Orange Softball

Orange’s Katie Carden & Addison Guentensberger discuss win over Roxboro Community School

The Orange softball team has won four in a row after Wednesday night’s 9-2 victory over Roxboro Community School in Person County. Sophomore Katie Carden hit the first home run of her varsity career with a two-run blast in the first inning. Last week, the Panthers rallied past the Bulldogs 7-6. With RCS leading 6-5, Carden tied the game with a double to centerfield, scoring Allie Carden. Addison Guentensberger laced a walkoff single to centerfield, scoring Carden. On Wednesday night, the Lady Panthers scored six runs in the third inning. Mia Leathers had the big blast with a grand slam, her first home run of the year. Caden Robinson added an RBI single in the third inning. In the circle, Robinson threw a complete game two-hitter, striking out six. Robinson is now 4-1 this season. She has been a member of Orange’s varsity since her freshman year, when the Lady Panthers won the Big 8 Conference championship. Last week, Orange won three games over the course of four days with win over RCS, West Johnston and Eden Morehead. Orange will start its Central Conference slate against defending league champion Western Alamance in Hillsborough on Tuesday night. Last year, Western Alamance won the 3A Eastern Regional championship behind pitcher Taylor Apple, who now plays at East Carolina. 

Softball Alumni Update: Davidson signs with Japanese Professional League

Mia Davidson: The all-time leading home run hitter in Orange High history has signed with the Denso Bright Pegasus of the Japan Diamond Softball League, the top professional organization in Japan. Davidson will play for the Bright Pegasus starting next week, as well as maintaining her American ties with Athletes Unlimited during the summer. The Diamond Softball League, commonly referred to as the “JD League,” has been in existence since 2022. Unlike the United States, which has struggled to maintain a standard individual franchise professional softball league despite the popularity of the sport in college and high school, the JD League has 16 teams. Denso Bright Pegasus was founded in 1960.

Takia Nichols: Nichols hit her first home run of the season for North Carolina Central against North Carolina on Tuesday night. The dinger gave the Eagles the lead, but UNC wound up winning 21-1 in five innings at Anderson Stadium in Chapel Hill. Over the weekend, the Eagles played in the Pirate Invitational at Joyner Family Stadium in Greenville. Nichols started in two games and went 1-for-2 with a double against Rider. The Broncs won 10-4. Nichols also started the second game of a doubleheader against East Carolina, which the Pirates won 5-0.

Mary Moss Wirt: Elon went 1-4 in the Duke Tournament in Durham last weekend. Wirt started at catcher in two games against Michigan State and against #8 Duke on Sunday. This weekend, the Phoenix will face off against UNC Greensboro at Hunt Softball Park in Elon.

Tori Dalehite: UNC Greensboro went 3-2 in the I-75 Tournament at Mewborn Field in Atlanta last weekend. In a 3-0 victory at Kennesaw State on Sunday, Dalehite entered the game as a pinch-hitter. In an 8-4 win over Robert Morris, Dalehite scored on a walkoff grand slam hit by Samantha Beck as the Spartans came back from a 4-0 deficit to win. Dalehite reached on an error leading up to the game-winning homer. Dalehite also played in a 13-1 victory over Army in five innings. Last week, Dalehite entered the game in the sixth inning as a reserve in a 6-4 loss to North Carolina.

Carson Bradsher: South Carolina Upstate hosted the Wings ETC Classic last weekend at Cyrill Stadium in Spartanburg, SC. The Spartans rolled past Monmouth 8-1. Bradsher scored as a pinch-runner in the sixth inning off of a sacrifice fly. On Saturday, Upstate defeated Monmouth again 9-0. Bradsher scored the final run of the day after Cassie Norris was hit by a pitch. Bradsher also entered the game in a reserve role in a 11-6 loss to Kentucky on Sunday. South Carolina Upstate went 2-3 in the event.

Lauren Jackson: Lenoir-Rhyne is now ranked #25 in Division II after sweeping four games from Barton and Johnson C. Smith at Bears Field in Hickory. Against the Golden Bulls, Jackson went 2-for-2 with an RBI single during a nine-run first inning. Jackson played as a pinch-hitter in a 4-0 win over Barton on Sunday in the opening game of a doubleheader. On Saturday, Jackson walked as a pinch-hitter in a 10-0 whitewashing of Barton in five innings.

