“We’re takin’ it easy, but we’re takin’ it serious,” offers the Cavs’ senior shortstop Nate Woodburn.

Say what?

“We’re looking forward to Friday, but we’re a little nervous,” continues the loquacious Woodburn. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in (starting pitcher) Daniel (Moore), but we know it’s up to the whole team. It hasn’t fully hit us, but we can almost taste it.”

Woodburn sounds confused, as if he’s more shook up than Elvis ever was, but actually his roller-coaster chatter is perfectly normal for someone in his situation. Woodburn feels weird — nervous, yet confident, edgy, yet ecstatic — because the Cavs (21-5) are only one win away from playing for a state championship.

And a proud Woodburn is well aware that the Cavs of 2000 have already sailed into uncharted territory. They’re on a 43-8 two-year roll, best in school annals. And their playoff success is without precedent in Spencer.

“We’re sort of floating in the clouds,” says Woodburn. “No North baseball team has ever made it this far.”

That’s why it’s so strange, yet cool, that Woodburn and his teammates are eating and drinking baseball at this late date, even as their civilian classmates have turned their attention to exams, graduation and summer vacation. The ballplayers at Salisbury and East Rowan — the Cavs’ biggest rivals during the prep season and their summer teammates once it’s over — are already playing regular season Legion games at Newman Park for Jim DeHart. But the Cavs play on.

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North, ranked No. 2 in the state, has won one easy playoff game (a rout of North Henderson) and two tough ones, including a seeing-is-believing 7-6 win over Ledford on Tuesday.

“They say to win it all, you’ve gotta win a game like that one,” says North head coach Bill Kesler. “At least that’s what they say. But shoot, I’d just as soon win every game by 7-0.”

North will be facing a 20-8 Cougar team that’s blazed an even more unlikely path than the Cavs to reach tonight’s 7 p.m. game in Spencer.

SW Randolph, now ranked No. 7, nearly packed up its uniforms five games ago. But it rallied from two runs down against Northwood in the seventh inning of the semifinals of the Central Tar Heel Conference Tournament. Then it beat Eastern Randolph, whom a lot of people thought was the team to beat for the banner, to win the CTHC tourney and reach the state playoffs. Eastern Randolph had beaten Southwestern three times.

Sparked by beating their rival, the Cinderella run by the Cougars picked up momentum. They beat Bunker Hill and Mount Pleasant (both ranked at the time in the state’s top five) in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They got past West Lincoln 8-4 on Tuesday with the aid of four West errors.

It’s been a case of a good team getting hot and becoming a great team at precisely the right time. They’re not supposed to be here. But here they are.

“I don’t think our team thinks anybody can beat it right now,” the Cougars’ star pitcher, Chris Nall, told Jim Young of the Greensboro News & Record after the West Lincoln game. “The way things are happening, it’s like it was meant to be.”

The Cavs actually scrimmaged SW Randolph early in the season. Woodburn says he can’t remember who won, just that it was close. “They’re definitely a good team or they wouldn’t be here,” he says. “And I’m sure they’ve improved, just like we have.”

Southwest may be a team of destiny, but it will most likely have to tempt fate tonight without Nall (9-0) on the mound. He threw over 100 pitches Tuesday. That should give Moore, the Cavs’ intimidating left-hander (150 strikeouts), a decided edge over either of the Cougars’ other hurlers — Brandon Varner and Ben Johnson. Fourteen Cougars fanned Tuesday, so Moore should right-turn a number of would-be hitters.

“No doubt, it’s Daniel on the mound for us,” said Kesler, who had to call upon four pitchers to survive Tuesday’s taut drama. Moore got the last five outs in that one on 30 pitches— all on Ks. Moore tossed a bit on Wednesday, then rested his lightning left arm Thursday. Both Kesler and assistant Paul Benfield feel he’ll be more than ready.

“When Daniel pitches, we’re real confident,” says Woodburn. “But the offense has to do its job.”

No individual Cav hitter is feared, but collectively, they can get by. North was no-hit for eight innings by Albemarle ace Monty Fast not long ago, but regrouped. Kesler’s lineup usually includes eight .300-hitters, topped by Woodburn’s .396.

North’s offense literally can come from anywhere. Leadoff man Woodburn slugged two homers in one game in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament. Tuesday, No. 9 hitter Brandon Doby was the man of the moment with two doubles and a game-deciding squeeze.

In contrast, Chris Cook’s Cougars have been carried by outfielder Lane Hunt, who has hit in the playoffs like he just flew down from Krypton. Hunt, human in the regular season, has homered in every playoff game. He also banged a two-run single and made an impossible catch to beat West Lincoln.

The Moore vs. Hunt battles alone should be worth the admission charge. A huge crowd gathered to see the Cavs top Ledford, but Woodburn expects an even larger mass of humanity tonight.

“Tuesday was slam-packed,” he said. “Hopefully, this one will be even bigger, because we have got to get past these guys. We’ll approach this game the same way we have every other game this season— to win.”