Orange Softball

Grace Andrews: For the first time in her college career, the former Orange High second baseman hit a home run as #20 Catawba Valley Community College hosted a doubleheader against #19 Pitt Community College on Saturday. Andrews launched a solo blast in the bottom of the second inning. In the sixth, Andrews hit a double and went on to score off a home run by Cali Hinnant. Pitt County won the game 13-9, then completed the sweep with a 9-1 decision in the nightcap. Through eight games, Andrews leads Catawba Valley with a .520 batting average, 13 hits and four doubles. She’s tied for the team lead with eight runs scored. Catawba Valley is 5-3 and will travel to face Camp Community College in Franklin, VA on Friday. The following day, the Red Hawks travel to Virginia Beach for a doubleheader against Bryant & Stratton College.

Montana Davidson: The #22 Mississippi State softball team completed the Alex Wilcox Memorial (dubbed “The Snowman”) with wins over Missouri State and Mississippi Valley State on Monday. In a 5-0 win over the Bears, Montana Davidson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Davidson, who started at third base, singled in the game’s final run in the fifth inning. In the nightcap, MSU defeated Mississippi Valley State 10-1 in five innings. Davidson went 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. After reaching on a single, Montana scored in the 2nd inning off an error. In the 3rd, Montana singled to left field to plate Anna Kate Segars. She would go on to score off a hit by Brylie St. Clair. Davidson is on a four-game hitting streak. Through the four games of the Snowman, Davidson went 7-for-11 with four RBIs. Against Southern Illinois, Davidson homered in the sixth inning to even the game at 4-4. The Salukis went on to win 6-5 in eight innings.

Mia Davidson: Mia Davidson hit her first home run of the season against MVSU. It was a two-run blast to dead center. Mia went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. In the third inning, Davidson singled to left field to score Jackie McKenna. Against Missouri State, Davidson scored the game’s opening run after she was hit by a pitch. Mississippi State is 4-1.

Adam Chnupa: The Elon football team opened its spring football season with a 26-23 victory over Davidson at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday. Chnupa, a redshirt sophomore, played on special teams for the Phoenix. Elon will travel to Gardner-Webb on Saturday.

Landon Riley: The Liberty baseball team started its season with a series against Campbell at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek over the weekend. Riley, a junior, pitched two shutout innings for the Flames on Sunday. Riley surrendered two hits and struck out three batters. The Camels edged the Flames 3-2 to take the rubber game in the series. Liberty will play its home opener against North Carolina A&T on Wednesday in Lynchburg, VA.

Brandon Andrews: The former Cedar Ridge centerfielder and pitcher entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after two seasons at Nicholls State. After being redshirted by the Colonels in 2020, Andrews is now at Jacksonville State. He didn’t play in the Gamecocks’ opening series over the weekend, which included a win over Alabama State and loses to Tennessee Tech and Southern Illinois.

Cooper Porter: Porter, who played six different positions with the Orange baseball team over three seasons, originally committed to play at N.C. State. He is now at Pensacola State, a junior college, after a scholarship crunch with the Wolfpack forced by the pandemic. Porter has appeared in three games for the Pirates. In an 8-2 win over Enterprise State Community College on February 7, Porter had his first college start at second base and finish with an RBI groundout. Pensacola State is 7-8 and will host Bishop State Community College on Friday.

Dylan Boyer: In his first college game, the former Orange High attacker scored a goal for Division II Queen College. Boyer scored the Royals’ final goal in a 9-4 loss to #15 Mount Olive at Ray McDonald Stadium on Saturday. Previously, Boyer was honored by the team with the Practice Player of the Week for week five of the season. Queens, which is picked to finish fourth in the South Atlantic Conference, will travel to Newberry College on Saturday.

Marvin Jones: The former Cedar Ridge star captured the high jump championship in this weekend’s Camel City Invite in Winston-Salem. Jones’ jump of 2.10 meters, two inches better than runner-up Tony Jones of Wake Forest. Jones matches his career-best leap. In four indoor events this season, Jones has now won the high jump twice and finished second twice. At the JDL January Kickoff in Winston-Salem, Jones had a jump of 2.06 meters, good enough for 1st place. UNC Pembroke’s Bradley Thompson finished second at 1.96 meters.

Jamar Davis: The 2018 Orange High graduate has started his junior season with the N.C. State track and field team. On January 16, Davis opened the indoor campaign with a fifth-place finish in the long jump at the Gamecock Opener at the University of South Carolina. His best jump was 23-feet, 7.25 inches. At the Hokie Invitational at Virginia Tech, Davis finished 6th with a leap of 7.08 meters.

