From staff reports
Salisbury girls soccer coach Matt Parrish logged his 100th career win on Thursday as the unbeaten Hornets prevailed 3-0 at Wheatmore.
He described the win as “brutal,” but he said it cheerfully.
“The captains came over and apologized that No. 100 was so ugly,” Parrish said with a laugh. “I told them that at least I’d remember it. It might’ve been the ugliest win of that hundred.”
Karen Presnell continued her inspired play for the Hornets (5-0-2). She scored twice, including a goal on a header off a corner that Parrish admitted was “really nice.”
The Hornets also got the first goal of the season from Madison Kennedy, who’s always a big scoring threat.
“If you’d told me Madison wouldn’t get her first goal until our seventh game and we’d still be undefeated, I would’ve called you a whole lot of names,” Parrish said.
Jenna Bryan picked up her team-leading fifth assist, and Kennedy and Marlee Murphy also had helpers.
Olivia Rankin made a couple of nice saves in goal.
“There were times we controlled play, but there were also times when we were back on our heels with Wheatmore taking it to us,” Parrish said. “Conference play starts next week. We’ll have to be sharper.
Alee Johnson, the Hornets’ firestarter, was injured in the Ledford game and is on crutches. She’s supposed to be out two weeks, although she plans to cut that timetable in half.
“She’s one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever seen,” Parrish said.
Salisbury plays at CCC opponent West Davidson on Monday.
West Rowan handled NPC opponent Carson 8-1 only 24 hours after winning a huge matchup at Statesville that gave the Falcons first place by themselves.
“My goal for the week was to come out with two victories, and we accomplished that,” West coach Nick Brown said. “We were fortunate that we played well enough to win because we were tired.”
Toni Lucente scored three goals and added an assist for the Falcons (7-1, 4-0).
Allison Baucom and Brittany Gibbons scored two goals each and had two assists apiece. Rachel Brown also had an assist.
Hannah Elmore scored for the Cougars.
West is at East Rowan on Monday in a Relay For Life contest, while Carson is at home against South Rowan.
Prep baseball
Eric Tyler and Matt Miller hit homers in a losing cause for South Rowan on Thursday. The Raiders fell 5-3 at Central Cabarrus.
Central’s freshman pitcher Andrew Burgesser hit a grand slam in the first inning over the short right-field porch. It’s 295 feet to the wall. South coach Thad Chrismon figured the ball traveled 296 — “it sneaked over” — but it meant four huge runs for the Vikings (6-2), and South never caught up.
“It’s a routine out at our place, but you can’t play all your games at home,” Chrismon said.
South sophomore Dillon Parker pitched very well after the first inning, but the damage was done.
The Raiders got three hits from Jacob Dietz and two from Tyler.
“We left ’em loaded a few times, left 12 men on in all,” Chrismon said. “The theme was definitely missed opportunities. It’s not like we hit it bad or pitched it bad or fielded it bad. We just couldn’t get that key hit.”
Tyler and Matt Miller swatted their solo homers in the seventh, and South had the tying runs on base when the game ended.
The boxscore is in Scoreboard.
Prep tennis
Salisbury continued its strong play with a breezy 9-0 non-conference win against South Rowan on Thursday.
Steven Page, Alan Lebowitz, Lewis Young, Seth Gentry, Brock Overcash and Alex Weant won in singles and teamed for doubles victories.
Davie blitzed West Rowan 9-0 in non-conference tennis on Thursday, and East Rowan took a 7-2 NPC victory against South on Wednesday.
See Scoreboard for results.
Prep golf
Salisbury won a match at Sapona on Thursday against West Davidson.
The Hornets shot 148 to 169 for the Green Dragons.
Clark Alcorn shot 36 to lead the Hornets. Other scores included Eric Edwards (37), Alex Nianouris (37), Roy Dixon (38), Joseph Rusher (40), Alex Lee (42) and Alex Austin (42).
Jake Hartman’s 39 paced West Davidson.
Prep track
A.L. Brown’s boys scored 111 points and won a home meet against several county foes — Mount Pleasant (83.5), Concord (70), Northwest Cabarrus (53) and Cannon (23).
