From staff reports

Salisbury’s baseball team is in the third round of the 2A state playoffs for the first time since 2007.

That 2007 team was a Cinderella squad that was  11-13 entering the playoffs. But the Hornets won at Bandys in the first round in extra innings and then won on the road at Brevard before losing at East Rutherford in the third round.

Coach Mike Herndon’s current Salisbury team also began the playoffs with a road win at Bandys and then beat Hibriten at home.

Salisbury (17-10) plays at North Davidson (21-4) tonight at  7 p.m. and will be taking on the strong Black Knights for the fourth time this season.

Salisbury lost 7-3 and 5-2 to ND in Central Carolina Conference regular season games but won 12-6 at neutral Finch Field in the semifinals of the CCC tournament.

Jack Fisher (7-2) is the probable pitcher for the Hornets tonight. He won the tournament game against North Davidson, as Chandler Lippard and Blaine Shellhorn turned in big offensive games.

Prep softball

Carson’s softball team plays tonight at home against North Buncombe (20-2) at 6 p.m.

The fourth-seeded Cougars (18-6) are in the third round of the playoffs for the first time in school history.

Carson only owned two playoff victories prior to this season. The Cougars won first-round games in 2012 and 2013.

Rylie Stewart will be in the circle for Carson and has thrown five straight shutouts. Freshmen Liza Simmerson and Kary Hales homered for the Cougars in an easy second-round win against Kings Mountain.

Carson has  won nine straight and has mercy-ruled both playoff opponents.

College golf

STOCKTON, Calif.— The No. 12 seed UNCG men’s golf team finished the first day of the  Stockton Regional tied for 10th place with No. 1 seed LSU. UNCG shot a team score of 5-over par 293 on Monday at the par-72, 7,239-yard The Reserve at Spanos Park.

Senior Josh Stockwell turned in the best individual score for the Spartans, tying for 19th place at 1-under 71.

No. 10 Iowa State leads the 13-team field at 10-under 278.

UNCG’s Jonathan Brightwell is one stroke behind Stockwell. Brightwell had three birdies and bogeys on the back nine and got par on each on the first nine holes.

Nick Lyerly (East Rowan) and Bryce Hendrix are tied for 52nd place at 3-over 75. After going 4-over 40 on the back nine, Lyerly rebounded with a 1-under 35 on the front nine.

Joseph Cansler notched a 7-over 79 for 72nd place.

UNCG will play the second round today in a threesome with USC and LSU.

Intimidators

ASHEVILLE —  Laz Rivera hit a run-scoring single in the ninth inning, leading the Kannapolis Intimidators to a 2-1 win over the Asheville Tourists on Monday.

The single by Rivera capped a two-run inning and gave the Intimidators a 2-1 lead after Nolan Brown scored on an error earlier in the inning.

Yosmer Solorzano (1-2) got the win with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief while Tommy Doyle (1-3) took the loss in the SAL game.