Mia Davidson: As she starts her senior season at Mississippi State, Mia Davidson has been named a 2nd-team All-American by Justin’s World of Softball. A 2019 All-American, Davidson is a lifetime .369 hitter in Starkville. he holds Mississippi State’s career leading for home runs with 52, and slugging percentage at .789. In 2019, Davidson set the school and Southeastern Conference record with 26 home runs on her way to a school-record .882 slugging percentage.

Her junior season was limited to 21 games because of the pandemic. She hit .330 with a .659 slugging percentage.

Montana Davidson: Montana, Mia’s older sister, will return for her senior season with the Bulldogs. Mississippi State starts its season with a doubleheader against Miami (Ohio) on Friday.

Tori Dalehite: The former Big 8 Hitter of the Year will start her freshman season at UNC Greensboro on February 12. The Spartans face North Carolina at the Carolina Classic at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. During the three-day event, UNC-G will also face Louisville and South Carolina.

Grace Andrews: Fate has a funny way of working in college sports. In Grace Andrews’ first softball game at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, she faced Patrick Henry Community College, featuring Andrews’ longtime teammate at Orange, Jaden Hurdle. In fact, Hurdle and Andrews comprised the right side of Orange’s infield when they defeated Piedmont to win the 2017 3A State Championship. So naturally, for Andrews first at-bat for the Red Hawks, the pitcher she faced was Hurdle–in the 8th inning of a tie game. Andrews lifted a sacrifice fly to score Lillie Pennington as the Red Hawks won 4-3 in the opening game of the Catawba Valley Clash in Hickory.

In the second game, Catawba Valley defeated Surry Community Center 7-0. Andrews, playing shortstop, went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and a run scored.

On January 30, the Montreat junior varsity defeated Catawba Valley 8-7 in eight innings in the opening day of a doubleheader. Andrews, starting at shortstop again, went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

In the second game, Catawba Valley shut out Cleveland Community College 9-0. Andrews went 0-for-1 with a walk.

Through four games, Andrews is hitting .500.

Wyatt Jones: The former Orange High midfielder and starting quarterback quietly made history over the weekend. Jones became the first Orange lacrosse player to play as a member of a Division I college team. The Mercer Bears defeated the Division II Lenoir-Rhyne Bears 17-4 at Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia. Jones entered the game as a reserve in the fourth quarter. Jones was named to the All-State team as Orange ended the 2020 campaign ranked #3 before it abruptly ended because of the pandemic. He was also a member of the Carolina Hilltoppers summer travel team coached by Franklin and Chandler Zirkle. On Saturday, Jones will sorta come home when Mercer faces #1 Duke at Koskinen Stadium in Durham.

Dylan Boyer: During the summer, Boyer signed with Division II Queens University in Charlotte men’s lacrosse. Boyer, who graduated from Orange in June, is slated to start his college career on February 20 when Queens travels to Mount Olive.

Jaylin Jones: A former Orange High midfielder and safety, Jones will start his senior season at Division II Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse on Saturday when the Falcons host Centenary.

Luke Hernandez: A former defenseman at Cedar Ridge, Hernandez will start his junior season with the Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team, as well.

Aidan Poole: Last week, the Division III USA South Athletic Conference announced they will have a spring season, despite the pandemic. That means Poole, formerly of Cedar Ridge, will suit up for the Greensboro College Pride. Poole, a sophomore, played in seven games last season for Greensboro. He scored goals against Guilford and Chatham and recorded an assist against Hampton, which turned out to be the season-finale.

“I bet it’s going to come to me, knowing my luck.”

That was running through Grace Andrews’ head as she stared at a crowded grandstand at N.C. State’s Doak Field.

She wanted to be wrong because there was a state championship riding in the balance.

She wasn’t.

Andrews was a freshman playing 2nd base, which wasn’t even her standard position through her young career. The Orange softball team led Piedmont 4-1 in game two of the 3A State Softball Championships on June 3, 2017. The Lady Panthers were one out away from becoming the first women’s team in school history to win a state championship.

It was already so hot that Orange pitcher Christina Givens got lightheaded in the middle innings. She had to receive carbonated drinks and breath mints from Orange trainer Emily Gaddy in the dugout to finish the game.

Sure enough, the final out rolled Andrews way, and when she calmly touched second base, it set off a raucous celebration.

“It was so hot,” Andrews said. “But it worked out. I think about that team a lot. It was the most talented team I’ve been on. I wish I could have played with them longer and so many of them didn’t graduate right after that.”

Four years after that climatic finish, Andrews is winding down her high school career in the meekest way imaginable. With the hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, her senior season has likely ended after only four games.

