Orange High School

“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.

Bruce Mitchell has been a pro wrestling journalist for over 35 years. He grew up going to the Greensboro Coliseum to enjoy shows from Jim Crockett Promotions. Bruce has traveled all over the world for wrestling shows. On this edition of the Rodcast, Bruce joins Jeff Hamlin and Jon Franklin to discuss the final edition of Monday Nitro, which happened 19 years ago this week. We discuss why WCW folded, how Nitro changed the industry and why wrestling hasn’t been the same since. Check out Bruce’s podcast and column at PWTorch.com. Thanks for joining us on this edition of the Rodcast!

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.

Landon Riley: Liberty Baseball ended its year with a 10-7 record. The Flames defeated Kent State 7-2 on March 9 in Lynchburg, VA. Riley earned his second win of the season. He came out of the bullpen to throw two-and-two-thirds innings of shutout baseball. Riley faced eleven batters and scattered two hits and struck out two. It was a short but solid season for Riley. In seven appearances, he had a 2-0 record with four saves and a 1.46 ERA. In 12.1 innings, Riley had 15 strikeouts, allowed only three walks, six hits and two earned runs.

Bowen Collins: The Division II Lenoir-Rhyne men’s lacrosse team ended the year ranked #5 in the country. On March 10, the Bears defeated Assumption 17-12 at Moretz Stadium in Hickory. Collins scored a goal with 12:00 remaining in the game. Lenoir-Rhyne also defeated #1 Limestone 18-16 in the Crown Lacrosse Challenge at Hough High School in Cornelius on March 8. Collins scored two goals for the Bears, including a man-up goal in the second quarter to put the Bears ahead 7-4. He scored again with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Collins ends the year with seven goals and six assists in seven games. Since he is a senior, Collins can take advantage of another year of eligibility that was extended by the NCAA on Friday after the rest of the season was canceled because of the Coronavirus.

Zach Wright: Wright had a goal for Division II Mars Hill in a loss to 19-8 loss to North Greenville on March 11 at Meares Stadium in Mars Hill. Wright scored an unassisted goal with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter. This season, Wright had four goals and two assists in eight games. He is also a senior.

Jaylin Jones: Jones assisted on a goal for Pfeiffer in a 16-8 loss to Guilford at Afmfield Athletic Center in Greensboro. Jones set up Quinn Becraft on a goal that reduced the Falcons’ deficit to 10-5 with 8:55 remaining in the third quarter. Jones, a junior, played in five games this year for Pfeiffer.

Luke Hernandez: The former Cedar Ridge Red Wolf also played for Pfeiffer against Guilford. Hernandez, a sophomore, saw action in Pfeiffer’s last three games, including a 23-6 win over Averett on March 7. Pfeiffer went 2-4 this season.

Tyson Wolter: The former Orange High lacrosse goalkeeper is now at Division III Guilford after transferring from Pfeiffer. On March 11, Wolter faced Pfeiffer after he replaced starter Jack Rogers. Wolter plays 6:36 and made four saves. A freshman, Wolter played in two other games this season for the Quakers.

Aidan Poole: The Division III Greensboro men’s lacrosse team defeated Hampton 15-11 at Pride Field in Greensboro on March 11. Poole, who was an All-Big 8 Conference player at Cedar Ridge, started on defense for the Pride. He assisted on a goal scored by Austin Abourjilie in the third quarter. He also had a ground ball and created a turnover. Greensboro was 4-3.

Kate Burgess: The UNC rowing team finished 3rd in the Clemson Carolina Cup on March 7 at Lake Hartwell in Clemson, SC. Burgess, a freshman who made the rowing team last fall, was on the Varsity 8 team that finished fourth in a five-team race at a time of 7:38.63. Kate Pierce paced the boat that Burgess was rowing, along with Charlotte Melgard, Gabrielle Labrazzi, Juliana Micchia, Hannah Davis, Zoe Sang, Nicole Van Liew and Neeva Wernsman Young. This was the first, and only, race of the spring for UNC’s rowing team.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior shortstop Joey Berini. On Tuesday night, Berini hit a grand slam as the Panthers won its Big 8 Conference opener over East Chapel Hill 9-4. Berini has had an outstanding career at Orange. He started at shortstop since his freshman year. Since then, he has started in 80 of Orange’s 82 games. Last season, Berini was the Big 8 Player of the Year after he hit .541 with 33 hits, 35 runs scored and 26 RBIs. He also led the team with 12 doubles. This season, Berini has hit lead off as the Panthers got off to a 2-2 start before the hiatus caused by the Coronavirus. Last November, Berini formally signed with East Carolina to play baseball. His younger brother, Jackson, has played in all four games for Orange and will be the next generation of the Berini family to play in Hillsborough. Fittingly, Joey hit his first career grand slam on the night his younger brother got his first start. In fact, Berini knocked his younger brother in on the grand slam. If Orange doesn’t return to action this year, it will go down as Berini’s 84th and final hit for Orange.

