From staff reports

When Salisbury rising senior swimmer Kathryn Morrison won the 100 backstroke in the 1A/2A State Championships in 55.26 seconds last winter, she achieved All-America consideration.

Recently, Morrison learned that she’s officially an All-American.

Morrison has been Rowan County’s Female Swimmer of the Year three times.

Local golf

The Rowan Amateur starts this aftenoon with the first round of match play set for Corbin Hills .

  Players were seeded by 18 holes of stroke play.

Keith Dorsett is the defending champ. Medalist and No. 2 seed Nick Lyerly shot 65 in qualifying.

Play continues on Saturday and Sunday.

See Scoreboard.

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The Country Club of Salisbury hosted the Second Annual Challenge Cup.

There were  teams from the Country Club, McCanless and Corbin Hills, with six women on each team.

The Country Cub team of Susan Wydner, Cindy Carmazzi, Faye Cline, Kathy Carlton, Kristi Latin and Bev Cobb emerged victorious and brought the traveling trophy back to the Country Club.

Running

A number of Rowan County runners competed in the Grandfather Mountain Marathon earlier this month.

Danielle Soroka-Jones, 43,  was third in the Female open competition in  3:42.59.

In the Male 50-59 division, Martin Thorne was first in 3:13.46. Todd Hansen was 36th in 4:48.44.

In the Female 29-under division, Alexsandra Turchin was eighth in 4:47.49.

In the Male 29-under division, Graham Lyerly was third in 3:42.28.

In the Female 35-39 division, Tracey McKenzie was seventh in 4:37.05. Gena Lyerly was 14th in 5:22.50.

In the Male 40-44 division, Caleb Steedley was 33rd in 4:37.32.

In the Female 45-49 division, Mary Kay Hansen was 10th in 5:28.17.

Junior Legion

South Caldwell claimed the state title with an undefeated run in the tournament at Mocksville.

South Caldwell beat runner-up Concord, 4-2, in the final.

College volleyball

Former Carson star Michaela White has transferred from Charlotte  to UNC Wilmington. A story is upcoming.

Pro basketball

Keshun Sherrill (West Rowan) has signed with a pro team in the Netherlands and will head overseas in August.  A story is upcoming.

College football

Alabama running back B.J. Emmons, who starred at Morganton Freedom, has transferred to Hutchinson Community College.

Emmons was rated as the No. 2 running back nationally coming out of high school.

Volleyball camp

A youth volleyball camp will be held at South Rowan High, July 26-29.

Register on arrival. Cost is $40.

Camp for grades 1-5 is from 9-11 a.m.

Camp for grades 6-9 is from 2-5 p.m.

Minor leagues

Craig Brooks continued his dominant run with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies on Thursday.

He pitched another scoreless inning with two strikeouts.

Brooks,  a seventh-round draft pick by the Chicago Cubs in 2015 after a record-breaking career at Catawba College, has been untouchable in July.

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First round pick Jake Burger went 5-for-5, but the Kannapolis Intimidators lost to the West Virginia Power, 6-5, on Wednesday at Intimidators Stadium.

Burger is batting .405 (15-for-37). Kannapolis stranded the tying run at third base to end the game.

, the White Sox first round pick (11th overall) in the June 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Missouri State, raised his average to .405 (15-37) while finishing a home run shy of the cycle. He drove in a pair of runs, scored twice, and hit two doubles and a triple to lead an Intimidators offense that came up short despite out-hitting the Power, 13-9.  The last Intimidators player to post five hits in a game was Jameson Fisher earlier this season when he went 5-for-5 on June 9 at Delmarva.  Prior to this season, a Kannapolis hitter had not had a 5-hit game since 2012.

Down by three in the bottom of the ninth, Burger laced a base hit to right field, scoring Evan Skoug before Blake Rutherford was thrown out at the plate on the play.  Micker Adolfo followed with a 2-out triple to plate Burger, but West Virginia turned to reliever Julio Eusebio who struck out Gavin Sheets to end the game.

Power reliever Pasquale Mazzoccoli (1-0) earned the win while Kevin Escorcia (4-4) took the loss.

With the game tied, 3-3, in the top of the eighth, Escorcia allowed the first two batters to reach.  Yoel Gonzalez dropped a bunt in front of the plate, and Escorcia charged off the mound to field the ball but fired wide of first base down the right field line, allowing two runs to score on the errant throw, giving West Virginia a 5-3 lead.  The Power tacked on a run against Lane Hobbs in the top of the ninth.

The Intimidators wrap up this 3-game series against the Power on Friday at 7:05 p.m.  Friday’s game is Get Healthy Kannapolis where fans can participate in a physical challenge to earn ballpark bucks for healthy snacks, presented by the City of Kannapolis.  Tickets are available by calling the F&M Bank Box Office at 704-932-3267 or by visiting IntimidatorsBaseball.com.

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