After starting for four years on the softball team, a ceremony to celebrate Andrews signing with a college team is richly deserved and standard. Of course, these are not standard times. School has been closed across Orange County since March 16.

Instead of a lunchtime gathering inside Orange High Gymnasium with hundreds of her schoolmates, coaches and teachers on hand, Andrews held a quaint ceremony to sign with Hickory’s Catawba Valley Community College at her family’s home last week. On hand was her father, Chris, her mother, Jeanne Stroud and her husband, Hal, along with grandfather Dennis and Orange assistant coaches Tonya Daye and Jennifer Batts.

It was an adjustment to benefit the greater good, something that has become customary for Andrews.

As a middle schooler on Barnes’ summer travel team, Andrews played catcher and first base. When she moved up to Orange in 2016, Panthers Coach Eddie Davidson wanted her in the starting lineup immediately, even if it meant rearranging his infield.

Andrews’ fellow freshman, Jaden Hurdle, was already penciled in at 1st base. Knowing that Andrews would be comfortable on the right side of the infield, Davidson asked senior 2nd baseman Abby Hamlett to move to shortstop so Andrews could be a regular starter.

Hamlett agreed.

“It made me really nervous,” Andrews said. “I didn’t know if I was going to do good. I did my best and worked hard. I had some good games and Coach Davidson was excited that I did well.”

It led to Orange winning the 3A State Championship. Andrews played 28 games for a squad that finished 26-3.

Andrews was also the last member of that championship team healthy enough to suit up this season. On March 10, she scored two runs as Orange rallied from a 7-1 deficit to defeat East Chapel Hill 10-8 in its Big 8 Conference opener.

Two days later, Coach Henry Horn informed the team that the season had been suspended after practice. It wasn’t supposed to feel final at the time, but it still did.

“I was upset,’ Andrews said. “We all were, but nobody showed it. I don’t think anybody wanted to think it was the end.”

Aside from her parents, Andrews’ biggest fan was her grandmother, who also played softball when slow-pitch was the main style for recreation and high school. Andrews called her “Maw Maw” and started her career at catcher, just as her grandmother did.

Andrews’ mother, Jeanne, played alongside Grace in a recreation co-ed league in Efland at Oak Grove Church.

When Maw Maw passed away in 2013, Andrews asked to move to 1st base on her travel team.

“Her Maw Maw also played softball and I think that was a big thing for Grace,” said Chris Andrews, her father. “She studies the game, she loves the game and is very competitive.”

While the short-term future for Andrews is unclear, the long-term future is more certain. Wearing a Catawba Valley jersey, she will compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

It also means she will compete in the same conference against Hurdle, her longtime teammate who signed with Patrick Henry Community College in November.

Andrews also played three seasons for the Orange women’s basketball team, where she was a regular rotation player on two squads that reached the state playoffs.

“When I think about Grace, I think about her toughness,” said Orange women’s coach B.J. Condron. “This year, she hit the floor hard in a game against Vance County. I went out to check on her and there was blood all over the floor. She chipper her front tooth. She goes to the bench to get some treatment from Mrs. Gaddy. I’m thinking she’s done for the game. Next thing I now, she’s ready to play. Grace is a ball player.”

Orange won 60-45. Andrews finished with nine points.

Grace also has a father and a grandfather who regularly officiate high school games in various sports. Dennis and Chris have officiated football, basketball, baseball and softball games. It’s not a path that Grace plans to follow.

“I thought about it, but I don’t think that’s for me,” Grace said.

“She is very quiet and shy,” Chris said. “I can see her as a coach one day after she’s done playing. She’s looking forward to transferring to a 4-year school after her time at CVCC.”

After winning it all as a freshman, Andrews is spending her final months of high school in her backyard, fielding grounders hit by her younger brother, Wyatt. It’s hardly the way Grace wanted to spend her senior season. Last season, Orange tied Cedar Ridge for the Big 8 Conference Championship, reached the 2nd round of the 3A State Playoffs and took D.H. Conley to extra innings before being eliminated 2-1.

At a time when the entire world is having to adjust to make things better for their fellow man, Grace Andrews is ending her time at Orange High the same way.

Except for her, it’s second nature by now.

Well, this whole “not have a game stuff” certainly puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it?

Too much perspective, if you ask me.

(Ed. note: in the interest of fairness, that quote is from “This is Spinal Tap.” I don’t have an ear for most modern pop culture references, and Spinal Tap is old but timeless)

The most amazing thing regarding the coronavirus pandemic is how quickly the spring sports landscape in Hillsborough, and everywhere else, went from rich to barren. On March 10, the Orange baseball team beat East Chapel Hill. The following day, they were taking batting practice preparing for the second game of the series on Friday.

