Orange High School

Carson Bradsher: Last Saturday, the Division III Averett University softball team swept Meredith University in a doubleheader at Meredith Softball Complex in Raleigh. Bradsher factored in heavily as the Cougars came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Avenging Angels. In the 3rd inning, Bradsher had an RBI double to score Hannah Jones. In the seventh, Bradsher reached an infield single and scored the game-tying run off a bases-loaded double by Kadence Woodlief. Averett completed the sweep with a 12-3 win in six innings. Bradsher went 2-for-3 with an RBI single during a seven-run 2nd inning. She also had a stolen base. On Tuesday, Christopher Newport University swept Averett in a doubleheader at Captains Park in Newport News, VA. Bradsher went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in the opener, which Newport won 6-1.

Mary Moss Wirt: On March 2, Wirt started for the Elon softball team against UNC Greensboro in the second game of a doubleheader at UNCG Softball Stadium. Starting at catcher, Wirt drew three walks. UNC Greensboro defeated the Phoenix 16-4 in five innings. Last Saturday, Wirt went 1-for-4 as Sacred Heart defeated Elon 4-1 at Hunt Softball Park in Elon. The Phoenix are 7-11.

Takia Nichols: On Tuesday, Nichols had an RBI single for North Carolina Central against Gardner-Webb. The Runnin’ Bulldogs wound up winning in five innings.

Ava Lowry: North Carolina Wesleyan dominated Valley Forge 25-1 in five innings at North Myrtle Beach Softball Complex during the FastPitch Dreams Spring Classic on Monday. Lowry, starting at shortstop, drew a walk and scored a run. Also last weekend, Waynesburg defeated Wesleyan 4-1 Monday. Lowry finished went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly RBI. N.C. Wesleyan is 3-5 and will play at Walnut Creek Park in Raleigh. They will open with Oberlin on Friday afternoon.

Brianne Foster: The former Orange catcher went 1-for-2 for Wake Tech’s softball team on Tuesday. Louisburg defeated the Eagles 11-1 in the opening game of a doubleheader. Foster started at catcher. Last weekend at Brunswick Community College, Foster went 1-for-3 in the second game of a doubleheader. The Dolphins defeated the Eagles 5-3 in the back end of a doubleheader. Foster also played second base in the opening game of the twin bill.

Olivia Aitkin: As Amherst softball prepares to start its season on March 16, Aitkin was recently the subject of a behind the microphone segment from the university.  

Jackson Berini: Currently, Berini is in his sophomore year at Gaston College in Dallas, North Carolina. Next year, he will move on to play at Wichita State of the American Athletic Conference. Through 12 games this year, Berini is hitting .261 with the Rhinos. Among the highlights of Berini’s season so far is going 1-for-3 with three runs scored in a 10-0 win over Hartford Community College on February 14. On February 9, Berini went 2-for-4 with a double in a 13-6 win over Catawba Valley Community College. Gaston is 15-6-1 overall, 3-3 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Jackson’s older brother, Joey, has joined the Orange baseball staff as an assistant coach.

Cross Clayton: Clayton made his college debut with Gaston College against Wake Technical Community College on February 25. Clayton threw two-thirds of an inning and allowed two runs off three hits. Gaston won 11-3. Clayton graduated from Orange last year and was the first Panther pitcher since Wilson to win 20 games in a career.

Wyatt Hedrick: The Wake Tech baseball team fell to the North Carolina Wesleyan junior varsity squad 6-5 on February 27. Hedrick made his debut for the Eagles and threw a perfect fourth inning, striking out the side. Wake Tech is 9-10 overall, 6-3 in Region X.

Bryse Wilson: So far in spring training, Wilson has thrown in two games for the Chicago White Sox. On Wednesday, he started against the Milwaukee Brewers, where he played the past two seasons. Wilson allowed one run off three hits in three innings. He also had three walks and three strikeouts. On February 26, Wilson threw two shutout innings against the San Diego Padres. He struck out one and allowed two hits.

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DURHAM–In the dead cold of an early Monday afternoon, Orange sophomore Kayden Bradsher delivered a shot of lightning.

On the first pitch of the game, Bradsher jolted a fastball to the centerfield fence at the new Northern Durham baseball field. While the dimensions aren’t posted, Bradsher nearly lifted it over the deepest part of the young park for a stand-up triple, easily the hardest hit ball on a day that lacked fireworks.

From there, Orange’s young but promising pitching staff did the rest.

Bradsher would score off a passed ball, which would be all the offense the Panthers needed. In his second start, Ryan Sawyer struck out eight in just three innings as Orange blanked Northern Durham 6-0.