Winning for the Wonders were Damien Washington in the 100 (11.22 seconds) and long jump (20 feet, 8 inches), Jerrod Lipscomb in the 110 hurdles (14.75) and 300 hurdles (40.44), and Terrell Calliste in the 400 (53.84). The Wonders also won the 4×200 and 4×400 relays.
A.L. Brown’s girls scored 149 points to outdistance Mount Pleasant (78), Concord (65), Northwest (53) and Cannon (23). Iyana Gregory won the 400 (1:05.79), Natalie Tresslar won the 800 (2:41), and Hannah Bonarrigo won the 3200 (13:39).
Chinii Knox won the triple jump (32-0), and Samara Tisdale won the shot put (34-81/2) and discus (82-10).
Brown’s girls won the 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800 relays.
Pro baseball
New York Mets reliever Bobby Parnell (East Rowan) picked up a win this week in a relief outing against Atlanta. Parnell is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in eight spring appearances. He’s struck out nine and walked three in 82/3 innings.
The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Jerry Sands (Catawba) to their minor league camp for assignment, and he’s expected to open the season at either Double A Chattanooga or Triple A Albuquerque, probably the latter.
Sands batted .348 (8-for-23) this spring with two home runs. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly lavished praise on Sands, comparing him to St.Louis star Matt Holliday.
College baseball
Trey Holmes (East Rowan) had two hits as Appalachian State beat Cornell 8-3 in Boone. The wind chill was near freezing on Thursday, but the Mountaineers (11-11) got a victory behind pitcher Ryan Arrowood.
Liberty’s Keegan Linza (North Rowan) leads the Big South Conference in innings pitched (382/3) and is in the top five in ERA (2.33), strikeouts (30) and wins (four).
Middle school tennis
North Rowan lost 7-2 to a more experienced Mooresville team.
Gabriel Scheve and Mark Moore won for the Mavericks.
Middle school wrestling
China Grove’s Brandon Sloop finished the wrestling season with a 30-0 record.
In February, Sloop won the NCUSA middle school championship at 147 pounds in February and won the NCAAU championship at 145 pounds in March.
Sloop, who has won three straight NCAAU state championships, will be a freshman at Carson next fall.
Middle school baseball
Erwin scored six runs in the third inning and beat West Rowan 12-2 in a game shortened to six innings on Thursday. Samuel Wyrick had three hits for the Eagles, while Ike Seamon and Tyler Scruggs had two hits each.
Harrison Bell was the winning pitcher. He walked only one.
Erwin won 7-6 against Corriher-Lipe earlier this week by scoring three times in the seventh.
Bell, Scruggs and Joseph Peeler did the job on the mound for the Eagles. Samuel Wyrick, Seth Wyrick, Logan Towne and Bryant Godsey had two hits each.
Erwin returns to action on Tuesday against North’s Mavericks.
Middle school soccer
Southeast’s girls topped Corriher-Lipe 2-0.
Ashlee Wagner and Marysol Cardona scored for the Patriots. Karla Fragoso had an assist.
Cassidy Nooner had a great game in goal, and Leslie Sanchez, Andrea Jimenez, Rebecca Murphy and Maritza Ortiz played well on defense.
Southeast’s boys rolled 6-0 against Corriher-Lipe.
Silvestre Lopez and Brandon Flores scored two goals apiece for the Patriots, while Jose Viveros and Bryan Fragoso added a goal each.
Sandi Jusic had two assists, and Pedro Perez, Aaron Lippard and Adolfo Ortega had on each.
Defensively, Southeast was led by Ortega, Lippard, Peter Lor and Geovani Hidalgo.
Erwin’s girls controlled the action but failed to finish and settled for a scoreless tie with West Rowan.
Arisa McDonald and Elane Kepley had notable performances for the Eagles.
North Rowan’s boys battled to a scoreless tie with Mooresville.
North keeper Dylan Auten made a triple save on a single play and stopped a penalty kick late in the game.
Youth baseball
The Rowan Hawks 14U baseball team battered Gaston Day 18-1.
Austin Love had three hits, and Sawyer Strickland, Dalton Lankford and Noah Jarrett had two apiece. Jarrett pitched a five-hitter and struck out five.
The Hawks (5-2) play Tuesday against the Charlotte Stampede.