No one had any idea that, in all likelihood, it would be their final practice together. Or that the North Carolina High School Athletic Association would suspend the spring sports season less than 24 hours later.

When you’re a senior in high school, things are never as final as they seem. Many of the students who will graduate in the Smith Center in June (if they’re allowed to) will eventually live in Orange County or somewhere near it. Many of them will continue to carry friendships with people they’ll turn the tassels with, hopefully closer than five feet apart.

Yet the Class of 2020 will hold a unique place in history, but locally and abroad. Especially those that play spring sports.

Hopefully all of them live a long, rich life. And when they get to my age, they can look back and talk about their incomplete senior year. Every other athlete in the history of Orange and Cedar Ridge had the chance to succeed or do otherwise, based on their own abilities.

With each passing day, it feels like the Class of 2020 won’t be able to even say that. Their chance was taken away by an invisible enemy that has shut down everyday life like nothing we’ve seen before it. And hopefully never will again.

Last Saturday night, I received a DM from a friend who graduated with me from Orange in 1991. She asked if I was doing OK. Like many freelancers, I depend on games to make ends meet and the media paradigm isn’t as steady as it once was. I didn’t have a good answer for her because, after 30 years of covering sports, this is all so new to me.

As I’ve written before, high school sports has usually carried on through even the worst disasters, locally and nationally. Three days after 9/11, I was doing play-by-play for Northern Durham at J.F. Webb in Oxford. It may have been the most numb atmosphere for a game I’ve ever seen (especially since Northern won 67-0), but they still played. Well, at least Northern did.

The last thing anyone should do is feel bad for me.

But here’s who I do feel bad for:

Braden Thompson and Braxton Mergenthal: They’re senior lacrosse players at Cedar Ridge. When Thompson was a freshman, the Red Wolves defeated Chapel Hill 11-8 to win the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship. They became the first lacrosse team from Hillsborough to play for a state championship in lacrosse. Mergenthal was a defenseman who helped the Red Wolves shut out Roxboro Community School 16-0 in the season opener. It appeared Cedar Ridge was set to battle Orange for the Conference 9 Championship.

Wyatt Jones, Noah Davis and the rest of the seniors on the Orange lacrosse team: Orange tied the best start in school history last Friday at 6-0. Orange coach Chandler Zirkle approached the game with a sense of finality, which appears to be prescient. Jones is the first lacrosse player from Orange to commit to a Division I school. Hopefully next spring, Mercer won’t have its season interrupted like the rest of the spring sports teams, high school and college, did this year.

Cameron Hartley, Chris Pearce, Grant Fox and Fransisco Martinez: The Cedar Ridge baseball team is a young one, but Coach Bryson Massey got a win over The Burlington School on March 6. It wasn’t easy. It was a blustery night and Martinez got some big outs while wind gusts of 25-miles-per-hour swirled around him. I hope Martinez, Hartley, Fox and Pearce all get a chance to play again.

Joey Berini: Somehow, it would be prophetic if Joey Berini’s last game at Orange is the East Chapel Hill one from March 10. That would mean that Berini hit a grand slam in his last official at-bat. (He drew a walk in his final plate appearance in the sixth inning, but that doesn’t count as an at-bat.) Joey has started at Orange for four years at shortstop. I’ve interviewed him about eight times and he’s never cracked a smile once. He also isn’t known for long answers. Our last discussion was one minute and 37 seconds, mainly comprised of me filling up time with run-on sentences. Joey was always high on production even when he was low on words. Hopefully East Carolina beat writers will enjoy his production as much as Orange fans have.

Dayne Watkins: In Orange’s first game of the year, Dayne injured his hamstring running out a ground ball against Western Alamance. He was set to play again last week against East Chapel Hill, which never happened. Dayne also kindly asked me for a video interview despite not playing the past three games. Dayne, we’ll do that soon. What else am I going to do, watch March Madness?

Emma Roby: Taking the place of a three-year starter is not easy. Emma replaced Kymberlie Thacker as catcher for Cedar Ridge’s softball team and was off to a solid start. Thacker had a .370 career batting average with seven home runs and 57 RBIs. Roby went 2-for-4 in her first game against Cardinal Gibbons, an 11-7 Cedar Ridge win.

Cailyn Thornton: A starter for Cedar Ridge in right field, she opened the year 6-for-12 with five RBIs. Also made the state playoffs as a volleyball player last fall. She deserved a chance to win another Big 8 Conference Championship in softball.

Alyssa and Rachel Serre: Two more Cedar Ridge softball seniors who finally had a chance to start together for the first time at the varsity level.

