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Baseball wrapup: McGuffey keys Cedar Ridge in conference opening win; Sawyer homers in Orange’s victory over East Chapel Hill
The past four years, Cedar Ridge baseball has started each Central Conference season by splitting a two-game series against Walter Williams.
For an experienced team with lofty expectations this year, the Red Wolves want to start the league campaign with a sweep of the Bulldogs. On Tuesday night, they couldn’t have asked for a better start.
Junior Grant McGuffey drove in four runs as Cedar Ridge stormed out to a 5-0 lead and dominated Walter Williams 12-2 in five innings at Red Wolves Field. Senior Quinn Finnegan, who has committed to Division I Wagner College, earned his first win of the season by striking out five in four innings.
The first six Red Wolves to step up to the plate all reached in the bottom of the first, starting with a line drive up the middle by Ian McGuffey. After junior Dominic Sena walked, John Grove loaded the bases on an infield hit. Grant McGuffey drove in two runs with another single to centerfield. Finnegan scored Grove on a throwing error to first base. Freshman Jesse Velazquez drew a bases-loaded walk to score Finnegan.
Cedar Ridge added two more runs in the second inning starting with singles from Sena and Grove. Aidan Ryan lined to right field to score Sena and McGuffey.
Grove, who finished 3-for-3, doubled to right field in the bottom of the third to score Ian McGuffey, who reached off a single to centerfield.
Finnegan led off the fourth with a hard grounder to left field for a single. John Morgan reached on an error, allowing Finnegan to reach third base. Cedar Ridge executed a double steal where Morgan reached 2nd while Finnegan scored off the throw. Velazquez popped out to centerfield and scored Morgan on a sacrifice.
Cedar Ridge (2-4 overall, 1-0 in the Central Conference) will host Chapel Hill on Wednesday night at 7.
Orange 7, East Chapel Hill 1: After struggling offensively in consecutive losses to Millbrook and Grimsley last week, Orange took advantage of free bases to secure a win over the Wildcats in Hillsborough on Tuesday night.
Garrett Sawyer sent a classic pop-up home run over Orange’s left field porch to even the game in the third inning, then reached base on the most crucial sequence of the game during a four-run 4th inning. After Mason Grooms got on board with a roller to right field with two out, Kayden Bradsher was beaned on the front leg. Sawyer swung and missed at a 1-2 pitch, but the ball bounced off the dirt and ricocheted off the fence. Sawyer raced down the line off the dropped 3rd strike to load the bases.
Sophomore Oliver Van Tiem walked with the bases loaded to put Orange ahead 2-1. Designated hitter Henry Hoffman, batting cleanup for the first time in his career, drilled a two-run single up the middle to score Grooms and Bradsher. Gary Miller drilled a single to left field, advancing Hoffman to third. East Chapel Hill installed Tomas Robertson as pitcher to replace starter Ryan Cabe, who moved to catcher. As Eli Horton was at bat, Cabe threw the ball back after an 0-1 pitch over the head of Robertson, which allowed Hoffman to score and increase the Orange lead to 6-1.
Ryan Sawyer earned his third win of the season by striking out ten over five innings. He allowed one run over six hits with zero walks.
Garrett Sawyer started the sixth inning with a double to Scoreboard Ally in right centerfield, the deepest part of Panther Field. Van Tiem sent a fly ball to right field that was dropped, sending Sawyer to third. Hoffman drove in his third run of the game with a fielder’s choice to East Chapel Hill shortstop Sam Smith, who threw out Van Tiem to second but scored Sawyer.
Brown and Grooms threw the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to close out the win for Orange (4-3).
Softball Notebook: Allie Carden hits grand slam in Orange softball’s win at Western Alamance; Capps pushes Cedar Ridge past Person
Since 2021, a softball team currently in the Central Conference has won the 3A Eastern Regional Championship three times. Two of them won state championships.
In the final year of possibly the most powerful softball conference in the state, Orange used its potent batting lineup to win its league opener at Western Alamance.
The Lady Panthers put up eight runs in the fourth inning, then held off a Warriors rally to win 13-10 in its final league trip to Elon on Tuesday night.
Allie Carden put the exclamation point on the decisive frame with a grand slam, vaulting the Lady Panthers ahead 11-2. Allie had two at-bats in the frame. She rounded the bases after sending a fly ball to right field at the fence, which was dropped, leading to a Little League home run.
At that point, Orange’s lead was only 4-2 and it appeared that would be all after the next two batters grounded out. Then the Lady Panthers scored seven runs with two outs, starting with senior Rhiley Crabtree and Natalie Roberson each hitting singles. Senior Sadie Cecil dropped a fly ball into centerfield to score Crabtree. Camryn Rodrigues replaced Addison Beal as Western pitcher, but Orange scored when Katie Carden drew a bases-loaded walk to score Roberson.
On the verge of getting run-ruled, Western Alamance came back with five runs in its side of the fifth inning, capped by a two-run homer from Rodrigues.
Cecil struck back with a RBI single to centerfield to score Molly Kate Ollis in the fifth, putting Orange ahead 12-7. Hayleigh Hammond dropped down a sacrifice bunt to score freshman Reese Blank, who reached on a pinch-hit single to right field earlier in the inning.
Cecil finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Katie Carden drove in four runs, including the opening tally of the night with an RBI single in the third inning.
Orange sophomore Addison Guentensberger threw six innings to earn the win.
Cedar Ridge 15, Person 2, 5 innings:
Cedar Ridge smashed a season-high 18 hits, including three hits each from senior Kimber Shambley and freshman Reagan Remaly, in an each win in Roxboro on Tuesday night.
Senior Reagan Simmons hit a solo homer in the second inning as the Red Wolves bounced back from a crushing home loss to Eastern Alamance to even its league record to 1-1. In five innings of work, senior Charlotte Lowry struck out nine to improve to 3-1.
Cedar Ridge chained together three consecutive singles to scratch the opening run across. Remaly and Shambley each reached. Junior Rylee Capps lined to center to score Remaly.
Simmons home run in the third help the Red Wolves pull away. Remaly singled and stole second with Shambley at bat. Shambley earned her second hit with a fly ball that dropped into right field. On a double steal with Capps at the plate, Remaly scored as Shambley bolted for second. Capps then earned another RBI with a single to right field.
Cedar Ridge sent 14 batters to the plate during a 10-run fourth inning. Mia Best sent a two-run single to centerfield that brought in Parker Kennedy and Brittany Goddard, putting the Red Wolves ahead 6-0. Simmons stroked an RBI single to score Madeline Galindo-Woodring. Remaly hit a two-run single on a worm burner to right field to score Best and Simmons. Then Remaly scored off a single from Capps, along with a throwing error by a Person outfielder. In her second at-bat of the inning, Goddard hit an RBI double to score Laci Sykes. Earlier in the frame, Goddard reached on an error.
Best increased Cedar Ridge’s lead to 14-0 with a two-run double to left field.
In a pinch-hitting situation, Emma Going hit a RBI single in the fifth inning to score Shambley.
Cedar Ridge will host Falls Lake on Thursday night in Hillsborough.
