Month: July 2024

After being a mainstay in the Orange baseball pitching rotation for three years, Cross Clayton earned an accolade attained only for the elite hurlers in school history.

A Conference Pitcher of the Year award.

Like Bryse Wilson and Ryan Hench before him, Clayton was named the Central Conference Pitcher of the Year following a vote of the league’s coaches. Clayton, who graduated last month, led the Panthers to its fourth consecutive conference title this season after Orange tied Southern Alamance with a 9-3 record. In the 3A State Playoffs, the Panthers would have the deepest run of any Central team, reaching the third round after an incredible comeback win over Cedar Ridge and a rout of Eastern Alamance.

Clayton became the first pitcher since Bryse Wilson to win 20 career games. He reached the milestone against Eastern Alamance on April 30 in Hillsborough. Clayton is only the third pitcher from Hillsborough in the past decade to reach 20 career wins. Cedar Ridge’s Phillip Berger, who graduated in 2019, holds the school record with 21 games. Berger went on to pitch four years at Division III William Peace University.

In his senior season, Clayton finished 6-2 with a 1.49 ERA. He led the team with 79 strikeouts with just nine walks. Through his career, getting ahead in the count became Clayton’s trademark. In a 4-1 win over Person on April 16, 80% of Clayton’s first pitches went for strikes. He finished with eleven strikeouts in a 4-1 win.

Clayton’s best performance of the year came against Walter Williams on April 9, when he threw a three-hit shoutout with seven strikeouts on just 78 pitches. In that game. his first pitch strike percentage was 69%.

For his career, Clayton had 173 strikeouts with 22 walks. He could have easily reached 20 wins earlier in his career, but he battled injuries throughout his junior season which became the theme for the entire Orange team for the 2023 season. He was limited to 29 innings but still had 43 strikeout in six pitching appearances. He finished with a 5-0 record and a 1.19 ERA. That included a compete game win over Lee County on April 12, 2023, where he struck out eight in a 4-1 win. Clayton needed only 88 pitches to earn the win. Clayton threw six shutout innings against Person on April 25, 2023, striking out a career-best 13 batters. He allowed just three hits in a 3-0 Orange win.

After spending his freshman year on the junior varsity team, Clayton earned a spot in the rotation on the varsity squad his sophomore year in Wilson during a 13-0 loss to Perquimans, a game that Orange coaches now look back on and laugh because it represented a turning point for the 2022 squad. Perquimans went on to win the 1A State Championship. A month after that loss, Clayton threw a five-inning perfect game against Cedar Ridge, a 16-0 Orange win that ensured the Central Conference championship. Clayton struck out four Red Wolves and got a Gatorade bath afterwards.

Clayton was also a reliable bat when he wasn’t pitching. In his final at-bat at Orange High Field, Clayton hit a three-run homer in a 19-1 win over Eastern Alamance in the second round of the state playoffs. In his last game in Hillsborough, Clayton went 3-for-3 with four RBIs with a double.

In his final game against Cedar Ridge, Clayton came to back with Orange down 4-0 in the seventh inning with two out. He lined an RBI double to the left field gap to score Wyatt Hedrick to score the first of seven runs in a 7-4 win.

Clayton hit .267 with six doubles and eleven runs scored. When he wasn’t on the mound, Clayton played second base with a few starts at shortstop.

Clayton will attend Gaston Community College to play baseball this fall. He will join his former teammate Jackson Berini, who just finished his freshman year.

The long nights where Connor Kruse fired shots into an empty net long after practice ended have long since paid off for him.

Now, in the dearth of summer, comes the gravy.

Kruse, the all-time leading scorer in Orange lacrosse history, was named  an All-American by USA Lacrosse for the third time in his career. Last week, Kruse also was named the HighSchoolOT.com winner for Best Offensive Lacrosse Player. Kruse became the first Orange lacrosse player to win a HighSchoolOT.com award, which is determined by online voting.

Kruse’s extraordinary final chapter at Orange, the greatest individual season in school lacrosse history, predictably led to a slew of postseason honors from coaches in the Mid-Carolina Conference. Kruse was named to the All-Conference team, one of seven players who earned a spot on the squad. He was also named to the All-State team for the third time by the North Carolina Coaches Lacrosse Association. He is the first player in the history of Hillsborough to make the All-State team three times. He also made the All-Region team for the third time. He was second-team All-Region as a freshman.

Kruse became the first Orange player to score over 200 points in a season. He registered 72 goals, which is five short of his own single-season record of 77, set in 2022.