Grace Andrews: As a freshman, she started at 2nd base for Orange’s 3A state championship team. Maybe Grace doesn’t need anyone weeping for her, after all. But she did deserve a chance to finish her career with a chance to win a conference title, one that Orange tied Cedar Ridge for last year. She already had two.

Maddy Bartlett and Rachel Tilley: Orange’s softball team was already dealt a tough hand with season-ending injuries to three infielders before practice started. Yet Bartlett and Tilley fought through all that to propel Orange past East Chapel Hill 10-8 on March 10, despite trailing 7-1. I know Maddy’s cousins, Mia and Montana Davidson, were proud in Starkville, MS.

And the list goes on and on. There are women’s soccer players. Men’s tennis players. Track & field athletes. All of whom are sidelined by something they can’t even envision.

Two weeks ago, I was out in the freezing cold at Cedar Ridge Softball Field to do play-by-play for Cedar Ridge vs. West Johnston. It was 49 degrees at first pitch and it only grew worse with 25-mile-per-hour winds. It was as if I had never left Appalachian State.

In the midst of all this, I though to myself “This is a weird way to make a living.”

Now, as I finish writing this in 70-degree temperatures on a calm night at the American Tobacco Campus, I can honestly say I can’t wait to feel that weird again.

What started out to be a promising spring sports season for athletes across the region ended suddenly on Thursday. The NCAA announced that national championships for all spring sports would be canceled because of the corona virus pandemic.

On Friday, the NCAA extended the eligibility of athletes on spring sports teams one year to make up for the season lost to the coronavirus. An athletics official at an East Coast school told The Associated Press that the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee sent an email notifying schools of the eligibility decision.

Most prominently, that will impact Brad Debo, the former Orange High catcher who was already underway with his senior season on the N.C. State baseball team.

Also, former Orange lacrosse player Bowen Collins will have another year of eligibility on the Lenoir-Rhyne men’s lacrosse team. The Bears had already defeated Limestone and Adelphi, ranked #1 and #3, respectively, in Division II, when the season was canceled.

Mia Davidson: Davidson ended the year with a bang as Mississippi State softball defeated Southern Miss 7-2 at USM Softball Complex in Hattisburg, MS on Wednesday. Mia went 4-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. Davidson came up for her final at-bat needing a triple for the cycle, but hit another home run instead. It was the 41st multi-homer game in Mississippi State history.

Against UT-Martin, Davidson hit a home run to become the 23rd player in Southeastern Conference history to hit 50 home runs. She’s one of nine active players in Division I to reach that mark.

In the final weekend of the season, Mississippi State won the Bulldog Slamboree in Starkville. On March 6, the Bulldogs defeated Bryant 5-1, then shut out Mississippi Valley State 6-0. On Saturday, Mississippi State swept another doubleheader, beating Southeast Missouri State 2-0 and Mississippi Valley State 20-3 in five innings. On Sunday, the Bulldogs edged Southeast Missouri State 2-0.

In the second game against MVSU, Mia reached base in all four plate appearances, scoring three times. She finished 2-for-2 with a double and a single.

Mia ends the 2020 season with a .330 batting average in 28 games. She hit seven home runs and 21 RBIs, and a team-high two triples.

Montana Davidson: Montana started at 3rd base in all five games in the Bulldog Slamboree. She went 1-for-2 in the opening win over Bryant. Montana ends her junior season with a .224 batting average. She started in 27 of the Bulldogs’ 28 games. Mississippi State was supposed to open its SEC slate against Kentucky this weekend.

Brad Debo: The N.C. State designated hitter played in nine games with four starts. He hit .263 with one double. N.C. State finished with a 14-3 overall record, 1-2 in the ACC.

Phillip Berger: Berger played in Division III William Peace University’s final game of the season, a 13-9 win over Dean College at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary. Berger threw two-thirds-of-an-inning, striking out one batter. On March 7, Berger started against Piedmont. He threw six-and-one-thirds-innings, and allowed five runs on eight hits. He took a no-decision as Peace won in the 9th inning 6-5 in Cary. Berger was named the USA South Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week after his victory over Mary Washington on February 23. In that victory, he threw seven shutout innings and allowed three hits. Berger appeared in seven games this season. He finished 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA with 20 strikeouts and four walks.

We’ll have a look at lacrosse, wrestling and basketball players coming up on Monday.

In his 1994 song “The Wild Ones,” Waylon Jennings reminisced about the group he ran with in his younger Texas days that eventually found fame in Nashville because “we didn’t know we could fail.”

Right now, that’s a very basic but accurate way of describing Orange softball.

In its Big 8 Conference opener, the Lady Panthers trailed 7-1 after four innings, but they were too tough–and perhaps too young—to know how to fold.