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.

Photo by Tracy Thompson

The Orange lacrosse team is off to its best start ever and won its Conference 9 opener decisively.

And now it may all be over.

That was a reality that the team disguised well during its 15-0 rout of Roxboro Community School in Person County on Friday night. The game started roughly five hours before the suspension of the spring sports season, mandated by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, would go into effect because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Of course, no one on the field wanted the season to end Friday, but there sure was a sense of finality.

Orange Coach Chandler Zirkle was showered with a gatorade bath, hopefully with sanitized water, after the running clock ran out. Shortly afterwards, Roxboro Community School players gathered for two team photos–one for posterity, the other with as many zany faces as possible.

If the theme of the night could be summed up with one word, perhaps it wouldn’t be “finality” as much as “uncertainty.”

“It might be the off-season now,” said Orange senior Noah Davis, who finished with a goal and an assist. “We treated tonight as senior night and allowed a lot of seniors to get playing time. We were all a little bit upset about the news since we’re doing well this season. We think we can do well in the playoffs.”

This was Orange’s conference opener, after all. Openers aren’t supposed to end seasons.

“We really don’t know what’s going on,” said Orange senior Wyatt Jones, who has committed to play at Mercer. “We don’t know if we’re going to play anymore. We were just trying to make the most out of it tonight.”

If it was the end, Orange went out having fun, just as Zirkle wanted it.

After scoring two goals, Jones started playing with a longstick for the first time in his varsity career. By the fourth quarter, he was the goalkeeper. Jones was the final player to touch the ball in the game and joked he should have received credit for a save. Dylan Boyer and Caleb Davis, two of Orange’s top scorers, also took turns with the long pole.

All three of Orange’s goalkeepers played on the offensive end. There was even a goalkeeper-to-goalkeeper connection on Orange’s 13th goal when Chase Hawkins scored off an assist from Ethan Fortner. In fact, Forter, who earned the win in Wednesay’s thrilling game against J.H. Rose, had two assists.

Hawkins earned the win in the net. Malachi Bolton played most of the second half between the pipes.

Orange’s Seth Wolter scored the opening goal on an assist from Seth Davis with 9:32 remaining in the first quarter. Cy Horner assisted on consecutive goals from Boyer and Jones to boost Orange’s lead to 3-0. Davis, Jake Wimsatt and Nate Kaltz all scored goals in the first quarter.

Tom Wileman, Ryan Fedor and Jake Ray also scored for Orange. Hornet finished with four points, including one goal.

Once the lights were turned off at Roxboro Community School field on Friday night, there were hugs between teammates and coaches. Even though the season is only two weeks old, if this were a movie, it felt appropriate that “The End” would flash on the screen.

Orange’s players just hope it wasn’t the famous final scene.

“We’re one win away from having the best start of any Orange team ever,” Jones said. “It’s kind of sad. But hopefully we’ll play and get to 7-0 and maybe keep going.”

Orange senior midfielder Wyatt Jones played possibly his final game as a Panther on Friday night. Jones scored two goals in Orange’s 15-0 win over Roxboro Community School in Person County. The win puts Orange at 6-0, tying the best start in school history. Jones is the first Orange lacrosse player to sign with a Division I school. In December, Jones signed with Mercer. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has suspended the spring sports season until April 6, leading to uncertainty whether Orange’s season will continue. The Panthers handled its game with the Bulldogs as senior night. After Jones scored two goals, he started playing as a long-stick midfielder. Then he shifted to goalkeeper, for the first time in his career, in the fourth quarter. Jones was also the starting quarterback for the Orange football team the past two years.

The Orange men’s lacrosse team won its Conference 9 opener against Roxboro Community School 15-0 on Friday night. Now, they hope it’s not the end. Going into the pandemic hiatus, which will last three weeks, Orange is 6-0 for only the second time in school history. Davis, who wrestled this season for Orange at 152 pounds, assisted on the opening goal from Seth Walter. Noah scored Orange’s tenth goal in the second quarter. The Panthers ended the week with three wins in four days. They defeated Heritage on Tuesday and J.H. Rose on Wednesday. Now Orange will spend the next three weeks hoping that their season will continue on April 6, when school will return to session in Hillsborough. For now, Orange is atop Conference 9, tied with Northern Durham at Cedar Ridge at 1-0. Davis was a junior when the Panthers defeated Northside-Jacksonville in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs last season.