Sawyer improved to 2-0 as the Panthers won its third straight to improve to 3-1.

It was just the second game at Northern’s new campus ballpark. Last week, the Knights defeated Roxboro Community School 10-0 in its long-awaited debut on its own field that was delayed over a year. Last spring, the Knights had to play games at its longtime location along Latta Road.

Garrett Sawyer, starting in right field, scored two runs. In the opening frame, following Bradsher’s triple, Sawyer walked, then stole second. Following the passed ball, Sawyer took third. Dominic O’Keefe sent a grounded into the faded grass along Northern’s infield that hasn’t been wetted due to the lack of sprinklers. O’Keefe legged out an infield single to score Garrett Sawyer.

Of Northern’s nine outs in the opening three innings, Ryan Sawyer struck out eight of them. Northern loaded the bases in the opening inning behind singles from J.P. Rodio and Liam Hawkes, followed by a walk from Mason Wilkins. Sawyer struck out J.D. Williams swinging to shut down the Knights only threat while the margin was close.

Orange sent nine batters to the plate in the third inning. Camryn Raspberry stroked an RBI single to right field to score Garrett Sawyer, who drew a one-out walk. Henry Hoffman, who also walked, came home after a dropped ball at second base hit by Mason Bullard. Hunter Albert, who just finished indoor track & field season, sent an RBI single to right field to bring in Raspberry.

Orange is scheduled to face Grimsley at First National Bank Field in Greensboro, the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, on Wednesday night at 6.

Cedar Ridge 11, South Granville 1, six innings: Ian McGuffey attacked South Granville on the mound and at the plate in the Red Wolves first win of the season on Friday night in Hillsborough.

McGuffey finished 3-for-3 with a double. He also earned the win by striking out five over five innings as the Red Wolves earned a run-rule victory over the Vikings. Cedar Ridge improved to 1-2.

McGuffey doubles in the opening inning, then created his own run. He stole third and took home after a wild pitch while Walker Holmes was at-bat.

Cedar Ridge scored five runs in the third to bust the game open. Sophomore John Grove reached on an error. Grant McGuffey sent a double down the left field line to bring in Noah Heckman, a courtesy runner for Grove. McGuffey stole third and Aidan Ryan stoked a RBI single to left field. Hudson Kelly lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield, allowing Ryan to score. Quinn Finnegan sent a cue shot up the line which the catcher threw away. After Finnegan advanced to second, Ian McGuffey lined a single to centerfield to score Finnegan.

Finnegan would hit his first home run of the season over the deep centerfield fence at Red Wolf Stadium.

On Monday night, Wake Forest defeated Cedar Ridge 12-1. The Red Wolves are scheduled to travel to Chatham Central on Wednesday in Bear Creek. On Thursday, Cedar Ridge will host East Wake Academy.

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There are plenty of new faces for Orange softball as they start the new season.

First-year coach Emily Pearce got power up and down her lineup to win her first game against an eight-time state champion.

Junior Katie Carden slammed two home runs while Allie Carden added another dinger as the Lady Panthers hammered South Granville 10-1 in Creedmoor on Wednesday night. In her first varsity game, freshman Kylee Allen also homered as the Lady Panthers accomplished the rare feat of beating the Lady Vikings.

South Granville has won eight straight conference championships and 51 consecutive conference games, stretching back to its days as a 2A team.

Even Orange’s 2017 3A State Championship team, featuring Mia Davidson and Carden’s cousin Jayden Hurdle, lost to South Granville.

Pearce, who was raised around a softball powerhouse at Alexander Central, was posed with the dilemma of replacing three-year starting pitcher Caden Robinson, who graduated last year. Sophomore Addison Guentensberger stepped in and allowed just three hits in a complete game victory, striking out three.

South Granville’s Chaleigh Currin struck out 12 over seven innings.

Katie Carden finished 4-for-4 with six RBIs. She immediately struck for a RBI single to drive in Hayleigh Hammond, who stole second after walking in the first inning. The Vikings’ Tiatana Bates drove in Avery Wilson to even the game for the Vikings only run in the bottom of the inning.

The game remain tied going into the fourth inning until Allie Caden stroked a triple to right field. Senior Karley Neighbors lined a single to left field to bring in Carden, starting a string of nine unanswered Orange runs.

Katie Carden’s first home run ignited a four-run fifth inning that put the game out of reach. After leadoff batter Sadie Cecil reached on a single to centerfield, Carden drove one deep to right that landed on a steep hill over the fence. Orange hit back-to-back-to-back home runs with Allie Carden and Allen each hitting dingers to put the Lady Panthers ahead 6-1.

Cecil drove in Guentensberger with an RBI single in the sixth. That led to Katie Carden’s second home run, a three-run blast scoring Cecil and Reese Blank.