With freshman Carson Bradsher and sophomore Lauren Jackson leading the way, the Lady Panthers pulled out a 10-8 victory at Wildcats Softball Field in Chapel Hill. Orange (2-1, 1-0 in the Big 8) scored five runs in the fifth inning and added four more in the sixth to beat East for the third straight time.

Bradsher finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs in just her third varsity game. Jackson, a sophomore, went 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

East (1-1, 0-1) suffered its first loss after a 17-6 win over Broughton to open the season Thursday.

Sophomore Courtney Watkins, who came on in relief during the fourth inning with Orange trailing 7-1, earned her second win in as many games. Senior Grace Perry picked up the save, retiring the final four Wildcats.

It was another freshman, Kelsey Tackett, who started the Orange comeback in the fifth. Tackett singled up the middle to score Grace Andrews, who reached on a fielder’s choice. With Bradsher at bat, Chloe Glaser scored on a wild pitch. Bradsher followed with a line drive single to left, scored Tackett and Bradsher and cut Orange’s deficit to 7-6.

After East scored seven runs off six hits in the first three innings, Watkins kept the Wildcat bats tame. East could only muster a walk in the fourth and a hit batter in the fifth, both of whom were stranded.

Andrews drew a walk to open the sixth, then moved to second after Glaser reached on a bunt single. Colley tied the game when she reached on an error following a grounder to second, leading to Andrews scoring. Bradsher wound up with the game-winning hit with a line drive single to centerfield, bringing in Glaser and loading the bases. Then Maddy Bartlett was hit by a pitch to bring in Colley. Jackson knocked in Orange’s final run on a sacrifice fly, leading to a tag up from Rachel Tilley at third.

East put together a run in the sixth when Gabrielle Sielken got on board off an infield single. With senior Ella Pedersen at bat, Sielken eventually scored off an Orange throwing error.

Perry retired the Wildcats in order in the 7th, the only time all day that East went down 1-2-3.

Five Orange players had multi-hit games. In addition to Bradsher and Jackson, freshman centerfielder Serenity McPherson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Junior third baseman Emma Puckett also finished 2-for-4 with a walk. Colley ended up 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Orange will host Person in Hillsborough on Wednesday at 5. East Chapel Hill will return the visit to Orange on April 14.

Photo by Angie Carden Hurdle

In terms of adversity, it’s already been a long season for Orange softball.

And they just finished their second game.

Before the Lady Panthers started workouts this year, they had already lost their top pitcher, their starting first baseman, their backup pitcher and their starting shortstop for the entire year.

Then again, things are tough all over Hillsborough softball as winter draws to a close. Across town, Cedar Ridge lost second baseman Tori Dalehite, the most accomplished player of the class of 2020, with a torn ACL suffered just as practice was about to start.

In November, Orange’s coaches knew that Jaden Hurdle, a freshman who was the starting first baseman for the 2017 3A State Championship team, would be unlikely to play her senior season. Hurdle tore the ACL in her left knee for the second time in her high school career last summer during travel ball.

The news grew more grim in the winter. Sophomore shortstop Mary Moss Wirt was injured playing basketball at Carrboro on December 12. Wirt, who played 20 games as a freshman, tore her ACL trying to return to action.

On top of that, sophomore pitcher Gracie Walker suffered a torn labrum in her throwing shoulder. She underwent surgery last month and watched Orange’s game against Roxboro Community School with her arm in a sling Thursday night.

In her freshman year, Walker led Orange with eight wins in the circle, including a victory over Jacksonville in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. She finished 8-5 with a 2.90 ERA, along with a .414 batting average.

“It put us behind the eight ball,” said Orange Softball Coach Henry Horn. “We’re trying to do all the little things now. We’re giving a lot of kids opportunities. We’re just very young and inexperienced on the mound.”

The silver lining was Orange returned Kelly “Maddy” Bartlett, an all-Big 8 Conference infielder. Naturally, Bartlett was injured while tagging out Roxboro Community School’s Maci Clark at 2nd base in the penultimate out of Thursday night’s game in Hillsborough. Bartlett had to leave the game, forcing Orange to get the last out with four freshmen on the field.

Orange managed to get that last out to beat the Bulldogs 8-5 for its first win of the season. The Lady Panthers trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but scored four runs in their final at-bat. Sophomore catcher Lauren Jackson and freshman Serenity McPherson were hit by pitches to open the sixth. Grace Andrews had a critical RBI single to score courtesy runner Brianna Wilkins.

If there is a positive for Orange, it’s that the five freshmen who are already on the varsity roster have plenty of experience winning. McPherson, Carson Bradsher, Savannah Wynne, Briane Foster and Kelsey Tackett were all members of Stanford Middle School’s Orange Person Athletic Conference Championship team from last May.

