There are plenty of new faces for Orange softball as they start the new season.
First-year coach Emily Pearce got power up and down her lineup to win her first game against an eight-time state champion.
Junior Katie Carden slammed two home runs while Allie Carden added another dinger as the Lady Panthers hammered South Granville 10-1 in Creedmoor on Wednesday night. In her first varsity game, freshman Kylee Allen also homered as the Lady Panthers accomplished the rare feat of beating the Lady Vikings.
South Granville has won eight straight conference championships and 51 consecutive conference games, stretching back to its days as a 2A team.
Even Orange’s 2017 3A State Championship team, featuring Mia Davidson and Carden’s cousin Jayden Hurdle, lost to South Granville.
Pearce, who was raised around a softball powerhouse at Alexander Central, was posed with the dilemma of replacing three-year starting pitcher Caden Robinson, who graduated last year. Sophomore Addison Guentensberger stepped in and allowed just three hits in a complete game victory, striking out three.
South Granville’s Chaleigh Currin struck out 12 over seven innings.
Katie Carden finished 4-for-4 with six RBIs. She immediately struck for a RBI single to drive in Hayleigh Hammond, who stole second after walking in the first inning. The Vikings’ Tiatana Bates drove in Avery Wilson to even the game for the Vikings only run in the bottom of the inning.
The game remain tied going into the fourth inning until Allie Caden stroked a triple to right field. Senior Karley Neighbors lined a single to left field to bring in Carden, starting a string of nine unanswered Orange runs.
Katie Carden’s first home run ignited a four-run fifth inning that put the game out of reach. After leadoff batter Sadie Cecil reached on a single to centerfield, Carden drove one deep to right that landed on a steep hill over the fence. Orange hit back-to-back-to-back home runs with Allie Carden and Allen each hitting dingers to put the Lady Panthers ahead 6-1.
Cecil drove in Guentensberger with an RBI single in the sixth. That led to Katie Carden’s second home run, a three-run blast scoring Cecil and Reese Blank.
Orange’s game against Apex Friendship was canceled on Friday. They’re scheduled to host Southeast Alamance in its home opener on Monday afternoon in Hillsborough.
Cedar Ridge 16, Chapel Hill 1: Junior Mia Best struck out nine as the Red Wolves defeated Chapel Hill 16-1 for its first win of the season on Wednesday at CHHS. Best finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs.
Senior Charlotte Lowry, who started in the circle in Cedar Ridge’s season-opener against Wakefield last week, hit a three-run homer in the third as the Red Wolves finished off the Tigers in six innings. Reagan Simmons, who spent last season at Apex, returned to the Cedar Ridge lineup starting at catcher.
Junior Laci Sykes drove in the opening run in the second inning with a bloop pop-up in the infield that eluded the Chapel Hill infielders. Raegan Remaly, who lined a double to right earlier, scored. Best drove in Sykes and Madeline Galindo-Woodring with a double to right field.
Lowry blew the game wide open with a three-run blast in the third. Simmons and Remaly both reached on errors to start the frame.
Simmons, Rylee Capps and Remaly all drew walks to open the fifth inning. Galindo-Woodring lined a single to right field to bring in Simmons and Capps. Best drove in Remaly with a single that reached the edge of the right field grass.
Senior Kimber Shambley, who has signed with Western Carolina, opened the sixth inning with a double to centerfield. Shambley would later score off an error.
Cedar Ridge will host Eastern Alamance in its Central Conference opener in Hillsborough on Monday night at 6.