Cedar Ridge, who fell to third place in the conference at 7-5. The Red Wolves (12-8, 7-5) now find themselves in the unaccustomed position of rooting for Orange next week. If the Panthers beat Eastern Alamance once in their two-game series, the Red Wolves will receive the #2 seed in the CCC, which includes an automatic spot in the state playoffs.
As soon as Clayton struck out Garrett Ray for the final out, he was swarmed on the mound by his teammates, who couldn’t quite tackle Clayton for a team pile-up, but did administer a quality Gatorade shower.
Perhaps there was something in the air, but the last Panther who had a perfect game was Bryse Wilson, who retired 21 straight batters against Eastern Wayne in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs on May 10, 2016. As Clayton completed his perfect game in Hillsborough on Thursday, Wilson started in Wrigley Field for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Chicago Cubs, which ended in a 3-2 Pirates win.
Whether the official NCHSAA record books count Clayton’s performance as a perfect game because it went only five innings due to the run-rule was irrelevant to Orange coach Jason Knapp.
“In my book, that was a perfect game,” Knapp said. “We got it done with the sticks to score 16 runs, so I think that was a perfect game in anybody’s book.”
Clayton’s emergence from a middle reliever in early March to three consecutive complete game shutouts against Person, Northwood and Cedar Ridge is the backbone of Orange’s rise to the CCC championship. As a freshman, Clayton went 2-0 on the junior varsity squad with a 2.29 ERA.
Clayton started Orange’s chase to the CCC Regular Season championship, so he may as well have been the one who ended it. On a fiery night on March 15 in Elon, Clayton replaced starter Ryan Hench in a scoreless game against Western Alamance in the sixth inning and held the Warriors within a run. Orange shortstop Jackson Berini stole home in the 7th for the game’s only run where the tension was thick and the tempers were short on the field, in the stands, even in the press box.
After Orange dropped the rematch against Western Alamance the following Friday, followed by a dour performance against Perquimans in Wilson the next day, Knapp made Clayton the #2 starter for late-week games. The Panthers haven’t lost a conference game since.
“We put him in a tough situation in Western Alamance and he got through it,” Knapp said. “He got the win. From that point on, as a staff, we just thought he was our #2 arm. He’s a pitcher. He commands his stuff with an array of pitches and his efficiency the past month has been unbelievable. He’s got confidence in the guys’ playing behind him.”
After Clayton retired the Red Wolves on just eight pitches in the first inning, Berini lined a double to right field in the bottom of the first. Ryan Hench followed with another double that bounced off the top of the left field fence to score Berini for the game’s opening run. Designated hitter Connor Nordan lined a sacrifice fly to Mason Cates to bring in Hench and increase Orange’s lead to 2-0.
Nordan, who had five RBI’s on Tuesday at Cedar Ridge, went 7-for-8 with eight RBIs in the two-game series.
Berini set the tone for Orange defense in the second inning when he made all three outs on throws to first base, any of which could have gone for a hit on another day. Berini sprinted to the dugout after the third out and slapped gloves with all of his teammates on the bench as Orange’s emotion vaulted into the next level.
The Panthers added five runs in the second inning, sending ten batters to the plate. Cameron Guentensebger, Connor Funk and Codey Snipes all had infield singles to load the bases. Neo Best, in only his fifth start of the year, lined an RBI single over the head of the third baseman into left field. Catcher Davis Horton delivered a double down the right field line and Orange led 7-0 at the end of the second.
The Panthers added nine more runs in the fourth inning. Hench scored twice in the frame. After a double to right field, Nordan knocked Hench in with a single to left field. Later in the inning, which included 14 batters coming to the plate, Hench smoked a three-run homer to left field.
Now that they’ve secured the #1 seed for the Central Carolina Conference Tournament, the Panthers will receive a bye into the semifinals. They will play on Wednesday, May 4 against an opponent to be determined. Orange will face Southern Lee on Saturday at noon in Hillsborough before hosting Eastern Alamance on Tuesday, also at home.
Cedar Ridge will play two nonconference games next week. They face Southwest Guilford on Wednesday in High Point, followed by a trip to Bartlett Yancey on Thursday to conclude the regular season. The Red Wolves are guaranteed to host a game in the CCC Tournament, the first postseason contest at Red Wolves Territory since 2018.