From staff reports
Catawba junior third baseman Craige Lyerly and Wingate senior outfielder Mark Letchworth will share the SAC Player of the Year Award for baseball.
Awards were presented Wednesday night. The SAC tournament starts today at Wingate.
Lyerly (East Rowan) led the league with 81 hits and was second in the conference with a .438 batting average. He was also SAC Player of the Week. He batted .586.
– Prep baseball
South Rowan lost to Northwest Cabarrus 8-7 in a 10-inning thriller in the NPC on Wednesday.
Taylor West knocked in the winning run for the Trojans in the 10th and also was the winning pitcher in relief.
Alex Ingold pitched eight innings for South but didn’t get a decision. Cory Deason had two big run-scoring hits for South.
Both teams scored twice in the eighth inning.
* West Rowan outslugged West Iredell 16-9 for an NPC win.
Tyler King had four hits for the Falcons, while Carlos Bautista and Brett Huffman had three apiece.
Hernan Bautista blasted his fifth home run.
Matt Miller was the winning pitcher in relief for the Falcons (9-7, 6-4). D.J. Webb worked the last two innings.
* North Rowan didn’t score until the sixth inning and fell to Providence Grove 12-2 in a CCC game.
The Cavaliers (2-13, 2-7) got a run when Kyle Munday scored on a sac fly by Mark Mauldin. Dakota Brown singled in the seventh and scored on Munday’s RBI single.
* Davie beat North Forsyth 3-0 for a CPC win behind the pitching of Brad Gaither, who fanned eight and allowed two hits in six innings. Joe Watson got a save for the War Eagles (10-5, 4-1). Jess Cartner knocked in two runs to lead the offense.
– Prep soccer
Salisbury lost any chance at a CCC title with a 5-2 loss at West Davidson on Wednesday.
The Hornets (7-5-1, 7-3) are still likely to get the league’s third seed in the playoffs. West Davidson, which has swept the Hornets, and Ledford still are undefeated in the league.
Salisbury never led but tied the score 1-1 on a goal by Jenna Bryan. When Katherine Heidt scored just before halftime, Salisbury closed within 3-2.
It stayed that way through 65 minutes, but the Green Dragons scored two late goals.
“That fourth goal was the backbreaker,” coach Matt Parrish said. “But to our credit, we didn’t quit and fought to the end. West Davidson is a buzzsaw. We just ran into a better team tonight.”
Salisbury is at home tonight against South Rowan.
– Brittany Gibbons scored three goals and had two assists for West Rowan (8-4) in a 6-1 win over Carson on Wednesday.
Allison Baucom added two goals and Jessica Gibbons also scored. Picking up assists were Allison Parker, Nicole Lucente and Mary McCachren.
Carson’s goal came on a penalty kick by Sarah Hayden.
West travels to Statesville tonight.
– Prep basketball
Salisbury basketball standout and Rowan County Player of the Year Shi-Heria Shipp has officially committed to George Washington.
A story is upcoming.
– Minor leagues
Justin Greene’s RBI single capped lifted Kannapolis to a 5-4 walk-off win over Greenville on Wednesday.
* Kane County’s David Thomas (Catawba) homered, bunted for a hit and stole a base in a 6-4 win against Burlington on Tuesday. Thomas is batting .317 with two homers and four steals in nine games.
* Round Rock’s Jeremy Johnson (Mooresville) had a strong Triple-A outing on Tuesday.
He pitched four scoreless innings out of the bullpen in a 4-1 loss to New Orleans, the Marlins’ top farm club. Johnson also got a base hit at the plate.
– GARS
Twenty-eight GARS members played at Crescent Golf Club on Monday.
Low ‘A’ Flight player was Bobby Clark with a net of 66.12. Low ‘B’ player was Bill Hathcock with a net of 67.57.
Low ‘C’ player was Bill Bradley with a net of 69.81. Ed Lockhart was low ‘D’ player with a net of 69.91.
– Prep softball
South Rowan beat Statesville 15-0 on Tuesday in the NPC.
Kim Fesperman pitched the three-inning shutout and struck out five.
Ericka Ashley was 3-for-3. Amber Waldroup had two triples. Nicole Barringer (one triple) and Kayla Corriher had two hits each.
* West Rowan fell to Northwest Cabarrus 2-0 in the NPC. Alex Yohe pitched the shutout and had a two-run double.
West Rowan lost 4-3 in a 13-inning marathon to West Iredell on Wednesday.
* Mooresville lost to North Iredell 9-3 in an NPC game. Winning pitcher Karley Harkey had four hits for North Iredell. Hope Smith went 3-for-3, including a homer, for the Blue Devils.
– Prep tennis
Salisbury rolled to a 9-0 win against Providence Grove on Wednesday.
The Hornets (11-3, 9-2 CCC) close the regular season today against West Davidson, and a victory would allow them to clinch a share of the conference title.
Alan Lebowitz, Seth Gentry, Alex Weant, Grant Martz, Luke Mowery and Will Humphries won in singles. Lebowitz-Steven Page, Sam Lewis-Josh Schiemann and Braxton Whitaker-Josh Mowery won in doubles.
– College golf
UNC Greensboro’s Lauren Smith (Salisbury) tied for 24th in the Southern Conference Championships. She shot 77–89-79.
– Middle School baseball
West Rowan defeated North Rowan 12-2 in six innings Wednesday.
Michael Ball was credited with the win, with Nick Collins and Hunter Teeter pacing the Bulldogs (2-1) at the plate.
– College basketball
Lenoir-Rhyne’s program signed Zack Allen (Hoggard), Kameko Walls (North Forsyth) and Alex Watkins (Ardrey Kell).
– College football
Newberry coach Zak Willis was fired Tuesday. A replacement will be named Friday for Willis.