From staff reports

THOMASVILLE — Salisbury upset North Davidson, 12-6, in the semifinals of the Central Carolina Conference baseball tournament on Tuesday afternoon at Finch Field.

Fourth-seeded Salisbury (15-9) had lost to top-seeded North Davidson (18-4) twice during the regular season.

Second-seeded Ledford beat third-seeded West Davidson, 4-3, in the other semifinal. Salisbury will play Ledford (21-3) for the championship at 7 p.m. at Finch Field on Thursday. Salisbury split with Ledford during the regular season.

On Tuesday,  Salisbury built a 7-0 lead against the Black Knights before North Davidson fought back with four runs in the  bottom of the fifth.

Salisbury put the game away with a four-run seventh.

Jack Fisher pitched six innings for the win. Bo Rusher pitched the seventh.

Salisbury had 12 hits.

Blaine Shellhorn scored  four runs and had three hits. Chandler Lippard homered and drove in three runs. Vance Honeycutt had three hits and two RBIs. Joe Steinman knocked in two runs.

Jacob Laflesh had a homer and three RBIs for North Davidson.

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In the NPC, semifinals are scheduled for today at Carson. West Rowan plays No. 2 seed East Rowan at 4:30, with top-seeded Carson taking on North Iredell in the nightcap.

Prep tennis

Dual team playoffs start today, with undefeated Salisbury hosting East Burke in 2A and Carson on the road at Burlington Williams in 3A.

Prep soccer

Salisbury goes for its 21st win — that would be a county record for Rowan girls soccer — tonight at South Rowan.

Prep track

The North Piedmont Conference Championships conclude today at East Rowan, while the Central Carolina Conference Championships get started at Oak Grove.

Prep softball

Third-seeded South Rowan plays in a Central Carolina Conference semifinal today at 5 p.m. against second-seeded Ledford at North Davidson.

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In the North Piedmont Conference, Carson hosts semifinal action today. Carson plays South Iredell at 5 p.m., with West Rowan vs. East Rowan to follow.

Local golf

Seventy-seven GARS members played at The Revival at the Crescent.

Low ‘A’ Flight player was Phil Cauble with a net of 65.85.  Low ‘B’ Flight player was Bob Niekras with a net of 66.85. Low ‘C’ Flight player was Ed Lockhart with a net of 63.08. Low ‘D’ Flight player was Lou Manning with a net of 61.91. Edgar Osborne shot a 73 for low gross and Ed Lockhart had low net.

O.J. Chandler, 88, shot an 87, and J.C. Ritchie, 93, shot 83. Ritchie eagled the  par-5 No. 14 hole.

College baseball

Catawba’s Jackson Raper, Riley Myers, Connor Johnson and Jacob Nester made the  all-tournament team for South Atlantic Conference baseball.

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Prep soccer

Carson defeated Statesville 5-1.

Gracie Thomason scored three goals. Lani Isley and Emelyn Soto scored a goal each.

 

College baseball

UNC sophomore Ike Freeman (East Rowan) has two homers, 32 RBIs and is batting .296.

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Brandon Lankford (Davie County) had two hits for UNC Asheville in an 11-5 loss to UNC on Monday.

Prep football

West Rowan back Martavio Rankin will sign with Averett on Thursday.

East Coast Basketball League

The Rowan County Bulls won Saturday, 148-128, vs. the East Carolina Cardinals.
Avery Patterson (A.L. Brown, St.John’s ) scored 52 points. He shot 12-for-19 on 3-pointers.
Junior Hairston (W. Rowan, Towson) scored 29 points. Stephen Heggins (South Rowan, Brevard) had 27.

 

Middle school baseball

West Rowan defeated China Grove, 12- 8, on Tuesday.  Casey Gouge got the win.   Blake Oliphant had two hits for the Bulldogs. Jake Blevins and Noah Loeblein  hit  home runs. 

West will play Southeast on Wednesday.

 

  Middle school tennis

Erwin  defeated Knox, 5-4,  in Erwin’s last tennis match of the season at Knox  on Tuesday.

Winning in singles for Erwin were  Ryan Brady, Gavin Walker and Joseph Boehm.

 Brady/Hunter Moore and  Walker/Boehm won in doubles.

 

Catawba awards

 Catawba College has announced the 2017-18 athletic award winners for student-athletes.

The awards were presented at the annual athletic ceremony held at the Keppel Auditorium on Tuesday, May 1. Heading the list of award winners were Becky Frost and Kyle Kitchens, who were awarded the Lomax and Kirkland Awards for the top female and male senior athletes who have been in attendance for at least three years. Frost and Josh Beaman received the Wurster Awards for team-before-self attitude and leadership.

Frost, of Crofton, Md., was an all-conference performer in both soccer and lacrosse at Catawba. She was a second-team All-South Atlantic Conference soccer pick in 2017, while taking home second team All-SAC lacrosse honors this season. Frost scored 15 goals in soccer and tallied 21 goals in lacrosse.

Kitchens, of Decatur, Ga., was a three-time All-American in football for the Indians. He set the school’s all-time sack record with 38 in his career. Kitchens was twice named the SAC Defensive Player of the Year and was the Region Player of the Year in 2015 in helping Catawba to a conference title and the NCAA II playoffs.

The Wurster Awards were established to honor a male and a female that demonstrate strong character, able leadership and an outstanding team-before-self attitude. Frost, and Beaman, a football player from Troy, N.C., earned this year’s awards.

Breki Bjarnason, of Reykjavik, Iceland, and Ashley Wagoner, of Roaring River, N.C., were the recipients of the SAAC Award for the highest cumulative GPA’s for seniors. Bjarnason, a psychology major that plays men’s soccer, posted a 3.962 grade point average. Wagoner, a softball player, had a 3.888 GPA while majoring in biochemistry.

The awards for team MVPs went to: Chance Bowden (Baseball), Jerrin Morrison (Men’s Basketball), Serena Brown (Women’s Basketball), Hannah Mercer (Women’s Cross Country), Kyle Rhodes (Men’s Cross Country), Kyle Kitchens (Football), Trey Burton (Men’s Golf), Kaley Barts (Women’s Golf), Chase Scott (Men’s Lacrosse), Gianna Pezzulo (Women’s Lacrosse), Philipp Hollenhorst (Men’s Soccer), Erin Feldman (Women’s Soccer), Delane Smith and Monica Taylor (Softball), Regan Nolan (Women’s Swimming), Gatlin Saylors (Men’s Swimming), Luca Picci (Men’s Tennis), Sophie Hirsch (Women’s Tennis), Samiyah Rasheed (Women’s Track & Field), Tom Joyce (Men’s Track & Field), Rachel Stanford (Volleyball), Evan Wimbish (Cheerleading), Roslyn Perkins (Dance), Elisabeth Farmer (Athletic Training) and Haley Morgan (Sports Information).