Schedule Adjusted for Hilltop Invitational; Cedar Ridge, Orange Each Play Doubleheaders Thursday
It didn’t take Crash Davis to bust into a ballpark in the wee hours of the morning to create a rainout for the Hilltop Invitational’s planned tripleheader at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday.
All that was needed was the latest forecast for rain—and more snow.
Originally, Orange and Cedar Ridge were supposed to conclude the Hilltop Invitational on Saturday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the famed home of the Durham Bulls during its days as the Carolina League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves from 1980-1996. Those plans changed on Tuesday night when forecasts of wet snowflakes began circulating locally with predicted lows below freezing.
Instead of a three-day event, the annual Hilltop Invitational will be two days at Orange, Cedar Ridge, East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill High Schools.
On Thursday at Orange High School, Panther Creek will face Orange at 1 to start a tripleheader. East Chapel Hill meets Panther Creek in the sandwich game at 4. Orange faces Wake County HomeSchools in the nightcap at 7.
Chapel Hill will host the other tripleheader on Thursday. Starting at 1, Cedar Ridge faces Jordan. The Red Wolves turn right back around to face First Colonial (out of Virginia Beach, Virginia) at 4. Jordan takes on Chapel Hill in the nightcap at 7.
On Friday, play continues at three separate locations. Cedar Ridge, East Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill all host doubleheaders.
At Cedar Ridge, Orange hosts First Colonial at 1. Wake County Homeschools faces Cedar Ridge at 5.
At East Chapel Hill, the Wildcats will play both ends of a twinbill: they face Wake County at 1, followed by Jordan.
At Chapel Hill, the Tigers will also play two consecutive games. They host First Colonial at 5, followed by a game with Panther Creek at 7.
Unlike other Easter tournaments around the state, the Hilltop doesn’t follow a standard knockout tournament format. It’s simply a way for teams to get three nonconference games in during the crunch of conference season.
But these are not inconsequential games for Orange and Cedar Ridge. After the two crosstown rivals split their series last week, Orange is 6-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big 8 Conference, tied for 3rd with Northern Durham. After playing three games in two days in the Hilltop, Orange faces defending Big 8 Champion Northwood in a two-game set next week, starting with a home game on Tuesday.
Cedar Ridge, after beating Orange 7-3 on Thursday, is 5-3 overall, 3-3 in the Big 8. The Red Wolves are tied with Northwood for 5th in the Big 8. The good news for Cedar Ridge is the most intense part of its conference schedule is over, having faced the top three teams from the Big 8 from 2017 last month.
Cedar Ridge returns to Big 8 play against Northern Durham on Tuesday at Red Wolves Territory. It’s the first time ever that the Red Wolves and the Knights have meet on the baseball diamond as conference rivals.
First Colonial comes into the Hilltop Invitational with a 3-1 mark. Wake County HomeSchools is 10-4 and already has wins over Lee County and New Bern. They lost to J.H. Rose 7-2 last week.
Panther Creek, from the 4-A Triangle 6 Conference that is essentially the remains of the old PAC-6 Conference, is 4-6. After dropping three of its previous four games, the Catamounts defeted Sanderson 9-4 last week for its first conference win of the season.
We’ll be broadcasting Orange’s doubleheader on Thursday live here on HillsboroughSports.com.
Kahn Riddles Orange Hitters, Ramos, D. DeFranco Lead Cedar Ridge Comeback as Red Wolves Beat Panthers 7-3
For a sophomore, Matthew Kahn has grown up quite quickly.
Two weeks ago in a vital Big 8 Conference game against Northwood, Kahn took over on the mound in the 7th inning for starting pitcher Eric Zehnder with the game tied 2-2. He got the final two outs before Cooper Lamb laced the game-winning hit in the bottom of the inning as the Red Wolves won 3-2, avenging an embarrassing 17-6 loss in the conference opener from three days beforehand.
On Friday night, Kahn’s challenge was even steeper.
He entered Thursday’s game against Orange with the Red Wolves down 3-1 in the bottom of the third with the bases loaded and two out. The night before at OHS, Orange dominated the Red Wolves 8-0 behind a three-hit shutout from senior ace Will White. Another conference loss would have put the Red Wolves conference record to 2-4 and left them in sixth place in the Big 8 going into Easter break.
In other words, their chances for the state playoffs would be iffy, at best.
Yet Kahn was undeterred. He struck out Dayne Watkins to end the inning and Cedar Ridge proceeded to take over the game quickly.
The Red Wolves (5-3, 3-3 in the Big 8) scored the final seven runs of the game to beat Orange 7-3. It was the second year in a row that Cedar Ridge defeated the Panthers at Red Wolves Territory. Kahn earned the win after he surrendered one hit in the final 4-and-a-third innings, walking two and striking out three.
Cedar Ridge shortstop Dante DeFranco started the rally by getting hit by a pitch to leadoff the 4th. After stealing 2nd, DeFranco scored on a wild pitch. Red Wolves left fielder Sailor Ramos looped a single to right field to score Chris Cox. Erik Zehnder gave the Red Wolves the lead with a two-run homer to left field to conclude a 4-run 4th inning.
Ramos came up huge again in the 5th inning, when Cedar Ridge struck for three more runs. Ramos laced a two-out double to left field to score Jake DeFranco and Phillip Berger, both of whom reached on walks.
Orange jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind two runs in the first inning. Shortstop Joey Berini ripped a double off the left field wall, which was followed by a two-run homer by Jason Slaughter, which hugged the third-base fair pole but faded well into the trees. The Panthers loaded the bases with one out after Slaughter’s homer after a single by pitcher Dalton Brown and walked to Caige Clayton and Cooper Porter, but Dante DeFranco started a 6-4-3 double play to get the Red Wolves off the field.
In the third inning, Berini hit a leadoff single to center and moved to second after a pickoff throwing error. Clayton smashed a RBI single down the left field line to give Orange a 3-0 lead.
Orange (6-5, 4-2) is now tied with Northern Durham for third place in the Big 8.
Both Orange and Cedar Ridge will start play in the Hilltop Invitational on Thursday. Orange will host Wake County Home School on Thursday night at 7. Cedar Ridge will host First Colonial, based out of Virginia Beach, VA, on Thursday afternoon at 4:30.