On the warmest night of 2024, the Orange women’s soccer team pulled off its biggest regular season win in nine years.

Facing Eastern Alamance, the defending 3A State Champions, Orange wilted into a second overtime on Monday night after the Eagles rallied to tie with two goals in the final 23 minutes of regulation.

As has been the case with Orange athletics many times over the past four years, the spark the Lady Panthers needed came from Ella Wimsatt.

With 6:40 remaining in the game, Wimsatt created a turnover at midfield and fed Cora Bailey, who quickly returned the ball to Wimsatt. With striker Elliana Sullivan Gaddy making a strong counter run, Wimsatt supplied a perfect lead pass where only her teammate could catch it. Sullivan Gaddy inherited the ball on a dead sprint on the edge of the box and chipped it over the rush of Eastern goalkeeper Abby Darragh into the heart of the net.

Sullivan Gaddy thrust her arms in the air and hugged Wimsatt after the two combined for what was ultimately the game-winning goal. Senior Makayla Davis would quash the few remaining chances the Eagles had as Orange would hold on to a 4-3 victory. It was the Lady Panthers first win over Eastern Alamance since the two became conference rivals in 2022.

Arguably, it was the biggest regular season win for Orange women’s soccer since they defeated Chapel Hill in a shootout to open the 2015 season. For that year, even nonconfernece games ended in penalty kicks, unlike nowadays. The 2015 team wound up 15-4-2, finishing behind only Cardinal Gibbons in the Big 8 Conference.

Sullivan Gaddy, who leads the team with 15 goals, finished with a brace. Wimsatt assisted on two goals as Orange shook off a disappointing 2-1 loss to Southern Alamance in Graham last week to improve to 6-3, 3-2 in the Central Conference.

“We always learn from losses,” said Orange coach Jacki Mignosa. “We should have won against Southern Alamance. We learned the we all have to play together as a team. Playing as individuals does not win games. I feel like we played as individuals against Southern. Tonight, we played together and it made a huge difference.”

Eastern took an immediate lead when Orange was called for a foul in the box. The Eagles’ Ryan Gibbs cashed in the penalty kick along the near post for the opener.

Orange’s equalizer started when centerback Lily Crayton’s throw0in went to Baily, who bumped it off her chest to Caroline Cathey. On a breakaway, Cathey fired the ball into the upper right corner of the net to tie the game with 30:09 remaining in the first half.

Davis made several huge saves before Orange took the lead. After a foul on Jaylen Crayton, she captured a free kick from 23 yards out. Minutes later, she collided with an Eastern player on a through ball that was supplied by Ryan Gibbs.

“Makayla had a great game tonight,” Mignosa said. “She communicates extremely well from the back, which is very helpful. She’s just learning and working hard every day. I’m very proud of her.”

With 15:56 remaining in the first half, Wimsatt started a counter, negotiating a give-and-go with Sullivan Gaddy. Dribbling free up the field, Sullivan Gaddy fired a shot from 18 yards that went off the hands of Darragh and rolled into the lower right corner of the net to put Orange ahead 2-1.

Centerback Channing Mahaney kept Orange lead with 9:20 remaining in the first half. After Davis made a save on Ainsley Dial, Eastern’s Abby Brinker captured the ball from ten yards away in front of an empty net. But Mahaney cleared the ball off the goal line as Davis was out of position.

Shortly into the second half, Sullivan Gaddy fed Bailey in the middle of the box for an insurance goal to put Orange ahead 3-1.

Dial scored with 7:23 remaining in regulation to even the game 3-3 for the Eagles.

Orange hosts Western Alamance tonight in Hillsborough.

The Orange softball team has played King of the Mountain in the Central Conference for nearly a month now.

Well, Queen of the Hill, in this case.

Of course, to inherit that lofty title, you have to unseat the Queens of the Hill. Orange did precisely that when they defeated Western Alamance, the defending 3A Eastern Regional champions, 16-6 on March 19 in Hillsborough.

There have been a long line of challengers since then. A 5-4 win at Southern Alamance, the 2021 3A State Champions. Last week, an 8-5 victory over Eastern Alamance, the 2019 and 2022 State Champions.

On Monday night, Person arrived into Hillsborough with six straight losses to the Lady Panthers and losses in six of its previous seven games. Yet the Rockets gave Orange its best shot, only for the home team to prevail once again to stay atop the league.

Junior Sadie Cecil drilled a first-pitch home run over the left field wall while senior Caden Robinson struck out nine for her eleventh win of the season as Orange defeated the Rockets 4-2 at Panther Softball Field. Orange remains in 1st place in the Central Conference with a 6-0 mark, one game ahead of Southern Alamance.

The victory was far from smooth sailing for Orange. Person pitcher Paisley Rigsbee limited Orange to six hits, its lowest amount since racking up five hits against Roxboro Community School on March 13, a 9-2 Panther win.

