It was another big day for Orange runner Spencer Hampton on Thursday. Competing against Vance County and Northern Durham, Hampton won the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters at Auman Stadium in the final home meet of the year. Hampton finished the 1,600 in 4:32.10, a full nine seconds ahead of runner-up Gabe Schmidt. In the 3,200 meters, Hampton finished at 10:25.50, over 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Hampton has six first-place finishes this season. On May 6, Hampton won the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters against East Chapel Hill. In Orange’s season-opening track event against Southern Durham and Cedar Ridge on April 29, Hampton finished the 1,600 meters in 4:27.80, then completed the 3,200 meters in 10:27.50. Hampton has already qualified for the 3A Mideast Regional Championships in the 1,600 meters, which will be held at Southern Lee High School in Sanford on June 19. Hampton is aiming to qualify for the state championships, but first he has a meet coming up on Thursday at Northwood High in Pittsboro that will also include Cedar Ridge.

Orange junior Jeffrey Faulkner set his personal best in the 400 meters during the senior day meet at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. Competing against Northern Durham and Vance County, Faulkner finished the 400 in 52.04 seconds. Later, Faulkner finished 3rd in the 200 meters at 24.84, finishing just behind teammate Gasiah Drewery, who came in second. Since track and field season has been extended this year, Faulkner is focused on qualifying for the 3A State Championships. First, he and the rest of his Orange teammates will have to qualify through the 3A Mideast Regionals. That will be held at Southern Lee High School in Sanford on June 19. The 3A State Championships will be held on June 26. Next week, Orange will compete in a meet at Northwood High School in Pittsboro.

There’s something about playing Northwood that has brought out the best in Cedar Ridge baseball this year.

After a string of one-run losses and seven-inning rallies that fell short, Cedar Ridge cut a path to a surprisingly decisive 6-1 win over the Chargers at Red Wolves Territory on Friday night. Junior pitcher Cristian Macias earned his second win of the year on the mound as the Red Wolves (3-5, 3-4 in the Big 8 Conference) swept the season series from the Chargers for the first time ever in a rivalry that dates back to 2009.

“I credit our guys because they come out here every day and they work for one goal,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Bryson Massey. “We just try to get better every day. We can’t do anything about what’s happened the first half of the season. We’re just trying to play better each time we play.”

Northwood (5-3 overall, 4-3 in the Big 8 Conference) came into the game with wins in five of its last seven games, including a victory over Northern Durham last week. Northern captured a share of the Big 8 Conference Championship on Tuesday with a 4-0 win over Orange.

Sophomore Cedar Ridge shortstop B.J. Thornton set the right tone early with an RBI double to score junior first baseman Aidan McAllister in the 1st inning. It started a three-run opening frame for the Red Wolves that continued when Bryce Clark reached on an infield single. Thornton wound up scoring off a double steal when Clark raced for second. Garrett Ray doubled down the left field line to plate Clark.

“B.J. stepped up,” Massey said. “He’s a young guy in our lineup. We know he’s a ball player. He’s growing and maturing and we know he’s going to great things at Cedar Ridge.”

The top of the lineup pushed across three more runs for Cedar Ridge in the third inning. After Thornton took second off a dropped fly ball to start the frame, Clark lined an RBI single to left field. Macias sent a grounder to third base, which was fumbled and led to Clark scoring.

Catcher Tucker Cothran, on his senior night, lined a single to right to move Macias to third base. With Trent Kirby at bat, Northwood pitcher Zach Barnes was called for a balk, which allowed Macias to score.

After Macias was replaced as pitcher in the fourth inning, junior Will Berger had easily his best performance of the season. Berger, the younger brother of former Cedar Ridge All-Conference pitcher Phillip Berger, threw two-and-one-thirds innings of shutout baseball with three strikeouts. Senior Matt Hughes struck out the side in the seventh to conclude the Red Wolves’ most impressive game under Massey.

This season, Massey has used four different starting pitchers in seven contested games (Vance County and Southern Durham were forfeit wins). He’s coming closer to finding the top man in the rotation.

“As a coaching staff, we’ve talked about what gives us our best chance,” Massey said. “We’re going to roll out somebody every game that can compete in the first three innings. That’s where we’ve struggled. Keeping it close after three innings. We have shown that we can score runs late. But we just need to shut them down from the start. Tonight, we did that.”

Northwood scored its only run in the second inning when Jackson Shaner knocked in Walker Johnson with a sacrifice fly to left field, which was caught by Grady Ray. Johnson reached on a double to left field with one out, then moved to third off an error.

Cedar Ridge (4-5, 4-4) now ventures into an interesting stretch where they travel to Chapel Hill on Tuesday before hosting archival Orange next Friday.

Before the game, the Red Wolves held a ceremony to honor seniors Clark, Cothran, Kirby, Hughes, Grady Ray, Marco Velasquez and Hunter Shingleton.

There are errors that a defense commits in baseball that turn out to be only as big as a minnow in the sea.

Orange, on the other hand, made errors against East Chapel Hill the size of great white sharks.

The Panthers, who led 5-0 at the end of three innings, registered five errors in an 8-7 loss to East Chapel Hill at Wildcats Stadium on a steamy Friday afternoon. Trailing 7-5 going into the bottom-of-the-sixth inning, East scored three runs to win it. East’s Ben Smith scored the game-winning run as he advanced to third base off a wild pitch, and the subsequent pickoff throw ended up in left field.

It was a day of wayward throws by the Orange defense, which had been a consistently competent defensive unit in its opening five games. Until Friday, the Panthers hadn’t made more than two errors in a game.