Ava Lowry: Division III North Carolina Wesleyan started its season dropping a doubleheader to #9 Virginia Wesleyan over the weekend at Edge Field in Rocky Mount. On Saturday, the Battling Bishops swept Mid-Atlantic Christian in another doubleheader. Lowry, a former Cedar Ridge shortstop, hit a two-run homer in her first at-bat of the season in an 11-0 win over the Mustangs. In the nightcap, Lowry drew three walks and scored two runs as the Bishops won 17-4. Virginia Wesleyan won the opening game of Sunday’s doubleheader 6-5 in nine innings. The Bishops led 2-0 going into the seventh inning, but the Marlins tied the game in the seventh. Lowry finished 1-for-3. The Marlins claimed the second game 8-0. Lowry went 0-for-2.

Kelsey Tackett: Wesleyan’s opening weekend was also the first official games for Tackett, who played for Orange from 2020-2023.

Brianne Foster: Wake Tech Community College defeated Southwest Virginia 9-1 on Monday in William Peace University in Raleigh. Foster entered the game as a pinch-hitter. Foster started in left field as the Eagles swept the doubleheader with a 17-9 win in five innings. Foster started in left field. On Thursday, the Eagles will travel to North Myrtle Beach to face South Carolina Union.

Olivia Aitkin: The Division III Amherst College Mammoths will start its season on March 17 in a doubleheader against Endicott College and Rampo College. Aitkin will start her sophomore season after playing ten games last year, starting six. She had a batting average of .385 in 13 at-bats.

Softball Alumni Update: Andrews starts career with Carolina Bruins

Photo from Carolina University 

Grace Andrews: After three years at Catawba Valley Community College, Andrews is now at Carolina University, a National Christian College Athletic Association school in Winston-Salem. Carolina won its first game of the season against Salem College on February 17. Andrews went 2-for-5 with a double. In the second game of the doubleheader, Andrews finished 1-for-3 with an RBI double as Salem won 9-8 with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. On February 21, the Bruins split a doubleheader with Milligan University in Milligan, TN. In a 12-2 win for Carolina in the opener, Andrews went 2-for-4 with an RBI double. In Milligan’s 5-4 win in the nightcap, Andrews went 1-for-4 and scored the Bruins first run off a throwing error. She started at shortstop. Andrews also played both games in a doubleheader sweep of Johnson C. Smith in Clemmons on February 19. The Bruins are 4-4.

Takia Nichols :North Carolina Centra won 3-2 in the HBCU Softball Invitational at the Turner Lake Softball Complex in Covington, GA last weekend. Nichols started as a designated hitter in a 4-3 win over Alabama State. She went 1-for-3. Alcorn State edged the Eagles 7-6 on Friday night. Nichols went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks. Nichols went 1-for-3 with an RBI off a sacrifice fly as Central edged Jackson State 9-8 on Saturday. Alabama A&M defeated Central 4-1 on Sunday. Nichols entered the game as a pinch-hitter and went 0-for-1 with a walk. The Eagles are 4-6 and will head to Greenville this weekend for the Pirate Invitational at East Carolina University. Central will face East Carolina on Friday.

Tori Dalehite: Last week, Dalehite started in left field as UNC Greensboro defeated Wintrop 6-1 at UNCG Softball Stadium. Dalehite went 0-for-3 with a walk. The Spartans hosted the Spiro Classic last week in Greensboro. Dalehite started in left field in a 5-3 win over Sacred Heart on Friday. She played right field in a 7-2 win over Drexel on Friday night. Dalehite singled and scored as a pinch-hitter in the Spartans 7-3 win over Drexel on Saturday. Ohio defeated UNCG twice last weekend, including a 6-4 win on Sunday. Dalehite entered that contest in the seventh inning as a right fielder.

Mary Moss Wirt: The Elon softball team played in the Marucci Classic at Dail Softball Stadium at N.C. State University in Raleigh. The Phoenix went 1-4 in the event. Wirt played in all five games, starting with an appearance as a pinch-hitter in an 8-7 loss to North Dakota State in eight innings. Wirt started as catcher in an 9-0 loss to Connecticut in five innings. Elon’s only win of the weekend with a 7-5 victory over North Dakota St. in eight innings. Wirt entered the game against the Bison in the second inning as catcher. Wirt also played in two games against N.C. State. The Wolfpack defeated Elon on Saturday 5-2. On Sunday, N.C. State prevailed 8-4. On Wednesday, Wirt started at catcher in a 9-1 loss to Virginia Tech in six innings at Tech Softball Park in Blacksburg, VA.

