For a period of time, it appeared that Orange softball would host a state playoff game in the opening round for the fifth straight round.
Instead, Orange will head out on the road later today to Erwin.
The Lady Panthers received a #17 seed in the 3A State Playoffs from the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on Tuesday. Orange will face Triton from the Quad County Conference tonight.
On seeding day, the preliminary brackets had Orange with a #16 seed hosting Western Alamance, which would have been the third matchup between the two teams this year. But those brackets were rescinded after Carrboro was erroneously seeded and put ahead of Orange. That cost the Panthers a home game.
Orange goes into the state playoffs 10-9 after falling to Cedar Ridge 15-14 in a marathon Central Conference semifinal last Tuesday. In the final week of the regular season, the Lady Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance, the Central Conference regular season champion. They also swept Western Alamance, who finished in a tie for third place with Orange at 7-5.
In the non conference portion of its schedule, Orange opened by beating South Granville 10-1. The Vikings would go on to win the Northern Lakes Conference. The Lady Panthers also split two games against Roxboro Community School, a 1A team that went undefeated in the Triangle North Conference. Also on Orange’s resume was a game against Wakefield, which tied Wake Forest for the Northern Athletic Conference championship.
Orange was led by first year head coach Emily Pierce this season. Junior third baseman Katie Carden led the team with a .510 batting average. Senior shortstop Sadie Cecil had a .492 batting average. In the Central Conference Tournament, Cecil hit .666 with five runs scored and four RBIs. Catcher Allie Carden hit .428 with two triples and a double. Both Carden and Cecil will play at Mars Hill University next year.
Cedar Ridge will host its first state playoff game since 2019 against West Johnston tonight at Red Wolves Softball Field. The Red Wolves received a #13 seed after finishing 2nd in the Central Conference, finishing one game behind Eastern Alamance for first place.
As fate would have it, West J0hnston was the opponent the last time Cedar Ridge hosted a state playoff game in 2019. The Red Wolves won a thrilling 4-3 game in eleven innings when Tionna Carter hit a walkoff single. Cedar Ridge defeated West Carteret in the second round before falling to eventual state champion Eastern Alamance.
The winner of Cedar Ridge-West Johnston advances to face either Richlands or Western Harnett. Richlands, the champions of the Coastal Conference, finished the regular season 18-5.
Behind the pitching of Charlotte Lowry and an offense that led the Central Conference with 223 runs, the Red Wolves knocked on the door of winning the conference championship throughout the season. In three games against Eastern Alamance, the Red Wolves had the lead going into the sixth inning each time only to fall short.
In the Central Conference Tournament championship game on Thursday in Mebane, Cedar Ridge led the Eagles 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning after Kimber Shambley drove in Qiaura Rogers. The Eagles’ Edie Stewart hit two home runs, including a two-run blast in the sixth. After Carley Boggs tied the game with a two-run home run in the seventh to tie the game, Stewart ended the game with a walkoff homer to left field.
West Johnston finished 11-3 in the Quad County Conference and finished 13-8 overall. South Johnston finished the Quad County with a 14-0 record. Last week, South Johnston edged West Johnston 5-4 when the Trojans got the game-winning run in the sixth inning.
Cedar Ridge will face West Johnston at 6PM tonight.