On March 25, Kruse tied the national record for most assists in a game when he racked up 16 in a 18-5 win over Southern Alamance in Graham. He set the school record for most assists in a season with 130.

Kruse was the spark plug behind an Orange team that had the greatest season in school history. The Panthers won the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship for the first time ever, beating Croatan 14-9 at Auman Stadium on May 13. They advanced to the State Championship match, where Lake Norman Charter claimed its third consecutive crown at Durham County Memorial Stadium.

Kruse paced Orange to its fourth consecutive league championship, outscoring opposition 298-54 in the Mid-Carolina Conference. Orange had a school-record 24 wins with its only regular season loss coming against Holly Springs, a 4A team.

A starter since his freshman year, Kruse actually made history before he even put on an Orange uniform. He started for Stanford Middle School in a game against Roxboro Community School in Person County in March 2000, scoring the opening goal seconds after winning the face-off in an easy Charger victory. It was the final game before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which shut down middle school athletics across Orange County for 18 months. It was also the final game in the storied history of Stanford athletics before the Orange County School Board mandated the school be rebranded to Orange Middle.

Once high school sports emerged from the slog of the pandemic, Orange coach Chandler Zirkle immediately stuck Kruse, as a freshman, on the front unit with veterans Ryan Merrill, Caleb Davis and Cy Horner. The Panthers won its first-ever conference title and reached the state quarterfinals, upsetting Northwood along the way. From that point forward, the balance of power in local lacrosse shifted away from the Chapel Hill-based schools and directly to Hillsborough.

After Merrill, Horner and Davis graduated, Kruse took control of the offense his sophomore season. He set a school-record of 77 goals and 139 points as the Panthers finished 11-0 in league play.

In 2022 and 2023, Orange hosted the Eastern Regional Championship games. In his junior year, Kruse scored 69 goals and 150 points, leading Orange to an undefeated conference regular season.

Last December, Kruse signed with Lenoir-Rhyne University, which reached the Division II National Championship game in May. In 2023, Lenoir-Rhyne won its first national championship game.

Kruse and his cousin, swimmer Katie Belle Sikes, formed a tandem that led to unprecedented success in their respective sports at Orange. In February, Sikes was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer of the 3A State Championships for the second time in her career. Sikes, who will swim at the University of Georgia, claimed five individual state championships and three relay state titles, the first Orange female swimmer to win a state championship.

Mia Davidson: This week, Davidson will suit up for Team USA in the World Baseball Softball Confederation Softball World Cup Finals in Castions di Strada, Italy. The Americans will open against Canada on Monday at noon. Davidson continues to play for Denso Bright Pegasus in Japan’s Diamond League, where she starts regularly as catcher. She is hitting .189 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. The second half of the Japanese season starts September 7. The Bright Pegasus went 8-10 in the opening half of its season. After Davidson returns from Italy, she will resume play in Athletes Unlimited to round out the summer. It will be Davidson’s third season with Athletes Unlimited.

Ivy Garner: The North Carolina Courage U-23 women’s soccer team will host the championship game of the United Soccer W League next week at the WRAL Soccer Complex in Cary. On Saturday, the Courage defeated the Tennessee United Soccer Club 2-1 in added extra time during the W League’s semifinals. Garner, who spent her freshman season at Cedar Ridge High School before she transferred to Eno River Academy for her final three years, scored a goal in the quarterfinals against the Long Island Roughridgers, which the Courage won 3-0 on July 7. In the opening game of the W League Playoffs, Garner added another goal as the Courage whitewashed the North Carolina Fusion 7-nil. Garner helped Liberty University win the Conference USA Tournament championship last season, finishing with six goals and four assists in 20 games.

Bryse Wilson: The Milwaukee Brewers continue to lead the National League Central Division with a 54-42 record going into Saturday. They’re four games ahead of St. Louis. After starting games in May and June, Wilson has returned to the bullpen thus far in July. This season, he has a 5-3 record with a 4.12 ERA and 66 strikeouts. On Friday, Wilson threw one shutout inning with one strikeouts in a 5-2 loss to the Washington Nationals. Wilson had a no-decision. On June 25, Wilson earned the win in a game against the defending World Champion Texas Rangers 3-1 at American Family Ballpark. Wilson threw six shutout innings, allowing only three hits and striking out seven. On June 15, Wilson earned a 3-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. In five-plus innings, Wilson allowed three hits with zero runs, six strikeouts and two walks.