Carson Bradsher: South Carolina Upstate went 2-2 in the Winthrop Eagle Classic at Terry Field in Rock Hill, SC last weekend. In a 14-3 win over Mount St. Mary’s, Bradsher had an RBI single to right field in the fourth inning. Bradsher entered the game during a 10-run fourth inning as a pinch-runner and scored. off a throwing error.

Lauren Jackson: Division II Lenoir-Rhyne defeated the #1 team in D2, North Georgia, 2-1 in ten innings in Dahlonga, GA on Saturday. On Sunday, North Georgia bounced back to beat the Bears 6-0. Jackson played in the second end of the doubleheader as a pinch-hitter. Jackson walked in the Bears 9-0 victory over UNC Pembroke in five innings on Saturday afternoon. On Thursday, Lenoir-Rhyne split a doubleheader against Lees-McRae at Bears Field in Hickory. The Bears won the nightcap 10-2 in five innings. Jackson started at catcher and went 1-for-3.

Brianne Foster: Breezy has started her freshman season at Wake Tech. The Eagles defeated the Guilford College junior varsity team 10-2 on February 18 for its first win. Foster went 1-for-2 with a run scored. Foster went 2-for-4 in the opening game of the doubleheader against Guilford, which the Quakers won 15-7. Foster started at catcher. Foster also started the opening game of a doubleheader against Gaston College on Wednesday, which the Rhinos swept.

Alumni Update: Davidson-Smith wins gold medal at Pan American Games

Mia Davidson-Smith: The United States women’s national softball team won the gold medal at the Pan-American Games in Santiago, Chile on Saturday. The Americans defeated Puerto Rico 7-0 in the gold medal game. The U.S. didn’t surrender more than three runs in any of its six games and outscored its opposition 60-8. Davidson-Smith hit a home run in an 18-0 win over Chile run in the Americans opening 18-0 win over Chile. She had a pinch-hit homer in the second inning. Davidson-Smith played in the Americans 8-3 win over Canada last Friday. She scored a run in the U.S. 7-0 victory over Mexico after she drew a walk pinch-hitting for Erin Coffell, who played at Kentucky. Davidson started against Venezuela and went 0-for-1 with a walk. The trip to Chile was the latest international journey for Davidson-Smith. Last spring, she played in Dublin, Ireland for the United States in the World Baseball Softball Confederation World Cup, where the Americans also took gold.

Trenton Gill: The Chicago Bears lost to the New Orleans Saints 24-17 at the Mercedes-Benz SuperDome on Sunday. Gill had two punts for an average of 47.5 yards. His longest punt was 49 yards. The Bears are 2-7 and will face the Carolina Panthers at Solider Field on Thursday night.

Payton Wilson: Wilson was named the ACC Linebacker of the Week for N.C. State after the Wolfpack defeated Clemson 24-17 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Wilson returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to put the Wolfpack ahead 17-7. Wilson finished with eight tackles with one-and-a-half tackles for loss. N.C. State defeated Miami 20-6 last weekend in Raleigh. Wilson led the team with 16 tackles, had two pass breakups and two quarterback hits. He also had a tackle for loss. Through eight games, Wilson leads the team in tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, pass breakups, quarterback hits, and fumble recoveries. He also is tied for the team lead in interceptions with two.

Darius Satterfield: The Elizabeth City State football team ended its season with a 38-20 win over Bluefield State University last weekend. Satterfield averaged 33.5 yards per punt over four attempts. One was downed inside the 20-yard line. His longest punt was 45 yards. On October 21, the Vikings upset Virginia State 17-16 on the road at Rogers Stadium. Satterfield averaged 38.2 yards on four punts. One was downed inside the 20-yard line. He had one touchback. The Vikings finished the year 3-7. This season, Satterfield averaged 36.4 yards per punt on 43 punts. He had three punts of over 50 yards.

Braxton Mergenthal: The Hampden-Sydney football team claimed a thrilling 26-25 win in overtime over Shenandoah in its home finale on Saturday. It was the final home game for Hampden-Sydney head coach Marty Favret, who is retiring after 24 years. Mergenthal finished with one tackle. Hampden-Sydney has a chance to make the Division III playoffs. They go into its regular season finale at Randolph-Macon this weekend with a 6-3 record.