Bradsher, who hit leadoff for Orange on Thursday, finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

“Carson is someone we can play anywhere,” Horn said. “She’s a utility player. Very talented lady.”

Foster earned the save for Orange by retiring the final two Bulldogs.

Hurdle’s absence means that senior first baseman Grace Andrews is the final player remaining from Orange’s State title team. Three years ago, Andrews was a freshman whose insertion into the starting lineup by coach Eddy Davidson required senior Abby Hamlett to move to shortstop, a combination that led Orange to Raleigh and eventually glory.

“We’ve asked her to be a leader,” Horn said. “We need her to get over this hill for us this year. She’s done a really good job to helping the younger players.”

After a rocky start to the season with a 7-1 loss to Holly Springs on Wednesday, Orange’s youth came through on Thursday against a Roxboro Community School team that topped the Panthers twice last season.

“This is nice because they got us twice last year,” Horn said. “This year, I want to get them twice.”

The Orange softball team rallied to defeat Roxboro Community School 6-4 at Orange Softball Field on Thursday night. Puckett went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, including a crucial hit during a four-run sixth inning that led the Lady Panthers to its first win of the season. Sophomore pitcher Courtney Watkins earned her first victory by throwing two-and-one thirds innings. She threw two strikeouts and two runs, neither one earned. Orange trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth inning before scoring four runs in the sixth. Jackson, who started as a freshman at catcher last year, hit .439 last season with 25 hits and 21 RBIs. On Tuesday, Orange will open Big 8 Conference play at East Chapel Hill. First pitch will be at 4. The Lady Panthers are 1-1.

Brandon Homsey: As a sophomore, Homsey has qualified for the NCAA Division III Wrestling Tournament. Competing for Ferrum College, Homsey finished third in the NCAA Southeast Regional at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA over the weekend. On Friday, Homsey lost his opening match to Washington & Jefferson’s Alex Donahue 3-1 in overtime. That left Homsey needing to win four matches to qualify for the national championships. He started Saturday by pinning Waynesboro University’s Adam Rigney. Homsey earned a 3-0 decision over Jack Bauer of Wilkes University, then rolled past Michael Reinhart of York University 7-1. Homsey received a medical forfeit against McDaniel College’s Anthony Wuest, then won a rematch over Donahue with a 10-0 decision in the third-place match. Homsey is 33-10 with four pins this season.

Landon Riley: The Liberty baseball team combined for its first no-hitter in 20 years when they defeated Marist 6-4 at Worthington Field on Saturday afternoon. Three pitchers participated in the no-no and Riley earned his first victory of the season in relief as the Flames won its fifth straight game. In two innings, Riley faced six batters and struck out three of them. Marist scored four runs on eight walks, three hit batters and an error, but no hits. On Friday, Riley earned his third save as the Flames defeated the Red Foxes 4-3. Riley retired four batters, striking out two and walked one. Liberty has won six in a row. They’re scheduled to host Elon on Tuesday in Lynchburg, VA.

Brad Debo: The #8 N.C. State baseball team swept all three games in the CambriaCollegeClassic at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis over the weekend. On Saturday, the Wolfpack defeated Purdue 6-0. Debo went 1-for-2 with a run scored. It was his only action of the weekend. N.C. State is 11-0.

Phillip Berger: Berger suffered his first loss at William Peace University against Greensboro College on Saturday. The Pride defeated the Pacers 11-8 at Ted Leonard Park in Greensboro. Berger threw two-and-two-thirds innings. He surrendered eight runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out three. Peace falls to 9-3, 1-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference after dropping two of three against the Pride.

Montana Davidson: The Mississippi State softball team won the Alex Wilson Memorial Tournament over the weekend, finishing 5-0 against UAB, Alcorn State, and UT Martin. On Sunday, the Bulldogs swept a doubleheader, beating Alcorn State 9-1 and UT Martin 6-1. Montana went 3-for-5 on the day, including going 2-for-3 against the Skyhawks. It was her second multi-hit game of the year. She tied her career high with four assists against the Braves. She went 1-for-3 with a run scored against UAB in a 16=6 win over the Blazers on Friday.

Mia Davidson: Mia made her first start of the season at third base during Mississippi State’s win over Alcorn State on Saturday. She eventually moved across the diamond to first base for the first time in her college career. Mia went 1-for-4 in Saturday’s game against the Braves, which extended her hitting streak to eight, the longest by any Bulldog this season. The streak was snapped the following day in Sunday’s win over the Braves when Mia went 0-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. On Friday, Mia went 1-for-4 with a double in the win over UAB. Mississippi State is 18-3 . They will host UT Martin on Monday afternoon.

