Orange High School

After a chaotic 48-hour span where breaking news about the coronavirus pandemic seemingly burst across Twitter feeds and smart phones every ten minutes, there are two things for certain in regards to local sports.

One is that after Friday night, there won’t be any games contested in Orange County until Monday, April 6, at the earliest.

The other is that this is the weirdest time to be involved in sports, at any level, in modern history.

Even after 9/11 in 2001, there were football games played across the Triangle only three days later.

The Corona virus pandemic, on the other hand, has led to Orange County Schools calling off class starting on March 16 all the way through April 6.

On Thursday afternoon, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association barred teams from holding organized workouts, practices or skill development for the next three weeks. At the end of the school day, Orange Baseball Coach Jason Knapp and Cedar Ridge Baseball Coach Bryson Massey delivered final instructions to their players on how to stay in shape during their off time for the next three weeks until the season starts again.

But will it resume? If it does, what will the schedule look like? Will there be only conference games? Or will the Hilltop Invitational, scheduled to return this Easter after a year off, be contested when the students return? Will there be a state playoff? If so, will it be a 64-team field? Will the NCHSAA just cancel the season outright, like the NCAA essentially did on Thursday?

Absolutely no one knows.

That’s why Knapp described Thursday’s meeting with his team as gut wrenching. No one wants to think this would be the end for Orange seniors Joey Berini, Tucker Miller, Cooper Hench, Ethan Guentensberger, Dayne Watkins and Nathan Horton.

Certainly the thought of Cedar Ridge seniors Fransisco Martinez, Grant Fox, Chris Pearce and Cameron Hartley ending their senior year prematurely isn’t any easier.

Yet as images appeared on Twitter timelines of college baseball and softball teams from around the country gathering to mourn the abrupt ends to their seasons Thursday, there were an air of finality in the meeting rooms that was unescapable.

Could this be the end?

No one knows.

“I feel like someone has kicked me in the gut and ripped my heart out,” Knapp tweeted after the team meeting.

Knapp acknowledged he wasn’t surprised when the NCHSAA suspended the spring season. He had been in a series of texting chains with other Big 8 Conference coaches and athletic officials about contingency plans since late Wednesday.

“We had a feeling after the NBA did what it did on Wednesday night that things were going to go this way,” Knapp said from his home Thursday. “We haven’t had any specific plans. What’s probably going to happen is the athletic directors are going to get together and see what they come up with as far as a conference schedule. That would be my guess.”

Cedar Ridge was supposed to face Northwood on Friday night in Hillsborough. It was postponed.

“It’s tough to meet with your team in a situation like that when they’ve worked really hard,” Massey said. “They’ve been all-in from day one. Now we don’t know when we’re going to get back on the field. I saw a lot of faces that were upset and unhappy. They asked why. But this is a teaching moment. You have to accept it.”

Orange was also slated to travel to the Wilson Tobs Classic against Wilson Hunt on March 21, which will be postponed. Knapp talked with the director of the Tobbs Classic, Mike Wilson, but didn’t come up with any concrete changes.

“He called me today and we kicked around a few ideas,” Knapp said. “I think we’re all in wait-and-see mode right now.”

The uncharted territory is hard enough for a veteran coach. Massey is in his first year at Cedar Ridge.

“It’s really different,” Massey said. “I talked to some coaching buddies today. It’s not what you expect in your first year of coaching. I guess you get thrown to the fire and your learn. It can’t get any worse. You figure it out and you get through it.”

As for the absence of practices, Knapp and Massey hope the players will show individual responsibility.

“I put that on the kids,” Knapp said. “Hopefully, if things go as scheduled, will get back after it after April 6. I told them they’re going to have to hit the ground running. My pitching coach, Matt Roberts, told them about pitching drills that they can do on their own. We have some great senior leadership and asked them to reach out to the team and make sure they’re doing their part.”

Something that Massey knows for sure is that just because there aren’t any games doesn’t mean he won’t stop being a baseball coach.

“I’ll still spend these three weeks taking care of my field,” Massey said. “Even if I don’t have practices, I can always do that. The field is always there for you regardless of what’s going on across the world.”

That will help pass the time, but now there is lots and lots of waiting.

And the waiting, indeed, will be the hardest part.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior tennis player Bassem Elbitar. On Wednesday night, Elbitar won a three-set match against Northwood in the #1 singles match. Elbitar prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 11-9 (10-point tiebreaker). On Monday, Orange won over Cedar Ridge 7-2. Elbitar won at #2 singles in straight sets. Elbitar also played doubles with Ronan Towell. Elbitar was a member of the Orange team that qualified for the team state playoffs last year. Orange finished 14-5 in 2019, its best record under head coach Justin Webb. After wins over Northwood and Cedar Ridge this week, Orange will go into the pandemic break with a 4-1 mark, 2-1 in the Big 8 Conference. The break that will start on Friday will serve as a needed break for Elbitar. In addition to his duties on the tennis court, Elbitar is a member of the Orange BETA Club.