Ivy Garner: The Liberty women’s soccer team won the Conference USA Tournament championship last week. The Flames defeated New Mexico State 2-1 at Robert Mack Caruthers Field in Ruston, LA. Garner started and played 56 minutes, firing one shot on goal. Last Friday, the Flames defeated Louisiana Tech 4-0 in the semifinals. Garner started and played 64 minutes for the Flames. She had three shots. Liberty will face #3 Georgia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Emerson Talley: The Division II Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team remains undefeated as they go into the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. The Bears finished the SAC regular season champions after beating #4 Catawba 2-1 in Salisbury on November 1. Talley started and played 90 minutes. She fired one shot. On Sunday, Lenoir-Rhyne defeated Mars Hill 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the SAC Tournament. Talley started and played the first half. The Bears won its home finale over Lincoln Memorial 2-0 at Moretz Sports Complex in Hickory. Talley started and played 81 minutes. Lenoir-Rhyne will face Carson-Newman in the semifinals on Friday morning in Matthews.

Alumni Update: Davidson returns to North Carolina with Athletes Unlimited; fall sports preview

Mia Davidson-Smith: For the first time since turning professional in 2022, Davidson-Smith returned to North Carolina with Athletes Unlimited. It was also the first time that Davidson-Smith was the Captain of her own team, a spot reserved for one of the top four point-getters in Athletes Unlimited. In a three-game series last week, Team Davidson went 2-1. Davidson-Smith played her first game in North Carolina since 2018 at ECU Softball Stadium in Greenville last Wednesday. Team Davidson edged Team Romero 4-3. Davidson-Smith, starting at catcher, went 0-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch. Davidson-Smith finished the game with 98 individual points. On Saturday, Team Alexander shutout Team Davidson 4-0 at Parkway Bank Stadium in Rosemont, IL. Davidson-Smith went 0-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch. She finished with eight points. On Sunday, Team Davidson defeated Team Faraimo 3-1. Davidson-Smith went 0-for-3 with a walk. Davidson had 108 points on the day. Despite going hitless for the weekend, Davidson-Smith is still in fourth place among 60 players in Athletes Unlimited with 1,052 points. She’s the highest-ranked catcher in Athletes Unlimited. Once again, she will serve as a Captain on her own team this weekend. On Friday night, Team Davidson will face Team Alexander.

Bryse Wilson: The Milwaukee Brewers rallied in the ninth inning last week to defeat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 in ten innings at Miller Park. Wilson earned the win to improve to 4-0. In one inning of work, Wilson surrendered one unearned run off one hit. On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Brewers 6-2 at Dodger Stadium. Wilson threw two-and-one-thirds innings of shutout baseball. He surrendered two hits and struck out two. Wilson currently has a 3.30 ERA. The Brewers are in first place in the National League Central with a 65-56 record. They lead the Cincinnati Reds by two-and-a-half games at the end of Wednesday night’s action.

Payton Wilson: The senior N.C. State linebacker was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list this week. The Bednarik Award is presented to the top defensive player in college football. Last week, Wilson was named to the Dick Butkus Preseason Watch List. The Butkus Award honors the nation’s best linebacker.

Trenton Gill: The Chicago Bears played its first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans at Solider Field last weekend. The Bears won the game 23-17. Gill handled all of the punting duties, which says all you need to know about his job security. Of his four punts, Gill had an average of 50-yards per boot. One was downed inside the 20-yard line.

The fall sports season is set to begin in less than two weeks. The amount of former Orange and Cedar Ridge High School athletes playing sports in college has likely never been more voluminous. Here’s the list of athletes who will be suiting up for professional and college sports team this fall.

Football:

Trenton Gill–punter for the Chicago Bears

Payton Wilson–redshirt senior linebacker at N.C. State

Darius Satterfield–sophomore punter at Elizabeth City State University

Braxton Mergenthal–senior defensive lineman for Hampden-Sydney

Volleyball: 

Lottie Scully–Sophomore setter for the Binghamton Bearcats. Last season, Scully was third in the American East Conference with 788 assists. She had a season-high 64 assists in a 5-set victory over UMBC, which ended UMBC’s 23-match conference winning streak.

Avery Miller: Sophomore at Pitt Community College

Cameron Lloyd: Freshman at Bucknell University. Lloyd is the all-time kills leader in Cedar Ridge history.

Grace Young: Freshman at UNC Asheville. Young was the libero in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for Cedar Ridge, all conference championship teams.

Cameron Lanier: Freshman at Elon. Only the second Cedar Ridge player in history with 500 kills.

Julie Altieri: Freshman at Salisbury University in Maryland. Altieri is the all-time assist leader in Cedar Ridge history.

Melissa Benkowitz: Freshman at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.

Anaya Carter: Freshman at UNC Pembroke.

