Photo by Jacques Morin
Most of the fans had left Orange Softball Field as Angie Carden gathered her daughter and her niece for one final photo.
Katie Carden had just played her final home game at Orange Softball Field on Tuesday night, where she started playing as an adolescent. Pop flies were harder to catch in her early years, but it’s not 2013 anymore. Now, Carden is a Division I Softball prospect who will be in uniform for Queen’s University next winter.
Positioned with Katie was her cousin, Jaden Hurdle, who has her own fond memories of Orange Softball Field. She was a freshman starting at first base when the Lady Panthers swept two games from West Brunswick on Friday, May 26, 2017, to win the Eastern Regional Championship. A week later, Orange would sweep a two-game series from Piedmont at Doak Field in Raleigh to take the state championship.
They stood in front of a small shed dedicated to the memory of Jaden’s older sister, Kacie Chamberlain, who tragically passed away in December 2012. Kacie wore #14. Since then, it has been in semi-retirement. Jaden wore it for her four years from 2017-2020. Katie started wearing it as a freshman in 2023. Once her season ends, #14 will go back into retirement.
The Carden name and lineage with Orange softball goes back to the mid-1990s, when Katie’s mother Christy played when the only type of softball sanctioned in North Carolina was slow pitch. The Panthers head coach was Dave Murr.
On Tuesday night, Katie was the last Carden, for now, to play a game at Orange Softball Field as the Lady Panthers defeated J.F. Webb 10-7 in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs.
Starting behind Katie in left field was Addison Guentensberger, who parents Todd and Debbie have a long and winding road with Orange athletics that is nearing its own end.
All four of Todd and Debbie’s children have played at Orange. Starting in 2015, Colin Guentensberger played linebacker for Orange football, when the Panthers were coached by Pat Moser and won the Big 8 Conference championship. Colin would go on to be a walk-on at Appalachian State.
Colin, Ethan and Cameron Guentensberger would all play baseball for Orange. They all claimed conference championships. Cameron, who did everything from playing centerfield to close games, reached the 3A state quarterfinals in 2023. Most notably, Cameron earned the pitching win when Orange scored six runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat Triton 9-8 in the second round of the state playoffs.
Addison was a libero for Orange volleyball last fall and helped Orange win the 2025 Central Conference Championship.
The Guentensberger’s grandparents in Illinois tuned into games on this website whenever they were available.
In the final home game for Orange softball this season, it was fitting that senior Natalie Roberson delivered two triples in a 10-7 win over J.F. Webb. Roberson, who has played at the varsity level for four years, finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Roberson took a fastball to the fence in left field to score Molly Kate Ollis for the opening run. Kylee Allen stroked a slider down the left field line that stayed fair by two feet, easily scoring Roberson.
Webb’s Simone Ovando belted a solo home run with two out in the fourth inning to cut Orange’s lead to 2-1, but the Lady Panthers added six runs in the bottom of the inning to push its advantage of 8-1. Carden delivered a two-run single to centerfield to score Ollis and Mariah Cook. Immediately afterwards, Roberson laid down a bunt that was thrown away by the Warriors pitcher, which allowed Hayleigh Hammond and Carden to score. Later, sophomore Malynne Roemmich belted another two-run single to score Allen and Roberson.
In the sixth, Adams and Ollis each scored off wild pitches to push Orange’s lead to 10-1. Webb mounted a patented run to trim the lead to 10-7, keyed by a two-run single by Jasey Lee. Second baseman Lily Ward and Carden recorded groundouts to end the game.
Orange will travel to top-seeded Southeast Alamance on Friday night for the second round.
