High school sports: Salisbury’s team, SPC individuals qualify for state golf
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, May 3, 2022
- East Rowan’s Landon Merrell will try to help the Mustangs reclaim the county golf tournament from West Rowan. File photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
From staff reports
Salisbury’s golf team will be returning to the 2A State Championships.
The Hornets shot 333 and placed second behind East Surry in Monday’s 2A West Regional held at Sapona in Lexington.
Warren Fesperman shot 76 to lead the Hornets. He was two shots behind the medalist Anderson Badgett of East Surry.
Will Webb (84), Nick Antosek (86) and Luke Graeber (87) were the other scores for Salisbury.
West Davidson finished four shots back of the Hornets and was the third qualifying team.
Salisbury’s last qualified as a team in 2014.
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In the 3A Midwest Regional at the Country Club of Salisbury, West Rowan’s golf team came very close to qualifying for the state tournament for the first time, but a scorecard mistake and an unfortunate DQ took the Falcons out of the running.
West golfers played extremely well with McGwire Owen (79), Tyler Kepley (82) and Justin Cole (83) turning in solid days.
Owen’s 79 made him one of the individual qualifiers for the 3A State Championships. Carson’s Cade Cranfield and South Rowan’s Jackson Black also shot 79s to advance, while East Rowan’s Landon Merrell shot 76, one of the best scores of the day.
High Point Central’s Davis DeLillie shot a sizzling 5-under 66 and led the Bison to the team title at 312. South Piedmont Conference team Lake Norman Charter took second, while Rockingham County took third and the last state berth.
Northwest Cabarrus finished fourth as a team and Trojans Talan Harrison (71) and Cooper Burris (74) advanced to the state event as individuals.
Golf state championships will be held in Pinehurst on May 6-7.
Track and field
Salisbury’s boys won the Central Carolina Conference Championships held at South Davidson on Monday.
Marcus Cook led the Hornets with winning efforts in the long (20 feet, 2.5 inches) and triple (44-4.5) jumps. Damien Brandon won the discus with a throw of 115 feet. 8 inches. Jamal Rule won the 400 in 52.14 seconds.
The Hornets won the 4×100 (44.17) and 4×400 (3:35) relays.
Salisbury out-distanced second-place West Davidson by 50 points.
• Quintin Wilson won both hurdling events for North Rowan, clocking 17.07 for 110 meters and 44.16 in the 300.
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West Davidson (165) edged East Davidson (163) for the girls championship.
North Rowan didn’t have the depth or the distance people of those teams, but won eight events and placed third.
Tai’lah Ward had a spectacular day with wins in the 100 (12.79), 200 (26.21), 100 hurdles (15.36) and 300 hurdles (46.89).
Aniya Brown won the triple jump (33-7.5). Brittany Ellis won the shot (35 feet) and the discus (97-9).
North also took the 4×200 relay.
Salisbury got wins from Sutton Webb in the 1600 (5:25) and Dashia Canada in the 400 (1:04.39).
Baseball
Third-seeded Salisbury rallied from a 6-1 deficit and beat sixth-seeded Thomasville 13-9 on Monday in the first round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.
Kaleb Burleyson had three hits four runs and four RBIs for the Hornets. Hank Webb had four hits. Cole Price had three hits and three RBIs, while Jack Everson scored three runs to back some strong relief pitching by Evan Koontz.
Action will now shift to Finch Field for the CCC semifinals. Salisbury plays second-seeded East Davidson today at 4:30 p.m.
• Fifth-seeded North Rowan made a strong bid to join the Hornets, but lost 6-5 to fourth-seeded South Davidson on Monday.
North scored three in the first. South Davidson got five in the second.
North tied it 5-all in the top of the seventh, but the Wildcats scored the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Malakie Harris pitched a complete game for the Cavaliers and struck out five.
Harris had two hits. Joseph Hartman scored two runs. Jaiden Burch drove in two runs.
Eli Hulin had three hits for South Davidson.
North closed the season with a 4-14 record.
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Davie romped 13-3 over Glenn in a first-r0und Central Piedmont Conference game on Monday.
Drew Krause had three RBIs for fourth-seeded Davie in the five-inning romp.
