From staff reports

Catawba’s softball team opened play in the Super Regional I tournament with  a 13-4 win over Anderson on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Indians (30-15) weathered a lengthy rain delay to hammer  fifth-seeded Anderson (39-14) in Dahlonega, Ga.

Katherine Shumaker and Caroline Turner hit homers to get the Indians off to a stron start.

Gina Gerone homered in the fifth to push a 5-4 lead to 7-4.

Gerone hit another homer in the sixth, her fifth in the last two games, to end the game via  the eight-run mercy rule. Carley Tysinger (26-9) was the winning pitcher.

Catawba plays at noon on Saturday.

•  Tysinger   earned a spot on the Capital One Academic All-District first team. She’s a chemistry major with a 3.65 GPA.

2A tennis

The doubles team of Bobby Frith-Miles Lally (Black Mountain Owen) defeated  Salisbury’s David Derrick-Spencer Storey 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the individual state championships on Friday in Cary.

3A tennis

Carson’s Marshall Wood lost to Charlie Schults (Gastonia Forestview) 6-1, 6-2  in the first round of the individual state championships in Burlington on Friday.

Intimidators win

Brett Austin clubbed his first pro homer, and Thad Lowry (4-1) continued his strong pitching, as the Kannapolis Intimidators won 4-3 on Friday at West Virginia in South Atlantic League baseball.

David Trexler earned his third save.

Kannapolis (11-16) avoided a series sweep while snapping a season-long four-game skid.

Local golf

Catawba football coach Curtis Walker made a hole-in-one on No. 12  at Warrior during the Catawba Classic.

It was the first ace for Walker. He used  a hybrid from 177 yards. His playing partners were Keith Henry, Chris Collins and Corey Ready.

NCHSAA

  Tainasha Vines of Bunn and Chazz Surratt of East Lincoln were named winners of the Athlete of the Year awards on Thursday.                  

Surratt has been a  two-sport star.

His football team went 16-0 and won the NCHSAA state championship. His basketball team was unbeaten until it lost to  Kinston in the championship game.

A Duke football commitment, Surratt threw for 4,338 yards and had 5,621 yards in total offense, giving him 11,657 for his career.

In basketball, he averaged 20  points, 6.7 rebounds and 8 assists.

Vines plays multiple sports and has earned state championships in the long jump and triple jump. She’s headed to UNC on a track and field scholarship.

• Dante Veltri of Carrboro High School and Scott Braswell of Wilmington Hoggard were presented with Courage Awards at the NCHSAA annual meeting on Thursday.

  Veltri is a wrestler at Carrboro High. He made a comeback from cancer to place fourth in the state championships.

  Braswell showed remarkable tenacity as he battled  health issues. He had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in August to remove a mass on his spine, with the operation taking 25 hours over a two-day period. Despite the surgery, he was back on the sidelines coaching five weeks later.

•   Pam Gainey of Rocky Mount  is the state’s female coach of the year.

•  Eddie Gray of Garner is the state’s male coach of the year.

• Asheville’s Rex Wells was named the state’s AD of the year.

• Concord’s Carla Black was named the state’s principal of the year.

• The Board of Directors completed its spring   meeting with a number of changes and adjustments.

  The Board  approved a different format for the next realignment, using what is called the 20/30/30/20 percentage model.  Schools will not be divided into four equal classes in terms of number of schools, but will use those percentages, with 20 percent in 4A and 1A classes and 30 percent in the other two.  This alignment will be for the 2017-21 years, pending approval by the Board at its meeting next May.

• Increased state championship medal distribution to champions and runners-up in selected sports.

•Regional basketball format will be changed. The fourth round  will now be at the home of the higher seed rather than at a neutral site as long as there is  adequate seating.

Mid. school tennis

In West Rowan Middle’s  6-3 win over Knox, singles winners for the Bulldogs were  Alex Keadle, Kevin Sullivan, Duane Bowers, Cyress Brown and Carter Jenkins.

Doubles winners for the Bulldogs (10-4) were Keadle-Sullivan, Bowers-T.J. Smith and Brown-Jenkins.