The Orange softball team has played King of the Mountain in the Central Conference for nearly a month now.
Well, Queen of the Hill, in this case.
Of course, to inherit that lofty title, you have to unseat the Queens of the Hill. Orange did precisely that when they defeated Western Alamance, the defending 3A Eastern Regional champions, 16-6 on March 19 in Hillsborough.
There have been a long line of challengers since then. A 5-4 win at Southern Alamance, the 2021 3A State Champions. Last week, an 8-5 victory over Eastern Alamance, the 2019 and 2022 State Champions.
On Monday night, Person arrived into Hillsborough with six straight losses to the Lady Panthers and losses in six of its previous seven games. Yet the Rockets gave Orange its best shot, only for the home team to prevail once again to stay atop the league.
Junior Sadie Cecil drilled a first-pitch home run over the left field wall while senior Caden Robinson struck out nine for her eleventh win of the season as Orange defeated the Rockets 4-2 at Panther Softball Field. Orange remains in 1st place in the Central Conference with a 6-0 mark, one game ahead of Southern Alamance.
The victory was far from smooth sailing for Orange. Person pitcher Paisley Rigsbee limited Orange to six hits, its lowest amount since racking up five hits against Roxboro Community School on March 13, a 9-2 Panther win.
Fortunately for Orange, they got enough runs early to stay ahead the entire game. Cecil took the first pitch she saw deep over the left field fence and the ball didn’t touch the ground until it got to the adjacent football practice field. Katie Carden followed with a high liner that went over the head of Josey Harris in right field and the ball rolled to the fence. Carden stood up with a triple. Robinson blooped a fastball that landed between Harris and Kenzley Horne, easily scoring Carden. Robinson wound up with a double and would steal third with Hayeligh Hammond at the plate.
It appeared Rigsbee would escape the inning without any further damage. She struck out Delaney Shaffer and Hammond, then had a 1-2 count on Rhiley Crabtree. Then Crabtree swung at strike three, but the ball bounced off the shin guard of catcher Delayna Grimes. As Crabtree ran to first, Grimes’ throw to first was short, bouncing off Makayla Walker’s knee. Robinson scored off the dropped third strike wild pitch to make it 3-0, an error that the Rockets never stopped paying for.
Orange had three hits in the first inning, then amassed only three more for the remainder of the game.
In the bottom of the third, Shaffer sent a hard grounder to left field for a leadoff single, then took second after an errant Person throw back to the infield. Hammond skied a single to right field, sending Shaffer to third. Hammond picked up an extra base when the relay throw missed the cutoff man. With Crabtree at the plate, Shaffer scored off a wild pitch, which turned out to be Orange’s final run.
Person would steadily creep back. Taryn Massey slammed a solo home run to right field to lead off the fourth inning. In the sixth, Camryn Clarke reached on a fly ball to right field for a single. Massey was intentionally walked, with no one out. Clarke went to third after Walker grounded out to Shaffer at second base. Horne lined a single dead up the middle to score Clarke to cut the Orange lead to 4-2. Macey Bowes grounded out to Katie Carden at third to end the sixth.
Person never got the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. Robinson struck out Liberty Jones and Massey. Rigsbee lined out to Natalie Roberson in right field to end the game.
On Tuesday, Orange (11-2, 6-0 in the Central Conference) will face to Burlington to face Williams in a doubleheader.