From staff reports
East Rowan’s softball team plays at Northwest Cabarrus tonight in the third round of the 3A softball playoffs.
Gametime was backed up in a decision made on Monday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
NPC No. 1 seed East (22-2) beat NPC seed No. 1 seed Northwest 4-0 on April 9 in a non-conference game. Bobbi Thomas and Sydney Poole drove in two runs each. Chelsea White struck out five, walked none and held the Trojans (22-5) to three hits.
East also beat Northwest 6-2 in the first round of the 2010 playoffs. Ericka Nesbitt had an inside-the-park homer for the Mustangs in that game.
East is 84-12 the past four seasons, with four NPC championships and one trip to the Final Four.
If East wins tonight, it would be the host team for a fourth-round game against North Iredell or Robinson. North Iredell and Robinson are the No. 2 seeds from the NPC and SPC, respectively.
Northwest won its first league championship in the fast-pitch era this season, tying Robinson for the regular season SPC crown before winning the conference tournament.
Northwest was in the SPC when Central Cabarrus was a state powerhouse early in the last decade. After realignment, the Trojans were in the NPC when West Rowan was reeling off six straight league titles from 2002-07.
Northwest’s last two years in the NPC in 2008-09 coincided with the start of East’s current run of four straight championships.
Northwest is a team of freshmen — six are on the roster — plus some slugging seniors.
Freshman Katie Williford pitched well for Northwest earlier this season against the Mustangs — no walks, five hits, five strikeouts.
Senior Hannah Eudy is batting .369 with eight homers and 32 RBIs, while senior Taylor Allen is hitting .407 with 21 RBIs.
Northwest has won its last 11 games. Williford has pitched shutouts in the last five.
Neither East nor Northwest has allowed a run in the playoffs.
College baseball
Southern Conference baseball coaches voted Appalachian State outfielder Preston Troutman (East Rowan) to the league’s All-Freshman team on Monday.
Troutman hit .274 with five doubles, three triples and 15 RBIs in 44 regular-season games and is tied for the team lead with five outfield assists. He made 36 starts in left field after earning the spot in the starting lineup early in the campaign.
The rookie from Rockwell was named SoCon Hitter of the Week after going 4-for-7 with two doubles and six RBIs against Western Carolina on May 8-9.
The Southern Conference Tournament starts Wednesday, along with the ACC, SEC and A-10 tournaments.
Local golf
Playing from the blue tees, Aaron Mothershead made an extraordinary hole-in-one on the 339-yard par-4 No. 8 hole at McCanless on Saturday.
Mothershead recorded the double-eagle while playing with his father, Gene Mothershead, and with partner Joey Boley in a qualifying round for the Grady B. McCanless 4-Ball Championship. The 4-Ball Championship will be held June 4-5.
Seventy-three GARS members played an ABCD tournament at Asheboro Country Club.
Winning the ‘A’ flight was Nelson Earnhardt with a net of 65.94. Winning the ‘B’ flight winner was Ross Howard with a net of 67.24. Winning flight ‘C’ was David Lee with a net of 60.29. ‘D’ flight winner was Harry Agner with a net of 62.44.
Michael Childress, 11, and Ben Childress, 7, played in the U.S. Junior Kids golf tournament in Pinehurst on Sunday. Both played on the No. 8 course.
Michael finished fourth in his age group, shooting a 83. Ben won his age group with a 54, with a birdie on No. 1 and an eagle on No. 2.
Middle school soccer
Erwin’s sixth-seeded girls beat No. 3 Southeast in the first round of the league tournament.
Erwin topped No. 2 seed China Grove on a penalty-kicks shootout in a semifinal.
Kaleigh Troutman scored both Erwin goals, with regulation ending in a 2-2 tie.
Erwin had a 3-1 edge on PKs, with Ilya Wang, Devynne Brown and Madison Teeter scoring from the spot.
Erwin keeper Kennedy Lambert saved one PK in regulation and three more in the shootout.
Erwin continued its run in the championship game by beating West Rowan 1-0 in a hard-fought final on the turf at Mooresville on Monday afternoon.
After a scoreless regulation period, Erwin scored with 45 seconds left in the second overtime on a 25-yard free kick by Troutman.
Southeast’s boys scored three second-half goals to beat Mooresville 3-0 to win the Rowan County Middle School Tournament. Details weren’t available at press time on that game.
Pro baseball
The Kannapolis Intimidators lost 9-6 to visiting Delmarva on Monday. Jonathan Schoop knocked in four runs for the Shorebirds. Drew Lee had three hits for Kannapolis.
East Y adult basketball
The Saleeby-Fisher YMCA, East Rowan Branch is accepting team registrations for its Summer Adult Basketball League through Saturday. The league is limited to 12 teams.
League fee is $400 per team, with numbered team jerseys required. Games will be played on Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning on Tuesday, June 7. Contact Joe Finney at 704-279-1742 or jfinney@rowanymca.org.
For more information on the Catawba camps/clinics contact Jeff Childress at 704-637-4265 or jchildre@catawba.edu