Lauren Cates: The Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team surprised Louisburg College 87-73 in its regular season finale on Saturday at the Taylor Center in Louisburg. Lauren Cates, a freshman for the Eagles, returned to the starting lineup and scored 16 points off 5-of-9 shooting from the field. Cates was 4-of-6 from three-point range. She also had eight rebounds and three assists as Wake Tech avenged a 14-point loss from January. Wake Tech completed the regular season 18-7. They will travel to the Region 10 Tournament in Martinsville, VA, where they will open against USC Salkehatchie on Thursday night at 6 PM.

Landon Riley: The Liberty Flames baseball team has won three of its last four games. Former Orange Panthers pitcher Landon Riley had saves in two of them. Last Wednesday, the Flames defeated Radford 4-2 for its first victory of the season at Worthington Field in Lynchburg, VA. Riley had a four-out save, striking out three. He faced five batters. Over the weekend, the Flames took the final two games of its series against Seton Hall. On Saturday, Riley picked up his second save of the season. He threw two-and-two-thirds innings. Riley struck out two, yielded two hits and one earned run. He also appeared in Liberty’s game against Clemson on February 16, a 6-2 Tiger win. In one-and-one-thirds inning, Riley faced six batters. He struck out one and surrendered two hits and one earned run. The Flames are 3-4 and will host Longwood on Tuesday before preparing for a weekend series against Marist.

Brad Debo: The #12 N.C. State baseball team remains undefeated after sweeping Tennessee Tech at Doak Field in Raleigh over the weekend. Debo started as designated hitter in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, a 10-3 Wolfpack win. He went 1-for-4 with a run scored in the sixth inning. On Sunday, Debo started again and went 0-for-2. N.C. State is 7-0 and will face UNC Wilmington on Tuesday in Raleigh.

Phillip Berger: In his first start for the Division III William Peace Pacers, Berger threw a three-hit shutout (seven innings) as Peace defeated Mary Washington 7-0 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary on Sunday. Berger struck out five and walked only one. Berger, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in June with 21 career wins, made his first appearance with the Pacers in a 9-1 victory over Brevard on February 8. He struck out the only batter he faced in the first game of a doubleheader. Later that afternoon, Berger threw one-and-two-thirds innings in the second game of the doubleheader, striking out four over one-and-two-thirds innings. He yielded two hits and one run. Berger came out of the bullpen for long relief in a 17-inning marathon against Hampden-Sydney. Peace scored two in the top of the 17th to win 5-3 at Ty Cobb Ballpark in Hampton-Sydney, VA. Berger threw four-and-two-thirds innings, striking out four. He gave up only three hits, one run with no walks. Peace is 8-1.

Montana Davidson: Montana hit her first home run of the season for Mississippi State in its 10-4 victory over San Diego State on Saturday night. Montana went 2-for-5 in a doubleheader that started with a 6-2 loss to BYU in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic at Palm Springs, CA. Against the Cougars, Davidson singled in her first at-bat and made a diving catch along the third base line. Montana is hitting .231.

Mia Davidson: Mia hit .294 with a triple and two RBIs over five games in the Mary Nutter Classic. Davidson went 2-for-3 with an RBI in a 6-3 victory over UC Riverside. She went 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the 10-4 win against San Diego State. Mississippi State is 12-3 overall and will host Central Arkansas on Wednesday.

Icez Barnett: As her freshman year winds down, Barnett continues to start for the Division II Chowan women’s basketball team. On top of that, Chowan has won consecutive games for the first time since the start of 2020. On Wednesday, Chowan defeated Southern Wesleyan 69-58 at Tysinger Gym in Central, S.C. Barnett, who started at forward, scored four points and grabbed six rebounds in 12 minutes. She also had two blocks and one steal. On Saturday, Chowan won a thriller over Lees-McRae 71-68 in overtime in Murfreesboro at the Helms Center. Barnett scored three points, grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists and made two steals in 16 minutes. Chowan is fighting for a spot in the Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Hawks will commemorate senior night against Limestone on Tuesday night. If Chowan wins, they will clinch eighth place and a trip to the conference tournament. The Hawks are 6-19, 6-15 in Conference Carolinas.

Lauren Cates: The Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team lost to Catawba Valley Community College 62-52 at Tarlton Complex in Hickory on Thursday. Cates started but shot 0-2 from the field. She had three rebounds and five assists. Wake Tech will have its final home game on Monday night (February 24) against South Carolina Faith A&M. The Eagles are 16-7 overall, 9-6 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association.