Month: April 2023

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is pitcher/first baseman B.J. Thornton. Last week, Thornton was honored on Cedar Ridge’s senior night, where the Red Wolves defeated Western Alamance 12-4. Thornton earned the win on the mound, striking out nine over six innings. Thornton has been a reliable presence for head coach Bryson Massey as Cedar Ridge finished 7-5 in the Central Carolina Conference this season. Against Eastern Alamance on April 4, Thornton drove in five runs, including a double, as the Red Wolves defeated the Eagles 11-5. Thornton also picked up the win on the mound, striking out ten over five-plus innings. When he isn’t pitching, Thornton plays three positions on the infield. After Cedar Ridge suffered heavy losses last season after the graduation of eight seniors and the loss of catcher Efrain Morales, the Red Wolves still bounced back and will reach the state playoffs for the second straight season. Against Northwood on March 21, Thornton struck out eleven in a 7-1 Red Wolves victory. Cedar Ridge will wrap up its regular season this week. They will travel to Roxboro Community at Optimist Park in Roxboro on Wednesday night.

Three principal figures that have led the Orange lacrosse team to three consecutive conference championships are moving on to play at the next level. On Friday afternoon during a ceremony inside Orange High Gymnasium, senior longstick defenseman Nick Cardone signed with Catawba College in Salisbury. Senior midfielder Tigh Metheny also signed with Catawba. Senior defenseman Josiah Tisdale signed with Methodist University in Fayetteville. Cardone has been one of the most reliable defenseman for Orange during a 29-game conference winning streak. Last week in Orange’s 16-10 win over Northwood, Cardone was matched up against a variety of Chargers. He helped contain Tyler Laberge to one goal as the Panthers claimed its third consecutive Mid-Carolina Conference title. Metheny has been a strong two-way presence for the Panthers. This season, he scored 23 goals and added 29 assists. Tisdale is another strong defensive figure who is in his third year at the varsity level. Orange celebrated the big day on Friday by beating Eastern Alamance 19-6 to complete an undefeated conference season. The Panthers will face Bishop McGuiness on Monday night at 6PM inside Auman Stadium in Hillsborough. Orange will finish the regular season with a road trip to Southern Pines to face Pinecrest.

The Orange baseball team is one win oway from taking its third straight conference championship. On Friday night, Orange registered a season-high 17 hits in a 12-5 win over Northwood on Friday night in Pittsboro. Junior Cross Clayton earned the win to improve to 5-0. Clayton only surrendered five hits in five innings. He also went 2-for-2 with four RBIs, including a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Senior David Waitt went 2-for-3 with three runs scored. Waitt has a .403 batting average this season and leads the team with 25 hits. The Panthers are now 18-2. With one more win, they will become the most successful team in the five-year tenure of head coach Jason Knapp. The Panthers haven’t won 20 games in the regular season since the 2013 season. Orange would likely have 20 wins by now if non conference games against Northern Guilford and Wakefield hadn’t been canceled. Orange starts a two-game series against Eastern Alamance on Tuesday in Mebane. They will complete the set on Friday night in Hillsborough, which will also be senior night. Seniors Waitt, Jackson Berini, Ryan Hench, Joey Pounds, Connor Nordan, Neo Best, Ty Walker, Kent Melvin, and Ryan Doherty will all be honored during a pregame ceremony.

The Orange softball team completed a huge week on Friday night with a win over Northwood in Pittsboro. For the second consecutive game, senior centerfielder Serenity McPherson hit a home run. This time, it was a leadoff homer in the first inning as Orange pounded Northwood 22-2 in five innings at Chargers Softball Field. McPherson finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Senior Cason Bradsher finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Sadie Cecil went 4-for-5 with three doubles and five RBIs. Freshman Katie Carden finished 1-for-4 with three runs scored. On Wednesday, the Lady Panthers rolled past Northern Durham 12-1 in five innings at Knights Softball Field. McPherson finished 3-for-4 with a double and a home run. Bradsher went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Carden went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Orange will go into the final week of the regular season 12-4, 8-3 in the Central Carolina Conference counting two forfeits by Walter Williams, who abandoned its season earlier this month. The Lady Panthers will face West Forsyth in Clemmons on Tuesday. They will host Eastern Alamance on Friday night at 6PM in their final home game of the regular season. Orange is one game behind Eastern Alamance for first place.

Baseball: Orange 9, Southwestern Randolph 1: With four scheduled games remaining in the regular season, the Orange baseball team remains on pace for its most successful regular season since 2015.

The Panthers improved to 17-2 as they pulled away late against Southwestern Randolph in Asheboro with seven runs in the seventh inning.

Senior Joey Pounds, who has committed to play at Barton College, earned his second win of the season. Pounds struck out a season-high seven batters over five innings, allowing only three hits. The game remained scoreless through three innings.

In the top of the fourth, senior David Waitt, Orange’s leading hitter, singled to left field. Connor Nordan sent a fly ball that went over the head of the right fielder, which allowed Waitt to score for the opening run. Cameron Guentensberger reached on an infield single and junior Ryan Honeycutt loaded the bases off a walk. Wyatt Hedrick sent a sacrifice fly to right field, which was deep enough to allow Nordan to score and increase the Panther lead to 2-0.

Southwestern Randolph (9-10) scored its only run in the bottom of the fourth. Tyler Parks reached on an error. Easton Clapp sent a line drive to left field to score Parks, who advanced to second earlier in the at-bat on a wild pitch.