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Second-seeded Mooresville ended seventh-seeded A.L. Brown’s season with a 7-2 win in the first round of the Greater Metro Conference Tournament.
Raleigh Phillips had two hits for the Wonders. Drew Park knocked in two for the Blue Devils.
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In the South Piedmont Conference Tournament, top-seeded East Rowan shelled eighth-seeded Concord 15-3 in a first-round game.
Aiden Schenck hit a two-run homer, while Cobb Hightower had a two-run blast.
Nate Hayworth cleared the bases with a triple, and Logan Dyer also produced a run-scoring triple.
East will play Carson today at 4 p.m. in a semifinal at South Rowan.
• Third-seeded West Rowan hung on for a 5-3 win against sixth-seeded Central Cabarrus in a first-round SPC tournament game that went down to the final pitch.
Central had the bases loaded when Luke Graham got the final out on strikes.
Casey Gouge pitched very well for the win, striking out seven and lasting into the seventh inning.
Gouge helped himself with two hits and two RBIs. Zander Burton stayed hot with a 3-for-3 effort. Elijah Palmer had a big hit in the first inning, as the Falcons went on top 3-0.
Garrison Bullock had three hits and three RBIs for the Vikings, who still look like a probable playoff team.
• Fourth-seeded Carson got past fifth-seeded Northwest Cabarrus 2-1.
Hayden Simmerson was brilliant on the mound, striking out 13, walking none and holding the Trojans to five hits.
Carson couldn’t do much offensively against Terry Kaler, but the Cougars scratched out two runs. Samuel Safrit and Aaron Coe scored runs.
• South Rowan won 6-1 against Lake Norman Charter.
The second-seeded Raiders will take on West Rowan in a 7 p.m. semifinal tonight at South.
Girls soccer
Softball
In the Central Carolina Conference Tournament, fourth-seeded Salisbury pounded fifth-seeded Lexington 19-3 in a first-round game on Monday.
Katie Peeler struck out 13 for the Hornets.
Peeler scored three runs and had two hits. Ashley Yang scored four runs and drove in four. Ella Trainor had three hits and drove in two. Caroline Cozart had two hits and three RBIs.
Mallory Link had two hits and two RBIs. Riley Peltz had two hits. Rhyan Walker-Woodruff had two RBIs. Jayla Robertson had two RBIs. Jasmine Murray scored two runs.
Cozart, Link and Trainor walloped triples.
• Carmen Duffey pitched a one-hitter as third-seeded South Davidson beat sixth-seeded North Rowan 15-0 in four innings in a first-round game.
Jada Gonzalez had the only hit for North.
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A.L. Brown mashed West Cabarrus 12-5 in the first round of the Greater Metro Conference Tournament.
Avery Bracewell was the winning pitcher for the fifth-seeded Wonders.
Lindsay Wolford led the Wonders with three hits. Gracie Brown, Karma Little and Emmy David had two each.
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In the South Piedmont Conference Tournament, fifth-seeded South Rowan knocked off fourth-seeded South Rowan in a first-round game on Monday.
It was South’s biggest softball win in a while and puts the Raiders in a 4:30 p.m. semifinal today at Carson against No. 1 seed Central Cabarrus.
Central cruised 9-0 against Concord on Monday.
Carmen Thomas had two hits and two RBIs for the Raiders. McKinley Faw knocked in two runs.
Lexie Ritchie held the Mustangs to four hits and didn’t walk a batter.
Camryn Perkins pitched well for East, but South took advantage of six errors.
Mac Misenheimer and Maddie Roberts had doubles for the Mustangs.
• Second-seeded West Rowan crushed Lake Norman 11-0 in a first-round tournament game and advanced to a 6:30 p.m semifinal tonight against Carson on Carson’s field.
Carmen Freeze and Arabelle Shulenberger combined on the shutout.
Taylor Keller had three RBIs. Riley Haggas homered. Kenadi Sproul and Karsen Simpson had two hits and scored two runs.
• Third-seeded Carson advanced by battering sixth-seeded Northwest Cabarrus 15-1.
Makayla Johnson drove in five runs and scored three. Lonna Addison tripled and drove in two. Cora Atwell had two hits and scored twice.
Landry Stewart scored three runs.
Phoebe Cole and Johnson handled the pitching for the Cougars.