Orange’s game against Apex Friendship was canceled on Friday. They’re scheduled to host Southeast Alamance in its home opener on Monday afternoon in Hillsborough.

Cedar Ridge 16, Chapel Hill 1: Junior Mia Best struck out nine as the Red Wolves defeated Chapel Hill 16-1 for its first win of the season on Wednesday at CHHS. Best finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

Senior Charlotte Lowry, who started in the circle in Cedar Ridge’s season-opener against Wakefield last week, hit a three-run homer in the third as the Red Wolves finished off the Tigers in six innings. Reagan Simmons, who spent last season at Apex, returned to the Cedar Ridge lineup starting at catcher.

Junior Laci Sykes drove in the opening run in the second inning with a bloop pop-up in the infield that eluded the Chapel Hill infielders. Raegan Remaly, who lined a double to right earlier, scored. Best drove in Sykes and Madeline Galindo-Woodring with a double to right field.

Lowry blew the game wide open with a three-run blast in the third. Simmons and Remaly both reached on errors to start the frame.

Simmons, Rylee Capps and Remaly all drew walks to open the fifth inning. Galindo-Woodring lined a single to right field to bring in Simmons and Capps. Best drove in Remaly with a single that reached the edge of the right field grass.

Senior Kimber Shambley, who has signed with Western Carolina, opened the sixth inning with a double to centerfield. Shambley would later score off an error.

Cedar Ridge will host Eastern Alamance in its Central Conference opener in Hillsborough on Monday night at 6.

ROXBORO–There was nothing unexpected in Orange’s seventh game in 13 months against Person on Friday night.

The players were exceedingly familiar with each other, right down to which player would be matched up on another. They knew their seasons would be on the line because this was the second round of the 3A State Playoffs. Everyone understood there would be an overflow crowd waiting to get in to watch two conference rivals battle in the state playoffs for the first time in modern history.

Indeed, there was a line stretched around Person’s auxiliary entrance 15 minutes before tipoff. The wait for tickets was so long, along with metal detectors at the gate, the crowd didn’t fully settle in until midway through the second quarter.

What was unusual about Friday night was how Person won. It was with defense.

Orange shot just 2-of-15 from 3-point range.

What wasn’t unusual was the play of Lance Clarke, who put in a stellar performance as the Rockets won their biggest battle ever against Orange.

Clarke finished with 20 points to send Person onto the Sweet 16 of the 3A State Playoffs with a 56-53 win. The Rockets (27-2) claimed its 14th straight win and will host White Oak on Tuesday night. It was the Rockets third win over the Panthers in February.

Orange ends the season 19-9. Junior guard Kai Wade paced the Panthers with 18 points.

It’s Person’s first trip to the third round of the state playoffs since 2012, when they were a 4A team playing in the old PAC-6 Conference.

Orange suffered its worst shooting performance since the fifth-place game of the South Granville Holiday Invitational in Creedmoor, where they went 2-of-16 against Cedar Valley (Utah) on December 31. Even that performance comes with an asterisk because Cedar Valley had won its previous two games in the tournament. The only reason they played Orange in the fifth-place game was because they had a catch a flight back to Eagle Mountain, Utah and needed to play early in order to fit in a third game on its east coast trip.

Kai Wade drilled a 3-pointer for the game’s opening field goal. Clarke immediately galloped down the floor to the basket, scored on a lay-in and was fouled by Orange senior Michael Clark. The Rockets scored 12 in a row playing stiff defense, including Clarke stripping the ball away from Freddy Sneed for a lay-in to put Person ahead 12-3, leading to an Orange timeout. The Panthers went over four minutes without a point and played catchup the rest of the night.

To make matters tougher for Orange, they lost Clark to three fouls in the first quarter. Clark scored the game-winning 3-point play with :36.7 remaining to beat C.B. Aycock on Tuesday night.

Yet Person’s fortunes from downtown weren’t any better. The Rockets were 1-of-15 from 3-point range. Kyan Lunsford made Person’s only 3-pointer midway through the second quarter to give Person its largest lead at 25-11.

Orange had sprung a big comeback before in Roxboro. In its 67-65 win on January 9, the Panthers shot 12-of-15 from the field in the 3rd quarter to erase a 28-9 Person lead, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range. While the shots weren’t falling on Friday, the Panthers still made a rally and had a chance to tie twice in the final two minutes.

Kai Wade started a run with his patented pull-up jumper from 15-feet early in the fourth quarter. Then Sneed stripped the ball away from Person guard Quante Bowman and slammed it down, his final points as a Panther. Clark made a theft off a pass and with a chance to cut Person’s lead to three points, Sneed was called for a charge, taken by Bowman.