The Cougars used eight different pitchers. Orange broke through against the final one. The Panthers sent eleven batters to the plate in the final inning, starting with Ryan Horton getting walked. Elijah Santos was hit by a pitch and Jackson Berini drew another walk to load the bases. With Waitt at the plate, Neo Best, running for Horton, scored off a wild pitch.

After Waitt walked, Nordan also reached on a base on balls to bring in Santos. Guentensberger lined a double to left field, scoring Berini and Waitt. Honeycutt sent a line drive to right field to bring in Guentensberger. Neo reached on an infield single, scoring courtesy runner Ty Walker.

Garrett Sawyer earned his first save for Orange. He threw two perfect innings with two strikeouts.

Softball: Orange 12, Northern Durham 1: Junior Caden Robinson celebrated her 100th strikeout of the season, striking out the side in the first inning as Orange cruised to an easy victory at Knights Softball Field.

Senior Breezy Foster earned the win in the circle for Orange. She threw four innings and allowed only five hits.

Senior Serenity McPherson hit her third home run of the season with a two-run blast to centerfield in the second inning. Carson Bradsher knocked in the first run with a line drive to left field, scoring Sadie Cecil. Freshman Katie Carden sent a bouncing ball up the middle for a base hit. Bradsher motored in from second to make it 2-0.

The Lady Panthers added three more runs in the third. Carden and Delaney Shaffer reached on errors. Foster sent a line drive double to right field to score both runners. Foster would eventually score off a wild pitch.

McPherson led off the fourth inning with a double to left field. McPherson stole third and scored off a sacrifice fly by Cecil to centerfield. Bradsher, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, singled to centerfield. Robinson, who remained in the game in right field, also singled to right field. Carden sent a line drive to right field to score Bradsher and Robinson. Foster singled to centerfield, scoring Carden.

Orange is 9-4 and currently ranked #7 in the 3A East RPI rankings, the highest of any team in the region that isn’t leading their conference.

Carden finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Foster finished 2-for-2 with three RBIs.

It was Orange’s final game at Northern Durham’s softball field. Northern will move to a new location in August.

Men’s Tennis: Cedar Ridge 5, Orange 4: The first matchup between Cedar Ridge and Orange on March 13 boiled down to one doubles match, which Orange captured.

On April 13, the Red Wolves turned the tables.

Walker Richards-Baker and Lev Bearman won the match at #2 doubles for the Red Wolves that clinched a 5-4 victory over Orange. Richards-Baker and Bearman teamed to win 8-3.

It was Cedar Ridge’s fifth win in a dual match over Orange in their last six meetings.

Cedar Ridge’s Josh Mayhew, who played for the 3A singles Regional Championship each of the last two years, won both of his matches. He captured a victory at #1 singles 6-1, 6-0. At #1 doubles, Mayhew teamed with Bowen Wood to win 8-3.

The two teams split the six singles matches. In addition to Mayhew, Bearman prevailed at #2 singles 6-1, 6-1. At #3 singles, Richards-Baker defeated Nathan Lavalonis 6-2, 6-2.

Orange sophomore Cameron Foster defeated Wood at #4 6-2, 6-0. The Panthers’ Brendon Kassler defeated Colin Fulcher 6-4, 6-1. And Panther freshman Quincy Stanley captured the longest singles match of the day, holding off Landon Rogers 6-4, 7-5.

At #3 doubles, Kassler and Stanley won 8-6.

Cedar Ridge 6, Walter Williams 3: Cedar Ridge won four of its six singles matches to complete a season sweep of the Bulldogs in Burlington on Monday.

Mayhew, who is 12-1 in singles this year, defeated Ty Lagana 6-0, 6-1. Mayhew also teamed with Bowen Wood to win at #1 doubles over Lagana and Andrew Brasington 8-3, which clinched the match for Cedar Ridge.

Landon Rogers and.Colin Fulcher each won two matches. Rogers defeated Aydin Shibata 6-4, 6-1 at #6 singles. Fulcer won at #5 over Res Sharpe 6-4, 6-3. At #3 doubles, Rogers and Fulcher teamed to defeat Sharpe and Shibata 8-2.

Lev Bearman defeated Alex Brown 6-2, 7-5 at #2 singles.

Carrboro 8, Cedar Ridge 1: On Wednesday, the Jaguars defeated the Red Wolves. Mayhew won at #1 singles for Cedar Ridge. He defeated Jonathan Baddour 6-4, 6-3. Cedar Ridge is 5-8, 4-5 in the Central Carolina Conference.

Western Alamance 8, Orange 1: In Elon, Orange’s #3 doubles team of Quincy Stanley and Ryan Jouannet defeated Zane Van Fleet and Keith Johnson 8-4. The Panthers are 6-10, 1-7 in the CCC.

Men’s Golf: On Thursday, the Orange golf team finished third in the sixth CCC meet of the year. Orange senior Thomas Loch had the lowest score of the day for the Panthers with 40 strokes through nine holes. Josh Roberts finished with a 43. Cooper Zinn carded a 44 and Orange finished with 178 strokes. Walter Williams finished first with 171 strokes , just one stroke ahead of Western Alamance.

Connor McMurtry had a 51 for Orange. Logan Scarantino and R.J. Roemmich also participated for Orange.

Cedar Ridge finished in fourth place with 181 strokes. Dylan Froehling had the lowest score for the Red Wolves with a 41. Rowan Parker followed with a 46 for the Red Wolves. Brad Monschein, Ward Mann and Drew Langevin each finished with a 47. Eric Swanson had a 51.

Northwood finished with 191 strokes. Person was sixth with 193 while Eastern Alamance collective carded a 198.