Area briefs: Dominating effort by Ward

From staff reports

Lake County right-hander Zach Ward (A.L. Brown) had a dominating outing in the independent Northern League on Friday, pitching a six-hit shutout, striking out 13 and walking none against Rockford.

He beat the Rockford RiverHawks for the second time this week and raised his record to 3-5. It was the first time Rockford’s been shut out this season.

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Wood bat leagues

Justin Roland (East Rowan, Charlotte) batted .480 (12-for-25) in his first eight games with the Statesville Owls and was named to the East squad for the Southern Collegiate Baseball League All-Star Game to be held at Wofford’s King Field on July 14.

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Morganton’s Ryan Bostian (South Rowan, Catawba) is batting .313 and will also be on the East squad for the SCBL All-Star Game.

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Minor leagues

High Desert’s Kyle Seager (NW Cabarrus, UNC) scored the winning run in the 11th inning on Friday in a 9-8 California League victory against Visalia.

Seager led off the 11th with a double for his third hit of the night and scored on a sac fly. He’s batting .328.

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Corpus Christi’s Jeremy Johnson (Mooresville) has pitched better than his record, but he fell to 3-8 on Friday when Corpus Christi lost to Tulsa.

Johnson has a 3.82 ERA in 14 starts for the Hooks, Houston’s Double-A squad.

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The Kannapolis Intimidators lost 3-2 at Augusta on Saturday. Ian Gac drove in both runs for Kannapolis.

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Prep football

The 19th annual edition of the North Carolina Prep Football News is now available.

The cost is $20.

Coaches can buy one at the NC Coaches Association Trade Show in Greensboro.

Fans can order by mail ($25 with $5 for shipping) by sending payment to Deana King, P.O. Box 613, Hamptonville, N.C. 27020.

Fans can also buy by using Pay-Pal. Go to the NCPreps.com website for instructions.

A limited number of the books will be available at retail locations soon.

Features include a page on the state’s longest streaks. West Rowan’s 30 straight wins still rank second to Reidsville (48) in the games without a loss category.

West’s offense has produced double figures in 45 straight games to rank sixth in the state on that list. Independence has reached double digits 162 times in a row.

West hasn’t been shut out in a stretch of 99 straight games, while A.L. Brown has put points in the board in its last 81 outings. Salisbury is right behind at 80.

Other features are a listing of the head-coaching changes around the state, predictions on the conference races and conference players of the year, preseason top 20s in each classification and a preseason All-State squad as well as preseason All-State teams for each classification.

A.L. Brown running back Travis Riley and West Rowan defensive back Domonique Noble are the local players on the preseason All-State team.

Riley is the yearbook’s preseason choice for 3A Player of the Year.

Making the preseason All-State teams by classification were North Rowan’s Javon Hargrave (1A), Salisbury’s Darien Rankin (2A) and Davie’s Jared Barber (4A). They join Riley, Noble, West’s B.J. Sherrill, Carson’s Shaun Warren and Northwest Cabarrus’ Bradley Pinion (3A).

College prospects are listed, all state champions are documented, and Tim Stevens explains the pod formula that will hopefully make the early playoff pairings make more geographical common sense this season. Teams won’t be just East or West. Your favorite school could be in the Mideast or Midwest this time.

Finally, there’s a schedule and detailed info provided for just about every school in the state. It’s a 138-page edition.

The prep season starts Aug. 20, with Central Cabarrus at West Rowan; South Rowan at Salisbury; East Rowan at North Rowan; Hickory Ridge at Carson; A.L. Brown at Statesville; and Davie at Alexander Central.

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Local golf

Phil Miller fired six birdies on his way to a 71 and led Saturday qualifying at Corbin Hills for the Horace Billings Rowan Amateur Golf Tournament.

Chad Blankenbeker shot a 74.

Qualifying continues today.

See Scoreboard.

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The McCanless Ladies Association recently held its annual Member/Member tournament.

Sharon Miller and Monica Green won low gross.

Kristi Laton and Dolly Canup won low net. Robin Leslie and Gloria Wilhelm finished second, while Beverly Cobb and Beth Calhoun placed third.

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Horseshoes league

The Cabarrus County Ringers Horseshoe Club will have a doubles league starting in late August.

A high-average pitcher will be placed with a low-average pitcher to form teams. Scoring will be handicapped, based on the team average.

Play will be at the Kannapolis YMCA.

Horseshoes enthusiasts who are interested should contact Gene Argabright at 704-938-0456.

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Prep basketball

Lake Norman hired Lori Reavis, a former standout at North Iredell and Wingate as its new girls basketball coach. She follows Dave Walla, who wil be coaching in Texas.

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East-West games

The annual East-West All-Star games are upcoming in Greensboro.

The basketball doubleheader at Greensboro Coliseum is set for July 19, with the girls game at 6:30 and the boys game at 8:30.

The soccer games will be held at UNC Greensboro at 6:30 (girls) and 8:30 (boys) on July 20. The East-West football game is at Jamieson Stadium at 8 p.m. on July 21.