Clark came alive in his final quarter as a Panther. He scored a 3-point play to cut Person’s lead to 44-40 with 6:09 remaining.

Just as he did during the Central Conference Tournament last week, Lunsford came through in crucial moments. He scored an old-school 3-point play, then on a lay-in following a steal by Clarke.

With Person leading 50-44, Wade got a uncontested lay-in off a steal for a lay-up. Then Clark picked off a pass and scored on a lay-in. Clarke took a pass and sank a jumper in the paint to extend the Person lead to 52-48.

Wade drained Orange’s only 3-pointer of the second half to cut it to 52-51. The Rockets missed a lay-up on its next trip and Orange had a chance to take the lead with :44 left, but the Panthers missed from deep. Bowman got the rebound to trigger a transition basket, which ended with Clarke finding Lunsford to put the Rockets up by three. Orange missed another 3-pointer, resulting in a lay-in by Clarke with :19 left.

Clark scored on a short jumper with :10.3 left, reducing Person’s lead to 56-53. On the subsequent inbounds pass, Person’s Tae Winstead dropped the ball out of bounds. With another chance to tie, a shot fell short for Orange and the Rockets ran out the clock.

A remorseful Orange locker room was emotional afterwards following a successful season Despite losing its top scorer in Coleman Cloer, who transferred to Caldwell Academy, and center Mason Robinson, who left for Greensboro Day School, the Panthers won 19 games, including road wins at Chapel Hill and Person.

In the end, seniors Xandrell Pennix, Michael Clark, Freddy Sneed, Ethan Ellis, Jamari McDaniel, Conrad Graham, Barrett Liner and Ian Wilson just wanted one more shot to go down against a Person team that beat Orange three times in February by a combined margin of six points.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior swimmer Piper White. Last month, White won two Central Regional individual titles at the championships held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. White won the 50 yard freestyle title at 25.04 seconds, keeping that event within the Panther family. The previous four years, Katie Belle Sikes of Orange had won the 50 free. White added the 100 yard freestyle regional championship to her resume, finishing at 54.33 seconds. At the Central Conference Championships at the Orange County Sportsplex in Hillsborough on January 25, White won the 50 yard free title at 26.51 seconds. She also won the 100 yard freestyle championship. White would go on to take the bronze medal at the 3A State Championships in the 50 yard freestyle. White also won the conference championship in the 200 yard medley relay with teammates Addison Moore, Zoe Jones and Ainsley Rasinske. They finished at 2:02.68. White also took a conference championship in the 400 yard freestyle relay with Jones, Moore and Rasinske, closing at 4;09.98. White has won three state championships in relay races. She teamed with Sikes, Riley White and Jones to take the 200 yard medley and 400 yard freestyle in 2024. White helped Orange finish 2nd in the conference championships this year and has been a member of won two team conference titles in 2023 and 2024.

Orange Panther of the Week: Piper White

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior swimmer Piper White. Last month, White won two Central Regional individual titles at the championships held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. White won the 50 yard freestyle title at 25.04 seconds, keeping that event within the Panther family.

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The Orange lacrosse team may have lost the highest scorer in school history, but their expectations aren’t any lower for this season. After winning the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship, the Panthers have opened this season 2-0 with dominant victories over Southeast Alamance and Northern Guilford. On Tuesday, Owen Wimstt had a hat trick while Dylan Herndon scored two goals as the Orange dominated the Stallions in Haw River in the season-opener. Luke Nevius and Luke Stitz each recorded three points while Jackson Eakes added two goals. Overall, 13 different Panthers scored goals. Eakes handled duties as the faceoff circle, winning eight draws. Ryder Fesperman also had eight faceoff wins. In Orange’s home opener on Wednesday night, the Panthers defeated Northern Guilford 11-3. Jay Parker scored four goals while Brett Clark added three goals. Orange lost plenty on the defensive end with the graduations of Sascha Van Praag and Alden Cathey. Andrew Jouannet came up big on the defensive end against the Nighthawks. Holden Ray forced a takeaway and Aidan Monteith also had takeaways. Goalkeeper Jackson Runkle had seven saves. Orange has won four consecutive conference championships under head coach Chandler Zirkle. Next week, the Panthers will open conference play against Walter Williams at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough.

Orange lacrosse’s Holden Ray, Aidan Monteith & Drew Jouannet discuss 2-0 start to season

The Orange lacrosse team may have lost the highest scorer in school history, but their expectations aren’t any lower for this season. After winning the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship, the Panthers have opened this season 2-0 with dominant victories over Southeast Alamance and Northern Guilford.