From staff reports

The China Grove 12U Cal Ripken baseball team has won the area championship and the state West Division title.

The team is headed to Florida for the regionals after beating Boone in the West Division  finals.

Players are Aiden Michael, Brett Morris, Drew Young, Elijah Palmer, Keegan Barger, Will Bradshaw, Aaron Jones, Gage Trexler, Brooks Hubbard, Andrew Helmbold and Damon Oles.

Coaches are Brian Jones, Andy Helmbold, Dwight Bradshaw and Thomas Oles.

Legion baseball

Games 3 and 5 (if needed) of the Randolph County  -Kannapolis Area III semifinal series will be played at 1 p.m. at McCrary Park in Asheboro due to field conflicts. Randolph hosts Game 1 tonight, with Game 2 set for Kannapolis’ home field at Northwest Cabarrus High on Friday.

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High Point automatically gets one of the two Area III berths in the state tournament as the host team.

The second team will be Rowan County, Randolph or Kannapolis.

If High Point beats Rowan, the Kannapolis-Randolph winner qualifies for state.

If Rowan beat High Point, that second berth will be decided by the Area III championship series.

Most years, both Area III finalists move  on to  the state event, but that won’t be the case this time.

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In Area IV, Rutherford County (19-2) eliminated Mint Hill on Wednesday in a five-game series.

Minor Leagues

GREENSBORO — Edward Cabrera got Luis Curbelo to hit into a double play in the fifth inning, leading the Greensboro Grasshoppers to a 6-2 win over the Kannapolis Intimidators on Wednesday.

The double play came with the bases loaded and prevented the Intimidators from scoring in the inning.

Up 3-2, the Grasshoppers extended their lead in the sixth inning when Isael Soto hit a two-run single.

With the win, Greensboro improved to 8-3 against Kannapolis this season.

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Missoula’s Zac Almond (Catawba) is still hitting very well.

An Arizona Diamondbacks prospect, Almond, 22, has four homers and 18 RBIs in 16 games and is batting .308.

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Chicago Cubs prospect Craig Brooks (Catawba) is  pitching for the Triple A Iowa Cubs.

Brooks, 25, has pitched in 126 minor league games and has 228 strikeouts in 167 innings. Brooks has a 10-4 record in his minor league career with 22 saves.

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Bryan Blanton (Catawba) is 0-3 for the Pulaski Yankees despite pitching a lot better than it sounds out of the bullpen.

Blanton, 22, has fanned 10 while walking two in 7 1/3 innings. His ERA is 2.45.

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Jordan Jankowski (Catawba) is pitching in Triple A with the Salt Lake Bees, a farm club of the Los Angeles Angels.

Jankowski, 29, has a high ERA, but he’s 2-0 with the Bees.He pitched in three MLB games last season.

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Michael Elwell (Catawba) is pitching in the independent Pecos League for the Bakersfield Train Robbers and is doing very well.

He’s struck out 27 batters in 15 1/3 inings. Elwell (1-0) has a 2.34 ERA.

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Toronto Blue Jays prospect Colton Laws (Carson) is on the disabled list of the Lansing Lugnuts.

Laws (4-4) hasn’t pitched since June 30.

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Texas Rangers draft pick Owen White (Carson) isn’t expected to do any pitching  until Aug. 27.

He’ll be pitching in the fall instructional league in September.

Local golf

Sixty-four GARS members played at Lexington Golf Club. Low ‘A’ Flight player was Winsten Mahaffey with a net of 65.84. Low ‘B’ Flight player with a net of 62.96 was Lynn Shook.

Low ‘C’ Flight player was John Cress with a net of 64.61.  Low ‘D’ Flight player was John Daniels with a net of 65.30

Low gross was  a 74 shot by Mahaffey and Larry Petrea. Low net was won by Shook.

Four members shot their age or better today: Mahaffey, 81, shot a 74; Ben Moore, 81, shot an 81; Ken Miller, 82, shot an 82; and Clayton Steele, 86, shot 84.

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A renovation project continues at Warrior Golf Club, including a greens conversion to Ultra Dwarf Bermuda.

  Champion Ultra Dwarf Bermuda does not require aeration in the spring and fall, adding 45 more days of golf at Warrior.

The project began May 29, with reopening scheduled for Aug. 1.

  The pro shop and range are still open.

There was no Rowan Masters  this year, but it will return to  the renovated Warrior next summer.

Pfeiffer AD

  Pfeiffer President Dr. Colleen Keith announced the promotion of Danielle Lafferty to the position of athletic director.

Lafferty had served as assistant athletic director of compliance.

A softball player in her playing days, Lafferty was a four-year starter at shortstop for Elon University.

Junior Legion

Randolph Red defeated Concord, 4-2, on Wednesday to win their Area III semifinal series two games to one.

Randolph starts the Area III championship series against Mocksville at home on Friday.

Both teams have qualified for the state tournament.