Ryan Hench: After redshirting this spring for the University of North Carolina baseball team, Hench is spending this summer playing for the Burlington Sock Puppets of the Appalachian League. Over six games, Hench is 1-3 with a 5.47 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 20 walks. Through July 13, Hench has thrown a team-high 24.2 innings. Hench earned his first win against the Sri-City Coal Cats 2-1 on June 22. He there five innings, striking out eight. He allowed four hits and just one run.

Joey Berini: Last month, Berin’s career with East Carolina came to a heartbreaking end when Evansville defeated the Pirates 6-5 at Clarke-LeClair Stadium in game seven of the Greenville Regional. In his final game with the Pirates, Berini started at shortstop. East Carolina, the #16 national seed, finished the year as the American Athletic Conference regular season champions with a 46-17 record. Berini, whose senior year at Orange was abbreviated to four games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, finished his final season starting all 63 games, one of only five Pirates to play in every game. He hit .225 with four home runs and 36 RBIs. In his ECU career, Berini won four AAC regular season titles.

Dante DeFranco: In its first season in the AAC, the Charlotte 49ers baseball team finished 27-37. They were eliminated by Florida Atlantic in the AAC Tournament in Clearwater Florida in May. DeFranco, who played there years at Cedar Ridge before transferring to Orange for his senior year, hit .259 in 55 games this season. He had one home run and 18 RBIs.

Following a season where the Cedar Ridge baseball team made the state playoffs for the third straight year, four Red Wolves were named to the All-Central Conference team.

Senior pitcher/utility man Mason Cates, junior Quinn Finnegan, sophomores Nick Aitkin and Ian McGuffey were honored after a vote of Central Conference coaches.

Cates, who committed to Catawba Valley Community College last winter, opened the Central Conference season by earning a win over Walter Williams in Burlington on March 12. Cates threw five innings with five strikeouts as the Red Wolves defeated the Bulldogs 7-6. In addition, Cates had an RBI single in the fourth inning. In the first inning, he had an RBI triple that reached the right field gap as Cedar Ridge stormed out to a 2-0 lead.

Cates also earned the save in a win at Chapel hill on April 24.

Against Orange in the state playoffs on May 7, Cates slammed a two-run homer over the centerfield fence that gave the Red Wolves a lead that would carry through for almost the entire night. Cates final game as a Red Wolf was one of his very best. he went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. In addition, Cates had a two-run double in the opening inning of a 15-5 win over Jordan-Matthews on March 13.

Cedar Ridge was one of only two teams from the Central Conference to beat Williams in Burlington this season.

Finnegan, in his third year as a starter, earned the save against Williams. He threw four shutout innings in a win over Chapel Hill at Tiger Field in April. Finnegan, who often started in right field when he wasn’t pitching, laced an RBI double. Later, John Grove would drive Finnegan in for a 3-2 win. It was a victory that paved the way to a six-game winning streak to conclude the regular season.

Against Eastern Alamance on April 19, Finnegan had a season-high five RBIs  in a 12-6 win in Mebane.

Ian McGuffey hit a walkoff single to help Cedar Ridge defeat Person March 19 in Hillsborough. The Red Wolves trailed 4-1 going into the seventh inning, but Cedar Ridge rallied to hand Person what was its first loss of the season. McGuffey wound up earning the win on the mound, striking out four over two shutout innings.

On Senior night against Western Alamance on April 26, McGuffey earned another win on the mound, allowing only two hits across six-plus innings as the Red Wolves defeated the Warriors 3-1. McGuffey also drove in Cedar Ridge’s opening run with an RBI line drive single down the left field line. In a 13-5 win over Carrboro on May 1, McGuffey had two RBIs.

Aitkin, the younger brother of former Cedar Ridge three-sport athlete Olivia Aitkin, threw three-and-one-thirds innings of shutout baseball in a 2-1 win over Western Alamance in nine innings at Elon. Aitkin, who played regularly as a freshman, often started at shortstop. Aitkin also scored the first run in the state playoff win over Orange during the Cates home run. Aitkin filled many roles for a Cedar Ridge team that made the state playoffs in a deep league. All seven teams from the Central Conference made the state playoffs.

After a disappointing start to April, Cedar Ridge rebounded and played its best baseball of the season during May. The Red Wolves started to turn the tide with its victory over Eastern Alamance on April 19, its third straight win over the Eagles in Mebane. From there, Cedar Ridge swept a two-game series against Western Alamance, including a marathon win in Elon that went ten innings. In the final week of the regular season, they defeated Carrboro, who claimed the #12 seed in the state playoffs, and Knightdale.