Kimber Shambley hit her first walk-off home run for Cedar Ridge softball on Wednesday night, and it didn’t just win the Red Wolves a game.
That walkoff home run gave an elusive victory for Cedar Ridge over an Alamance County team. The Red Wolves had lost seven straight to Western and Eastern Alamance, dating back to 2019.
It was also a win for the seniors. It was the last home game in the long legacy of Cierra and Cameron Copeland, two seniors who have been with Cedar Ridge athletics from August to May every academic year since they were freshmen. When Cierra and Cameron started playing basketball in 2021, it couldn’t have been less glamorous. They were suiting up while wearing masks during a pandemic inside empty gyms while a combination of injuries and graduation led to the Red Wolves only having five players.
Alice Ann Koehler and Kaitlyn Nieves also celebrated their senior nights as their numbers were spray painted along the third-base lines. It was Kohler who would come up with a big catch that ultimately led to the winning run from Shambley.
Much of the night felt like one big celebration for Cedar Ridge. They went into the seventh inning with a 6-0 lead as pitcher Charlotte Lowry threw six shutout innings, scattering only four hits.
Suddenly, it ended when the Warriors found the form that took them within one win of the 3A State Championship last year.
Camryn Rodrigues and Ryan Justice singled while Kayde Moore walked to load the bases, but it didn’t seem to be any big deal. Bayleigh Burris grounded to Lowry at the circle, who flipped it to catcher Rylee Capps for a force out. Lela Kate Baker sent a one-hopper to Laci Sykes at third, who threw out Moore at the plate.
With two out, Kara Alday lined a hard grounder to the left field gap to score Burris and Justice. To make the Red Wolves even more uneasy, Addison Beal skied a fly ball to the left field fence, easily plating Baker and Alday to cut the Red Wolf lead to 6-4.
Kyndal Wilborn skied a fly ball that bounced away with right fielder Victoria Matthews. Skylar Martin, running for Beal, scored from first base.
Briles Overton then sent a fly ball to right field that landed in front of Matthews for the game-tying hit. After Rodrigues was intentionally walked, Moore sent a dangerous fly to left field, but Kohler backtracked to the corner to make the catch and finally end the inning.
If there was any feeling of dread in the Red Wolf dugout, Shambley erased it instantly. The very first pitch she saw was a no-doubter, skied so far to centerfield, it even cleared the old Cedar Ridge fence, which was around 225 feet from home plate. It easily cleared the new fence, which is higher but about 25 feet shorter.
It was Shambley’s eighth home run of the season. Shambley, who has committed to play at Western Carolina, also leads the team with 34 RBIs.
Up to the seventh inning, the Red Wolves had played its most balanced game of the year. K0hler led off the third inning with a walk, the first of six straight Red Wolves to reach against Beal, who started in the circle for the Warriors. Following a single by Matthews, Kohler scored off a single that rolled into left field by Mia Best. After Madeline Galindo-Woodring singled down the left field line, Shambley dropped a fly ball into right field to increase the Red Wolf lead to 3-0. With Brittani Goodard at the plate, Galindo-Woodring scored on a wild pitch, sending Shambley to third.
With Laci Sykes at the plate, Shambley scored the fifth run of the inning off another wild pitch.
In the fourth, Matthews walked, then stole second and advanced to third following a single by Best. Matthews scored off a groundout to second by Galindo-Woodring.
Cedar Ridge ends the regular season 12-7-1, winning its third game in three days. They started the week with a 7-7 tie against Falls Lake in Creedmoor in a game that reached the eleventh inning and had to be shut down because the Firebirds park doesn’t have lights.
Cedar Ridge defeated Walter Williams 10-0 in Hillsborough on Tuesday. Lowry went 2-for-3 with three RBIs for the Red Wolves against the Bulldogs. Sykes finished 2-for-2 with a triple.
Following its first win over one of the best teams in Alamance County, Cedar Ridge coach Allen Byrd will prepare for the state playoffs starting on Thursday afternoon.
With a smile on his face on Wednesday night, he was asked what he will tell his team as they prepare for a first-round road game.
“Why not us?” he replied.