Our first Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week for the spring sports season is pitcher Brandon Andrews. Last week, Andrews threw a five-inning no-hitter in the Red Wolves season-opening 15-0 win over Hillside. Andrews struck out ten, surrendering only one base runner, who reached after getting hit by a pitch. Andrews also went 2-for-4 with a home run.

Two days later, Cedar Ridge improved to 2-0 in beating Roxboro Community 14-0. Andrews went 1-for-3 with an RBI single as the Red Wolves finished the game with a 9-run fourth inning.

Cedar Ridge travels to Mebane today to face Southern Alamance. They return home on Friday to face Carrboro.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Pitcher Brandon Andrews

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In August, the Cedar Ridge girls tennis team wasted no time in laying notice to the rest of the Big 8 Conference that they would be a force to be reckoned with. They wound up winning the first conference championship in school history.

While it’s too early to say the Cedar Ridge boys tennis team has served a similar wake up call, they certainly looked dominant in its conference opener. Against its crosstown rival, no less.

On Monday, the Red Wolves swept Orange 9-0 at Red Wolves tennis courts. Like their female counterparts, the Red Wolves have a combination of seniors and underclassmen throughout its lineup.

At #1 singles, senior Bryce Phares defeated Orange’s Evan McCallum 6-0, 6-1. Freshman Ivo Gardener, senior Trent Gill, sophomores Seth Malie and David Vaslef all captured singles victories for CRHS, dropping a combined ten games in five matches.

Phares & Gardner teamed in doubles to win 8-0 to ensure the victory, improving Cedar Ridge’s record to 3-0. The Red Wolves opened the season with a 7-2  victory over Eastern Alamance, then swept Durham School of the Arts 9-0.

On Wednesday, Eastern Alamance travels to Hillsborough to face the Red Wolves.

Orange fell to 2-2. The Panthers started the season with a 8-1 victory over Southern Alamance. After a 9-0 loss to Burlington Williams, they topped Eastern Alamance 7-2. Freshman Ronan Towell and Noah Miller have singles victories for the Panthers, who face Burlington Williams on Thursday.

It took a week longer than she would have liked, but Jacki Mignosa has earned her first win as the Orange girls soccer coach.

On Monday night, the Panthers blanked Riverside 5-0 at Panther Soccer Pitch behind two goals from Becca Shinnick. Kayla Hodges opened the scoring just a minute into the game. Shinnick added an assist.

Kerissa Lane and Leila Andrews also scored for the Panthers, who improved to 1-2. Natalie Chandler notched an assist, as well.

In the opening week of the season, Northern Guilford defeated the Panthers 3-0 in Greensboro. Last Friday, Burlington Williams defeated Orange 3-1.

Mignosa replaced Palmer Bowman as the head coach of the Orange Girls Soccer team. Bowman remains the head coach of the Orange boys team.

The Lady Panthers went 13-10 last season, reaching the 2nd round of the playoffs after a thrilling 5-4 double overtime victory over Southern Lee in Sanford. They finished 3rd in the Big 8 Conference with an 8-4 record, behind regular season champion Chapel Hill and Northwood.

Orange returns to action on Monday night for its Big 8 opener against Northern Vance at 6 PM.

Orange Freshman Grace Andrews made a splash during her first week as a varsity softball player. She scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 7th inning off a wild pitch as Orange rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat East Chapel Hill 4-3 on Friday night at Orange High Softball Field.

Orange’s Grace Andrews Discusses Game Winning Run vs. East Chapel Hill

Andrews, a freshman, scored on a wild pitch as the Panthers rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat East Chapel Hill 4-3 on Friday night.

The most suspense going into Orange softball’s season opener was whether Mia Davidson would break the career NCHSAA state home run record against Cardinal Gibbons, or whether the record would last another night.

Turns out, she tied it. And the scene shifts to Kacie Chamberlain Field in Hillsborough for the Lady Panthers’ home opener against East Chapel Hill…and possible history.

Oh yes, the game last night.

Davidson smashed her 42nd career home run, tying the state record as the Panthers defeated Cardinal Gibbons 17-2. The Panthers roared out to a 9-0 lead, pounding out 19 hits.

In her first varsity game, freshman Jayden Hurdle smashed a home run, finishing 3-for-6 with 3 RBIs. Davidson, among the candidates for National Player of the Year honors, started her senior season by going 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs.

Davidson’s classmate, Abigail Hamlett, went 4-for-5 with four runs scored.

Senior Kristina Givens threw three innings for the win, yielding just one hit. Hurdle, in her first varsity game,  throwing four relief innings, yielding three hits and two runs. She struck out six.

Leading 9-2 going into the seventh, Orange put up eight runs in the final frame to put the game away.

Orange faces East Chapel Hill tonight at 6. We’ll have live coverage on HillsboroughSports.com.

There was no Bryse Wilson on the mound or Brad Debo behind the plate for Orange baseball in its 2017 season opener, yet the Panthers still got a shutout.

Senior Derek Lindaman scattered three hits and struck out six against only one walk as the Panthers defeated Riverside 6-0 in a rain-shortened season-opener on Wednesday night at Panther Field.

Juniors Craig Clayton and Noah Rogers smashed homers for the Panthers during a five-run third inning. It was the first hits for Clayton and Rogers, who were both making their first varsity starts. And they weren’t alone.

Only Jaydin Poteat, Ryan Puckett, and Jason Slaughter had ever started a varsity game going into Wednesday’s opener. Poteat was the regular starter in centerfield last season before he broke his right hand sliding into home plate against Northwood.

Rogers finished 3-for-3 with 2 RBIs, including a double along with his dinger. Poteat reached in all three of his plate appearances, scoring twice.