It’s been another strong week for the Orange men’s lacrosse team. The Panthers started the week with a 13-8 win over Heritage in Auman Stadium on Tuesday. Junior Duncan Grant had two goals, but his biggest impact was felt defensively where he created nine turnovers. He also scooped up five ground balls as the Panthers improved to 4-0. On Wednesday, Orange faced its stiffest challenge of the season against J.H. Rose. The Panthers came away with a 12-11 win. Grant also had strong games in Orange’s opening win over Carrboro and a 17-5 victory over Southern Alamance on March 4. Orange will look to match the best start in school history on Friday when they’re scheduled to face Roxboro Community School in Person County. Face off will be at 5 o’clock.

The Orange lacrosse team is off to its best start in the three-year regime of head coach Chandler Zirkle. On Wednesday night at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough, the Panthers held on to defeat J.H. Rose 12-11. The game-winning goal was set up on the combination of Dylan Boyer and Caleb Davis, who have been teammates for three years on Orange as well as the Carolina Hilltoppers summer travel team. With the game tied 8-8, Boyer used a behind the back pass from the end zone. The ball went over the net and landed firmly in the pocket of Davis’ stick, who threw it in the net over the shoulder of the Rampants goalkeeper. Davis finished with three goals, while Boyer had three goals and three assists. Orange is 5-0 and will look to match the best start in school history when they face Roxboro Community School on Friday. It will be the Panthers’ Conference 9 opener.

After winning the Big 8 Player of the Year in 2019 and securing three state playoff wins, there were largely two things that Joey Berini has never done in his four years as an Orange Panther.

Hit a grand slam and win the Big 8 Conference championship.

After Tuesday night, the former has been put to bed. The latter is still a work in progress.

With two out in the third inning against East Chapel Hill, Berini skied the first pitch over the centerfield wall with the bases juiced. There was a touch of anger in Berini’s swing. In his previous at-bat in the 2nd inning with runners at the corners, Berini grounded out to East pitcher Matthew Kupec.

“I was pretty mad,” Berini said.

From that point forward, Orange (2-2, 1-0 in the Big 8 Conference) cruised past East 9-4 at Panther Field, but Berini wouldn’t have had a chance to hit the grand slam if it wasn’t for Ethan Guentensberger.

With two out in the third, Guentensberger stepped up with Will Walker at third and Bruce Clark at second. Guentensberger, who had reached base eight times in the opening week of the season without the benefit of a base hit, poked a floater over the head of second baseman Zach Wernoski into left field to give Orange a 2-1 lead.

Tucker Miller replaced Guentensberger as a courtesy runner and stole second as Ryan Hench drew a walk. Centerfielder Jaren Sikes went opposite field down the left field line to score Miller. After freshman Jackson Berini earned his first varsity base hit to load the bases, Berini launched his grand slam.

East (1-2, 0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning with its traditional station-to-station baseball. Catcher Ben Buchman singled to right field, stole second base, took third on a sacrifice bunt by Blake Moyer and scored off an RBI groundout by 1st baseman Will Briley.

Senior Cooper Hench, making his second straight start, earned the win. He threw four innings, giving up three hits, two walks and an earned run. Hench struck out two and remained in the game at third base after Marco Velasquez replaced him in the fifth.

Guentensberger came up with another clutch hit in the sixth. Walker, who has hit safely in Orange’s first four games, singled to left field. Clark was hit by a pitch, but was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice hit by Connor Funk. Guentensberger lined a first-pitch fastball to the right center gap, the deepest part of the park, to score Walker and Funk, who came in from first.

Guentensberger finished 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs. Freshman Ryan Hench went 3-for-3 with a run scored. Clark, in only his third start, was 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Orange’s 13 hits was a season-high.

East, the defending Big 8 Conference champions, added two runs in the seventh. Wernoski and Buchman led off the inning with singles while Moyer reached on an error to load the bases. Briley knocked in Wernoski on a fielder’s choice, while Kupec hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate Buchman.

Orange will travel to East Chapel Hill on Friday afternoon at 4.

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.

On Tuesday night, the Orange baseball team defeated East Chapel Hill 9-4. Panther freshman Ryan Hench had three hits, including a liner in the seventh inning where Orange scored twice. Hench’s older brother, Cooper, earned the win on the mound for Orange. Last week, Ryan reached base in all five of his plate appearances in his first varsity game against Western Alamance. He drew two walks and was hit by pitches three times. Against East, Hench scored during Orange’s 7-run 3rd inning off of Joey Berini’s grand slam. The Panthers improved to 2-2, 1-0 in the Big 8 Conference. They will travel to East Chapel Hill on Friday afternoon looking for a sweep against the defending Big 8 Conference champions.