From staff reports

CHINA GROVE — Rylie Stewart pitched a two-hitter as  second-seeded Carson’s softball team  (15-6) romped, 8-0, against third-seeded South Iredell in the semifinals of the North Piedmont Conference Tournament on Wednesday.

Freshman Kary Hales led Carson’s offense. She had three doubles and scored four runs.

Haley Howerton had two hits and two RBIs. Stewart had two RBIs. Kaitlyn Honeycutt had two hits. Ellie Wilhelm had two hits.

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CHINA GROVE — Top-seeded West Rowan (17-5) built a 10-2 lead and held off fourth-seeded East Rowan for a 10-7 win on Wednesday in a semifinal game in the North Piedmont Conference Tournament.

Mary Sobataka had three hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs. Alexandra Linder had two hits and scored three runs. Morgan Corriher had two hits and two RBIs. Hannah Pratt had two hits and two RBIs.

Hannah Roberts was the winning pitcher.

Ashlyn Fritz had three hits. Karley Teague had two hits and two RBIs. Haley Strange drove in two runs. Mackenzie Sprinkle had two RBIs.

West plays Carson for the tournament championship and the league’s top seed for the 3A state playoffs at 7 p.m. tonight at Carson.

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WELCOME — Third-seeded South Rowan (16-9) lost to second-seeded Ledford, 5-0, in the semifinals of the Central Carolina Conference softball tournament on Wednesday.

Brooke Lowery had the only hit for the Raiders. Whitley Arnott struck out eight batters.

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Davie County   won, 9-5,  against Reagan on Tuesday for its first outright Central Piedmont Conference title since 2001.

Sierra Ferguson, Shea Woody and Sydney Wyatt homered for the War Eagles.

 

 

Prep tennis

SALISBURY — Salisbury’s tennis team stayed undefeated with a 6-0 win against East Burke on Wednesday in the first round of the 2A dual team state playoffs.

Roarke Burton, Ethan McGee, Jander Rodas-Palacios, Adam Drye, Sean Archer and Juan Salazar won singles matches. Doubles were not required for the Hornets (19-0).

Prep baseball

CHINA GROVE — Maddux Holshouser pitched a one-hitter as top-seeded Carson’s baseball team handled fourth-seeded North Iredell, 5-0, in a semifinal game in the North Piedmont Conference Tournament on Wednesday.

Holshouser (8-1) struck out five and walked two. He’s won eight straight decisions. He allowed a second-inning single to opposing pitcher David Highman.

Owen White went 2-for-2 and drove in a run for the Cougars (20-5). Bryce Holshouser went 2-for-3 and scored two runs. Carson had seven hits.

Carson plays second-seeded East Rowan tonight at 7 p.m. at Carson for the tournament championship.

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CHINA GROVE — Hayden Setzer pitched a five-inning one-hitter as second-seeded East Rowan clobbered third-seeded West Rowan, 14-0, on Wednesday in a North Piedmont Conference Tournament semifinal.

East scored four runs in the first and got eight more in the third.

Setzer homered and drove in four runs. Will Brown doubled, tripled and went 3-for-3 with two RBIs.  Bryson Wagner had two hits. Charlie Klingler had two hits. Avery Shull knocked in two runs. Matthew Mathis had two hits and two RBIs. Trevor Scruggs knocked in two runs.

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In the South Piedmont Conference, Jason White pitched a shutout to lead Robinson to a 5-0 win against Central Cabarrus  on Wednesday.

Jake Rowden had two hits for the Vikings.

Prep football

West Rowan back Martavio Rankin will sign with Averett today.

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A.L. Brown announced it will play Reagan in the Kickoff Clasic at BB&T Field on Aug. 10.

Prep soccer

East Rowan lost to North Iredell, 4-0, on Wednesday in North Piedmont Conference action.

Two of the N.I. goals came on penalty kicks.

Lauren Weisensel made 26 saves for the Mustangs. East lost Alexis Avalos in the first half with a broken nose.

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Carson lost to NPC leader South Iredell, 4-1, on Wednesday. Lindsay Durham had two assists for the Vikings.

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Carson defeated Statesville, 5-1, on Tuesday.

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

 Prep golf

The Cannon School   finished second by three shots at the Southern Cross Tournament in Aiken, S.C.

There were 21 teams and 90 players competing.

Boiling Springs won with  220-214 — 434.  The Cannon School shot 223-214 — 437

Michael Childress shot  76-72 – 148 to tie for 13th.

Charlie Barr shot 76-73 — 149 to tie for 16th.

Prep basketball

Lexington announced the hiring of new head boys basketball coach Josh Pittman on Wednesday.

Mid. school baseball

Pitchers  Justin Cole and Jake Blevins scattered  five hits in West Rowan’s 14-4 win against Southeast on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs were led at the plate by Blake Oliphant, Ben Sweet, Drew Burton and Noah Loeblein.

West (9-2) plays at North Rowan on Thursday.

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

  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.

Intimidators

KANNAPOLIS — Craig Dedelow hit a three-run double in the fifth inning, and Luis Gonzalez singled three times as the Kannapolis Intimidators topped the Hickory Crawdads 9-6 on Wednesday.

Hickory loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, but Pedro Gonzalez struck out to end the game.

Local golf

The Corbin Hills ladies played on Tuesday.

First Flight winners

Low gross —  Phyllis Durand

Low net Kristi Laton

Second Flight winners

Low gross — Becky Isenhour

Low net — Cindy Carmazzi.

Third Flight winners

Low gross — Faye Cline

Low net Susan Wydner.

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.

Semi-pro basketball

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.

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.

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.

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).