Allie Wilkerson: Freshman at Averett University.

Women’s Tennis: 

Jera Hargrove: Sophomore at Tuskegee University

Women’s Soccer: 

Ivy Garner: Sophomore at Liberty University. Garner played at Cedar Ridge her freshman year before she transferred to Eno River Academy. Garner started regularly as a freshman and helped the Flames win the Atlantic Sun regular season championship. This season, they will play in Conference USA.

Emerson Talley: Junior at Lenoir-Rhyne University. The all-time leading goal scorer in Cedar Ridge history.

Sydney Rogers: Freshman at Catawba College. The first female to score a point for the Orange football team. Also a member of the first Orange women’s tennis team to win a conference championship.

 

 

Alumni Update: Berini wins 3rd AAC Championship with ECU Baseball

Joey Berini: The #15 East Carolina baseball team has won its third consecutive American Athletic Conference regular season championship. Over the weekend, the Pirates swept South Florida at USF Baseball Stadium in Tampa. On Saturday, the Pirates won 7-1. Berini, who started all three games at shortstop, went 0-for-2 with an RBI groundout on Saturday. In Friday’s 6-5 win for the Pirates, Berini went 1-for-4. On Thursday, East Carolina won 8-3. Berini went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. He had a two-run single in the third inning to even the game 3-3. ECU will be the #1 seed for this week’s AAC Tournament at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, FL. They will start play on Tuesday. ECU is 41-15 and sit atop the AAC with an 18-6 record.

Bryse Wilson: On Saturday, Wilson threw three innings of relief for the Milwaukee Brewers agains the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Wilson allowed only two hits and no runs. He had one strikeout. Tampa won 8-4. On May 15, Wilson threw one-and-two-thirds innings of relief as the Brewers were pounded by St. Louis 18-1 at Busch Stadium. Wilson gave up two runs off three hits with two strikeouts. Milwaukee is currently in first place in the National League Central with a 25-21 record. Wilson has a 2.92 ERA with two saves and 24 strikeouts.

Dante DeFranco: The Charlotte 49ers baseball team will be the #3 seed in this week’s Conference USA Baseball Tournament in Houston. The 49ers are on a five-game winning streak after sweeping Middle Tennessee at Hayes Stadium over the weekend. DeFranco started at second base in the 49ers 14-5 win over the Blue Raiders on Friday. He did not have an at-bat. On Thursday, the 49ers defeated Middle Tennessee 3-2. DeFranco went 2-for-4, starting at second base. On Tuesday, Charlotte upset #9 South Carolina 11-9 at Founders Park in Columbia, SC. DeFracno started at second base and went 1-for-5 with a double. He scored off a two-run homer by Blake Jackson in the second inning. Charlotte will face Louisiana Tech, the defending CUSA champions, on Tuesday.

Phillip Berger: The Division III William Peace baseball team ended its season in the USA South Tournament championship series on May 13. North Carolina Wesleyan defeated the Pacers 8-4 in Rocky Mount. On May 12, the Battling Bishops defeated Peace 9-2 in game one of the best-of-three series. Berger started on May 12 for Peace. He suffered the loss, sending his record to 4-5. Berger threw six innings and allowed seven runs off six hits. Only three of the runs were earned. He had three strikeouts and two walks. Peace ends the season 25-21. Berger, a junior, went 4-5 with a. 3.69 ERA this year. He led the team with 76 strikeouts with 26 walks. Peace’s 25 wins this season are a school record.

Jamar Davis: At the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the Paul Derr Track Facility in Raleigh on May 11-13, Davis finished fourth in the triple jump. His best leap was 15.45 meters. Owayne Owens of Virginia won the conference championship at 16.61 meters. Davis finished eighth in the long jump with a leap of 7.26 meters. Jeremiah Davis of Florida State won the ACC Championship at 7.94 meters. Davis will participate in the NCAA East Regionals this week in Jacksonville, FL.

Jaylin Jones: The Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team had its season come to an end in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Centre College defeated the Falcons 11-9 in Danville, KY. In his final game with the Falcons, Jones had one shot, four ground balls and one turnover created. Jones, who is a graduate student with Pfeiffer, ends the season with 17 games played. He started one. Jones had one game-winning goal. He finished with four goals, two assists and 37 ground balls. Pfieffer went 17-2 this season.

Joe Kiger: On Saturday night, Kiger started the season by winning the MOD 4 feature event at Orange County Speedway just outside of Caldwell. Kiger, running in the Racing Electronics car, won with several of his friends from Orange High and Cedar Ridge High watching on. Kiser played football at Orange.