Lindaman, who was the regular second-day starter behind Wilson last season, threw five innings before giving way to Kaymin Matsko, who retired one batter before torrential storms forced the game to be stopped in the top of the fifth inning.

Orange travels to Jordan tonight for a stiff test. The Falcons are 2-0 after early wins over Green Hope and Panther Creek.

Two games into the 2017 season, Cedar Ridge Baseball has two wins, both by mercy rule.

In its home opener on Thursday night, the Red Wolves pounded Roxboro Community High School 14-0 in a game shortened by five innings.

Sophomore starter Phillip Berger yielded one hit over five innings for his first win of the season. Berger’s win comes after senior Brandon Andrews threw a five-inning no-hitter in the season-opening  15-0 win at Hillside on Tuesday.

Against the Bulldogs, leadoff batter Dante DeFranco laced two doubles, finishing 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Freshman Jake DeFranco went 2-for-3, scoring twice. Senior Simon Little finished 2-for-2 with 4 RBIs.

Berger, batting third, scored twice while going 2-for-3 with a double.

Cedar Ridge finished with 12 hits and ended the game by scoring nine runs in the fourth inning.

In Tuesday’s win over Hillside, the Red Wolves opened the season by scoring four runs in the first and second innings. Along with earning the no-hitter, Andrew slammed the season’s first home run. DeFranco went 3-for-4 with an RBI off a sacrifice fly. The Red Wolves had 11 hits against the Hornets.

Cedar Ridge will take its 2-0 start to Graham on Wednesday to face Southern Alamance. They return home next Friday against Carrboro.

Six different sports teams from Cedar Ridge and Orange High will begin the Spring Sports season on Monday.

We’ll have in-depth previews of each team as the spring goes on, but here are some of the standout questions as spring arrives.

#1 Will Mia Davidson break the NCHSAA career home run record this week? If there’s one thing to be certain of going into the spring, it’s this: Mia Davidson will break the state record for career home runs. The question is when? Davidson enters her senior season with 41. The state record is 42. Orange plays at Cardinal Gibbons on Thursday, then hosts East Chapel Hill on Friday. Just between me and you, the single-season record is 19, which Davidson nearly tied last year (18). Might want to file that one away.

#2 How determined will Cedar Ridge Boys Lacrosse Be? Probably, the answer will be: a lot. Cedar Ridge was knocked out of the 3A/2A/1A state quarterfinals in about as bitter as fashion as possible. The Red Wolves, which had won 13 in a row, led Carrboro 8-2 at halftime. Then midfielder Jack Widman was ejected following a skirmish with Carrboro’s Chase Bolesky. Without Widman’s presence, the Jaguars went from firing 13 shots in the first half to 27 in the second. The Red Wolves scored only one goal in the second half and Carrboro won 10-9. Cedar Ridge coach Patrick Cavanaugh made no secret about what he felt was the turning point of the game, and he’s had nine months to think about it. Cedar Ridge. Widman returns, as does Sean Tobin, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime at Orange last year. The Red Wolves open its season against Jordan on Tuesday.

#3. How will Orange Baseball adjust to life without Bryse Wilson and Brad Debo? 

If you know, call Dean Dease immediately, because he’d love to find out. Orange will start the season on Wednesday at home against Riverside without Wilson, who was drafted in the 4th round by the Atlanta Braves last June. Wilson was a four-year starter who won 33 games with a 0.99 ERA. Debo is now a catcher at N.C. State, where is already has started three games and hitting .375. And then there’s the other seven position players who played regularly for the Panthers last season that graduated. Second-day starter Derek Lindaman returns, along with third baseman Ryan Puckett and centerfielder Jaydin Poteat, who didn’t start the last ten games in 2016 after suffering a broken hand sliding into home plate at Northwood.

Here’s the schedule for the first week of the season:

Monday: 

Girls Soccer: Eastern Alamance at Cedar Ridge, 6:30 (5:00 JV); Orange at Northern Guilford, 7:00 (5:30 JV)

Boys Tennis: Eastern Alamance at Cedar Ridge, 4:30; Southern Alamance at Orange, 4:30

Tuesday:

Baseball: Cedar Ridge at Hillside, 6:00

Softball: Cedar Ridge at Eastern Guilford, 6:00 (only varsity)

Boys Lacrosse: Jordan at Cedar Ridge 7:00 (5:00 JV); Orange at Eastern Alamance 6:45 (5:00 JV).

Wednesday: 

Baseball: Riverside at Orange, 5:00

Girls Soccer: Durham School of the Arts at Cedar Ridge, 6:00 (only varsity); Orange at Northern Durham 6:30 (4:45 JV)

Thursday: 

Baseball: Roxboro Community at Cedar Ridge, 6:30.

Softball: Roxboro Community at Cedar Ridge 6:00 (Varsity only); Orange at Cardinal Gibbons 5:00 (only varsity)

Boys Lacrosse: Southern Alamance at Orange 5:00 (varsity only)

Boys and Girls Track: Orange at Eastern Guilford 4:30.

Boys Tennis: Cedar Ridge at Durham School of the Arts, 4:30; Orange at Walter Williams 4:30

Friday: 

Baseball: Orange at Jordan, 5:00 (only varsity)

Softball: East Chapel Hill at Orange 6:00 (only varsity)

Boys Lacrosse: Cedar Ridge at J.F. Webb, 6:00 (only varsity)

Girls Soccer: Walter Williams at Orange 7:00 (5:30 JV)

Boys and Girls Track & Field: Cedar Ridge at Friday Night Lights at Mt. Tabor, 4:45

Boys Tennis: Eastern Alamance at Orange 4:30