After a four-year career at UNC Greensboro, Tori Dalehite returned to her softball roots this winter by joining the Cedar Ridge coaching staff.
Tuesday night must have brought back some pleasant memories.
The last time Cedar Ridge defeated Orange in softball, Dalehite was a senior in 2019. Takia Nichols, the all-time home run hitter in school history who now starts at North Carolina Central, was a sophomore.
Six years of frustration against Cedar Ridge’s crosstown rival ended on Tuesday.
Senior Charlotte Lowry threw a four-hitter while also going 2-for-3 at the plate to push Cedar Ridge past Orange 7-1 at Cedar Ridge Softball Field.
Seniors Kimber Shambley and Reagan Simmons each homered for the Red Wolves while Laci Sykes delivered a two-run single the first inning. The Red Wolves (5-3 overall, 3-1) remain one game back of Eastern Alamance for first place in the Central Conference. Cedar Ridge will travel to Eastern Alamance on Friday in a crucial rematch from a somewhat controversial result from earlier this month.
Lowry made sure nothing was controversial against the Lady Panthers. She struck out nine batters and didn’t allow a hit until the third inning. Orange did mount a minor threat in the first inning after freshman Kaylee Allen walked and advanced to second when Allie Carden reached on a dropped ball. Lowry retired the side when she struck out Addison Guentensberger.
When Orange made mistakes in the field, Cedar Ridge capitalized on them. Raegan Remaly reached on an errant throw to first in the opening inning. After Shambley and Simmons walked to load the bases, Remaly scored when a pitch from Guentensberger skipped away from Carden, the Orange catcher, to the backstop. Sykes dropped a two-run bloop into shallow right field to plate Simmons and Shambley and increase Cedar Ridge’s lead to 3-0.
Simmons, who played at Apex High School last year before retuning to Cedar Ridge this season, led off the third inning with a towering home run over the centerfield fence. It was her team-leading fourth home run of the year.
In her seventh start, Lowry improved to 4-1 with 38 strikeouts and seven walks.
Simmons drove in another run in the fourth when she smashed a fastball down the left field line for a double. Remaly, who was hit by a pitch earlier, scored. Rylee Capps, who hit a grand slam in last week’s rout of Southern Alamance, grooved a single to centerfield to score Simmons and increase the Red Wolf lead to 6-0. Capps leads the team with a .519 batting average.
Orange didn’t get a runner to third base until the sixth inning when Carden delivered a solo homer over left field.
Shambley, who has committed to Western Carolina, led off the seventh inning with a deep fly ball over the fence in left field that nearly hit the scoreboard. It was Shambley first home run of the season.
Now Cedar Ridge heads to Mebane for Friday’s game. The conference opener against Eastern Alamance from March 3 will be easy to remember. The Red Wolves led 3-0 after three innings against the Eagles on March 3. The Eagles scored its first run off a controversial call when Edie Stewart sent a fly ball to centerfield while Rachel Byrd was at third base. After Cedar Ridge’s Madeline Galindo-Woodring made the catch, Byrd tagged up. Originally, the field umpired ruled that Byrd had left the base early and was called out. The home plate umpire overruled the field umpire’s call and the run counted.
That proved to be costly for Cedar Ridge in the end. The Red Wolves led 4-1 in the seventh inning before Eastern Alamance scored three runs to send the game into extra innings. Brylea Warren hit a game-tying, three-run homer. The Eagles added four runs in the eighth inning.
Cedar Ridge’s last conference championship in softball was in 2019.