Orange Panther of the Week: Carson Bradsher

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior softball shortstop Carson Bradsher. This season, Bradsher was the leading hitter for the Orange softball team with a .596 batting average. On May 2, Bradsher went 3-for-4 with two RBIs as the Lady Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance, the defending 3A State Champions, 9-4 on May 2. The first time Carson was interviewed for Hillsboroughsports.com, it was in November 2019 when she attended a college signing ceremony for Jaden Hurdle inside the Orange Media Center. She said, aside from her family, the thing she was most thankful for was softball. Three years later, Bradsher had her own signing ceremony inside the media center for USC-Upstate in the Big South Conference. In her Orange high career, Bradsher won a Big 8 Conference championship in 2021. She was a member of an Orange team that finished undefeated in the regular season. For her career, Bradsher had a .612 batting average in 38 career games. She had 85 hits and 45 career stolen bases. After missing most of her junior season with an injury, Bradsher had base hits in 18 of Orange’s 19 games this season. Her Orange career ended on Tuesday night in a loss to West Carteret in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. The daughter of Wayne and Shannon Bradsher, Carson served as a mentor to younger players like Katie Carden this season. Her base running and slap hitting ability at Orange will be missed as she stakes her considerable talents to Spartanburg, SC.

Rain forces CCC Softball Tournament to four teams; Orange, Cedar Ridge end regular season at home tonight

The pandemic year of 2021 was infamous for schedule changes. Games would be canceled in less than 24 hours notice, and others would be rescheduled on a whim for later that day.

Once the pandemic ended, some local coaches thought the days of slapdash scheduling were over. Unfortunately, that hasn’t exactly been the case this year.

Hardly a week has gone by this season without a softball game being rescheduled, canceled or moved because of either:

A: rain

or

B: the unavailability of umpires.

The Central Carolina Conference regular season was supposed to end last Friday with all seven teams playing 12 league games. But there was more rain Thursday and Friday. Thus Orange’s game against Eastern Alamance, which has ramifications for seeding in the state playoffs, was delayed until tonight (Tuesday).

Which led to another problem.

The Central Carolina Conference Tournament was supposed to start Monday night, but it has been in flux since last month. Walter Williams abandoned its season in early April after starting the year 0-12.

Pressed with two regular season games that haven’t been completed, the athletic directors in the CCC voted last Friday to reduce the CCC Tournament to four teams. The tournament will begin on Wednesday when the regular season is completed tonight.

In addition to Eastern Alamance at Orange, Cedar Ridge’s game against Person will be played at Red Wolves Stadium tonight at 6 PM.

On Wednesday night, the four-team tournament will start with Western Alamance hosting Person in Elon. Orange will travel to Eastern Alamance. The championship game will be held on Thursday night.

The streamlined tournament will deprive local fans of another crosstown matchup. Cedar Ridge and Orange appeared set to meet in the opening round. Instead, the Red Wolves regular season will end after its game against Person. Cedar Ridge, coming off a win over Northwood, is currently #25 in the 3A East RPI rankings. That would put them comfortably in the 3A State Playoffs, though they will almost certainly travel to face conference champion in the opening round.

Tonight’s Orange-Eastern Alamance game has plenty riding on it. While Western Alamance is already in the clubhouse as the CCC Champions with a 12-0 league mark, Eastern Alamance is in second place in the CCC with an 8-2 league record. Orange is 7-3. The Lady Panthers lost its first matchup to the Eagles 10-3 in Mebane on April 4.

Since then, Orange has gone 5-1. Currently, Orange is #10 in the RPI rankings while Eastern Alamance is #11. For teams that aren’t conference champions, one notch in the rankings can make the difference between staying at home for the opening round of the state playoffs and hitting the road.

Orange can still tie for second place with a win over the Eagles tonight.

The Lady Panthers’ five-game winning streak ended last week with a 6-1 loss to West Forsyth in Clemmons. Senior Carson Bradsher drove in the only run of the game with a single to score Serenity McPherson. Bradsher and McPherson each had multi-hit games.

Cedar Ridge (10-9) will play its final home game of the season tonight. It will be the final home game for Anaya Carter, Hayley King, Grace Young, Caira Peach, and Tori Carden, Carter and Young won a state championship together for the Cedar Ridge volleyball team in 2021. They will each play volleyball in college. Y0ung will play at UNC Asheville. Carter will play at UNC Pembroke.