That defensively ability seemed to wilt under the hot afternoon sun Friday, not long after the Panthers built a 5-0 lead. The Wildcats’ started its climb back when Finn Harris, who two on, blooped a single to left field. Patrick O’Connell, who led off the inning with a walk, raced for third base. The throw from left field wound up sailing over the Orange dugout and into the woods. O’Connell and Zack Wernoski, who singled to left field earlier, scored off the errant throw.

“We you have a five-run lead, you gotta bring it home,” said Orange Coach Jason Knapp. “We didn’t do that today. Credit (East Chapel Hill) Coach (Matt) Russell and East Chapel Hill. They continued to fight and fall and they got it done.”

After East’s Chris Horne walked, Nolan Parker hit a two-run single up the middle to bring in Harris and Horne and reduce Orange’s advantage to 5-4.

Ironically, defense helped Orange surge ahead early. In the first and third innings, East put its opening two batters on base with no outs, only to have the Panthers turn 6-4-3 doubles plays each time to keep the Wildcats scoreless.

The aforementioned errant throw in the fourth inning was typical on a weird day where the rawhide seemed to have the elasticity of a super bounce ball you could purchase for a quarter out of a 1980s gunball machine from the nearby A&P Grocery. In the first inning, Orange right field David Waitt scored from second base on a wild pitch. With Connor Funk batting, a fastball from Smith wound up in the dirt, sprung off catcher Ben Buchman’s shin guard and ricocheted halfway up the third base line. In an attempt to retrieve it, Smith booted the ball near the third-base coaches box, which allowed Waitt to race home. Jacob Jones, who was at first base, was tagged out by Smith in a race to third.

Jackson Berini scored off a sacrifice fly hit by Funk to shallow centerfield in the 3rd inning. Later, with the bases loaded, designated hitter Ryan Hench drilled a double to left field to score Waitt, Jones and Will Walker and increase Orange’s lead to 5-0.

After East scored four runs in the fourth, the Wildcats tied the game in the fifth inning. O’Connell led off with an infield single, moved over to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Zach Wernoski, went to third off a single from Harris and scored off an infield error on a ball hit by Noah Daniel.

Orange retook the lead with two runs in the sixth. After Walker and third baseman Cesar Lozano were each hit by pitches, Tyler Lloyd drilled a first-pitch fastball to centerfield that went over the head of Horne. Walker and Lozano scored to put Orange ahead 7-5.

Buchman drew a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the sixth. Ryder Jeske drilled a ground rule double that hopped over the left field wall to send Buchman to third. Smith reached on an infield error that brought in Buchman. O’Connell evened the game on an RBI groundout to Waitt, who had moved to second base after Funk was inserted as pitcher. Jeske came home on the groudout to tie the game.

It was a disappointment for Knapp and the rest of the Panthers, who defeated East 15-5 to start the season.

“We’re absolutely capable of being better than this,” Knapp said. “We have to correct some mental base running mistakes that have been sneaking up on us lately. And we have to shore up our defense.”

The Cedar Ridge baseball team had a memorable senior night on Friday. The Red Wolves rolled past Northwood 6-1 to complete a season sweep of the Chargers in Hillsborough. Senior Cather Tucker Cothran went 2-for-3, ending a week where he hit .428 over two games. Cothran had base hits in the first and third innings. In each frame, the Red Wolves scored three runs. First baseman Aidan McAllister, a junior, has been among the most consistent hitters for the Red Wolves this season. Against Orange, McAllister hit two home runs in as many innings. The win over Northwood was the first time ever that the Red Wolves swept the season series from the Chargers since they’ve been rivals in the Big 8 Conference. Though this year’s unusual format will keep the Red Wolves from making the state playoffs, Cothran and the rest of the Cedar Ridge seniors are set to make it a memorable finish to the season. Cedar Ridge will travel to Chapel Hill on Tuesday, then host Orange next Friday in a benefit for vs. Cancer. There will be lots of great baseball memorabilia that be raffled off, as well as great items from restaurants and shops from throughout Hillsborough.

Once again, we go back into the time machine for this week’s Retro Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week. This time, we journey back to the week beginning January 17 for Cedar Ridge women’s basketball guard Phoenix Smith. This year, Cedar Ridge was hit hard by COVID-19 and injuries. Quite often, Cedar Ridge only had five players for games. Despite having no reserves, Phoenix started at point guard and didn’t back down. A junior, Smith was in her this season on the varsity level. Now, Smith is bringing her strong work ethic to the Cedar Ridge women’s track and field team. Smith has finished 2nd in the pole vault during a meet at Southern Durham last week. She also ran in the 100-meter dash, where she finished fourth. On Thursday at Cedar Ridge, Smith competed against East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill. She managed to establish a new personal best in the 100 meter dash. Now, Smith has a goal of reaching the regional championships next month, whether its for the pole vault or the 100-meter dash. Next week Cedar Ridge will compete against Northwood and Orange during a tri-meet at Northwood High in Pittsboro. Congratulations to a tribute in perseverance, this week’s Retro Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week, Phoenix Smith.

A combination of youth and experienced has helped the Orange women’s tennis team get off to a 4-3 start this season. On Thursday, the Lady Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 8-1 at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. It was Orange’s third dual team win this week. Freshman Finley White won her match at #3 singles 6-1, 6-1. Later in the day, White teamed with fellow freshman Grace Pell to win at #1 doubles by default. Senior Halle Boroski won her fourth match of the season. Boroski won at #6 singles 6-1, 6-2. On Tuesday, Boroski won her match at #5 singles against Northern Durham 8-0. Usually, women’s tennis is a fall sport, but it’s being played in the late spring this year because of the pandemic. Last year, Orange finished with a winning record at 11-8, its best mark under head coach Justin Webb since he took over the women’s team. Despite the losses of some key players, the Orange women is aiming for another winning season. Next week, Orange will host Cedar Ridge again, this time at Orange Tennis Courts.