Shelby’s Saturday night protest that carried over into Sunday morning resulted in Area III champion High Point being ousted from the American Legion state tournament.
High Point won its first two tournament games against Wayne County and Shelby, which had won 34 in a row, but those games are now officially forfeit wins for those two teams. The Gaston Gazette’s Richard Walker reported the ruling was made just hours before Shelby was to take the field against Wilmington in a 12:30 game that was supposed to start Sunday’s action at Holt-Moffitt Field.
High Point catcher Cesar Trejo had three hits as High Point beat Shelby 12-5 on Saturday and was the player ruled ineligible. He participated in an UnderArmour baseball tryout in Georgia. Trejo’s participation in that event was a violation of American Legion rules that forbid dual participation by Legion players.
Walker’s story said that N.C. Legion officials ruled to declare Trejo ineligible but to allow High Point to continue play in the tournament. The national office in Indianapolis over-ruled that ruling and High Point was forced to forfeit both games.
From whom Shelby received the information on Trejo wasn’t revealed. Shelby filed a protest with N.C. Legion officials after getting that information and then appealed to national officials after the state committee ruled to keep High Point in the tourney.
• The elimination of High Point forced major schedule changes. Only two games were scheduled on a Sunday that included some weather issues. In on-field action, defending champ Wilmington beat Davidson County 7-5, eliminating the host. Davidson joined High Point, Hope Mills and Garner on the sidelines.
The High Point team showed up for the Wayne County-Shelby game and was cheered by fans. Shelby won that game 8-4.
The Gaston Braves, 2-0 in the event, didn’t play Sunday.
Three games are scheduled for today. Gaston will play Shelby at 12:30. Wilmington will play Wayne County at 3:30. The early loser and late winner meet at 7:30.
Rowan County Little League’s 10U softball all-stars rolled 12-0 against host Tennessee in their opener in the Southeast Regional tournament in Clarksville, Tenn.
Rowan won 18-3 against Virginia late Saturday night.
Rowan lost 5-4 in extra innings to West Virginia on Sunday.
Against Virginia, Taylor Walton was the winning pitcher. Allison Ennis and Kary Hales had three hits each. Walton, Ellie Wilhelm, Morgan Humble and Megyn Spicer had two hits each.
In the win against Tennessee, Walton pitched, went 3-for-3, scored two runs and drove in two. Hales had two hits, three runs and two RBIs. Wilhelm had a two-run double, and Ellen Yang had a double.
In the loss to West Virginia, Caylie Keller cleared the bases with a three-double for an early 3-2 lead.
Jeff McKenzie pitched a complete game as the Kannapolis Intimidators won 7-3 at Lakewood in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader.
Kannapolis won the second game 6-3 in extra innings. Adam Engel’s two-run triple was the deciding blow.

Boys interested in running cross country for Carson should contact Coach Marchinko at 704-855-7165. Athletes must have a current physical. Forms can be found at www.carsonathletics.com.