From staff reports

Brian Hightower is in his 11th season as East Rowan’s baseball coach and his program is in the playoffs for  the 10th straight year.

He’s made his share of  scouting trips to check out playoff opponents — but not this year. He hasn’t seen Crest, the team the Mustangs will travel to face in the first round of the 3A state playoffs tonight and he’s never taken a team top play at Crest, which in the Boiling Springs/Shelby area.

“The scouting trip just  isn’t  worth it,” Hightower said. “We know  we’ve got to play somebody good and we know we’e got to go on the road to play them. But this won’t be about who we’re  playing. This is about us and how well  we play. If we play like we’re capable of, if we play good defense, then we’re as good as most of the 3A teams in the state.”

Crest is 16-6 and is 7-2 playing at home.

Right-handed pitcher Matt Bridges, who signed with East Carolina, and Bradley Keller, an outfielder who signed with Western Carolina, are standouts for  the Crest Chargers.

East Rowan is 15-10 and is 5-4 in road games.

Joseph Peeler (4-3, 1.74 ERA, 74 strikeouts)  signed with UNC Wilmington and will be on the mound for the Mustangs.

“Joe P. is ready to roll,” Hightower said. “It should be a great pitching matchup. We got better toward the end of the season and we’ve just got to play like we’ve been practicing.”

• In other first-round playoff baseball games on Wednesday,   Salisbury is at Parkwood at 7, Davie is at East Forsyth at 7, and North Rowan is at East Davidson at 7:30.

Second-round games will be played on Friday and Saturday.

• In softball playoff games on Wednesday, South Rowan is at Kings Mountain at 7 and Salisbury is at East Davidson at 7.

• In girls soccer playoff games on Wednesday, South Rowan is at Weddington at 6 and North Henderson is at Carson at 7.

Prep baseball

South Rowan lost to Cuthbertson 8-5 in eight innings in a first-round 3A playoff game on Tuesday.

Burke Fulcher had a two-run double for the 23rd-seeded Raiders, who rallied from an early  5-0 deficit to force extra innings. No. 10 seed Cuthberston won on a three-run homer in the eighth.

• No. 31  seed A.L. Brown lost 14-1 at No. 2 seed Ardrey Kell in the first round of the 4A playoffs on Tuesday. Aaron Pilkington  hit two homers for the Knights.

•Noah Sharpe pitched a gem for West Davidson in a 2-0 win against Polk County in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.

Prep softball

Carson lost at Ledford 6-3  in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Tuesday.

Lacee Hunsucker hit a two-run homer for the Cougars. Krista Peninger had a double. Maddie  Barnhardt was a standout on defense.

• Davie County won 6-2 at Ardrey Kell in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on Tuesday.

• East Rowan lost at undefeated and top-seeded Enka in the first round of the 3A state playoffs.

Prep soccer

West Rowan lost 3-1 to Burns in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Tuesday.

Josie Heglar scored the goal for the Falcons.

North Hills

North Hills went 12-3 in softball and 8-0 in league play.

The Eagles defeated Grace Christian Academy  13-3 in a semifinal   of the Western Piedmont Athletic Conference  The Eagles went on to defeat Challenger Early College, 7-6 in the championship game at Ellis Park.

Katie Hunsucker and Cassie Profit scored on Carrie Morgan’s game- winning double in the bottom of the sixth.

Eagles third baseman Madison Rollins threw out two runners at the plate in the seventh.

Profit pitched a complete game.

Mid. school baseball

Southeast won 10-9 against West Rowan Middle in a tournament semifinal on Tuesday.

Southeast rallied from a big deficit with a five-run sixth.  D’Andre Wilkerson, Daniel Durham and Luke Barringer homered in the inning. It was Barringer’s second of the game.

Doubles by Blane Roberts and Garrett Alewine produced the winning run for the Patriots. Durham pitched a complete game.

Southeast will play Mooresville for the title.

Intimidators win

T.J. Williams had two doubles to lead the Kannapolis Intimidators to a 7-3 win against Lexington on Tuesday.

The Intimidators (14-17)  are off Wednesday and return home on Thursday.

Local golf

Forty-seven GARS members played in their own foursomes at Crescent   earlier this week.

Low ‘A’ Flight player was O.J. Chandler with a net of 65.16. Low ‘B’ Flight player was Buddy Barger with a net of 64.50. Low ‘C’ Flight player was Bert Bollinger with a net of 68.71. Low ‘D’ Flight player was John Daniels with a net of 65.97.

• The Corbin Hills Women’s Golf Association played   a low gross and low net round.

Winners:  First Flight low gross: Phyllis Durland, low net tie : Toni Iossi and Becky Isenhour.

Second Flight low gross: Wendy Kinsell, first low net: Faye Cline, second low net: Carolyn Ries.

Third Flight low gross: Eve Phillips, first low net: Sheryl Johnson , second low net: Karla Swanson.