Fortunately for Orange, they got enough runs early to stay ahead the entire game. Cecil took the first pitch she saw deep over the left field fence and the ball didn’t touch the ground until it got to the adjacent football practice field. Katie Carden followed with a high liner that went over the head of Josey Harris in right field and the ball rolled to the fence. Carden stood up with a triple. Robinson blooped a fastball that landed between Harris and Kenzley Horne, easily scoring Carden. Robinson wound up with a double and would steal third with Hayeligh Hammond at the plate.

It appeared Rigsbee would escape the inning without any further damage. She struck out Delaney Shaffer and Hammond, then had a 1-2 count on Rhiley Crabtree. Then Crabtree swung at strike three, but the ball bounced off the shin guard of catcher Delayna Grimes. As Crabtree ran to first, Grimes’ throw to first was short, bouncing off Makayla Walker’s knee. Robinson scored off the dropped third strike wild pitch to make it 3-0, an error that the Rockets never stopped paying for.

Orange had three hits in the first inning, then amassed only three more for the remainder of the game.

In the bottom of the third, Shaffer sent a hard grounder to left field for a leadoff single, then took second after an errant Person throw back to the infield. Hammond skied a single to right field, sending Shaffer to third. Hammond picked up an extra base when the relay throw missed the cutoff man. With Crabtree at the plate, Shaffer scored off a wild pitch, which turned out to be Orange’s final run.

Person would steadily creep back. Taryn Massey slammed a solo home run to right field to lead off the fourth inning. In the sixth, Camryn Clarke reached on a fly ball to right field for a single. Massey was intentionally walked, with no one out. Clarke went to third after Walker grounded out to Shaffer at second base. Horne lined a single dead up the middle to score Clarke to cut the Orange lead to 4-2. Macey Bowes grounded out to Katie Carden at third to end the sixth.

Person never got the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. Robinson struck out Liberty Jones and Massey. Rigsbee lined out to Natalie Roberson in right field to end the game.

On Tuesday, Orange (11-2, 6-0 in the Central Conference) will face to Burlington to face Williams in a doubleheader.

Even with Taylor Apple now pitching at East Carolina, Central Conference softball hasn’t lost very much depth.

Of the top 15 teams in the current 3A East Region RPI rankings, four are from the Central. Western Alamance lost Apple, the 2023 Central Conference Pitcher of the Year, along with seven other seniors. Yet the Warriors will almost certainly make the state playoffs.

Cedar Ridge, with just one senior starter, is battling to return to the state playoffs for the fifth time in six years, not counting the pandemic season of 2020. Last week, they used power hitting from its top two power hitters to earn consecutive wins.

On Wednesday, junior Kimber Shambley drilled her team-leading fifth home run of the season while sophomore Mia Best went 2-for-3, scoring three runs in a 10-1 win over Falls Lake at Cedar Ridge Softball Field. Sophomore pitcher Charlotte Lowry struck out four over five innings to improve to 3-1 in the circle.

Falls Lake (5-7) is the defending champion of the 1A Super Six Conference.

Best started a two-out rally in the opening inning with a single to centerfield, then advanced to second after the ball rolled under the glove of centerfielder Cora Cates. Catcher Rylee Capps laced a single to right to score Best.

Aliceann Kohler opened the third inning by getting hit by a pitch. Madeline Galindo-Woodring moved Kohler to second on a sacrifice bunt to pitcher Wynterlee Glenn. With two outs, Kohler raced to third base when a pickoff throw to second base bounced off the glove of Kayla Cash. Best sent a fly ball to right field that was dropped, leading to Kohler scoring.

Lowry retired nine of the first ten batters in the opening three innings, allowing only a walk to Cates to leadoff the second.

Leading 2-0 going into the bottom of the fifth, Shambley helped bust the game open with an RBI single to centerfield, which scored Kohler after she was hit by a pitch. After Best walked, Capps sent a deep fly ball to centerfield that landed just shy of the new, makeshift fence that easily plated Shambley and Best.

In the sixth, Victoria Matthews led off the inning when she reached on an error by Cash at second base. Shambley slammed a two-run Homer to right field to give the Red Wolves an 8-1 lead. Later, Laci Sykes would launch a two-run double to centerfield to score Best and Cameron Copeland, running for Capps.

On Friday night, the Red Wolves defeated Person 8-6 for its first-ever win in Roxboro. While Ridge had a pair of two-run leads in the opening four innings, only for the Rockets to tie things up each time.

Best led off the fifth inning with a line drive to left field for a single. Capps followed with a single to centerfield. Sykes walked to load the bases with no outs. Charlotte Lowry landed a 2-1 fastball into deep centerfield over Liberty Jones, easily scoring Best and Copeland. Matthews scored Sykes with a groundout to third baseman Camryn Clarke.

Person made things interesting with two runs in the sixth inning. Paisley Riggsbee and Clarke both scored to trip the Cedar Ridge lead to 7-6.

Cedar Ridge picked up a crucial insurance run in the seventh inning after Lowry was hit by a pitch. Matthews singled to right field and got Copeland, running for Lowry, over to third. Kohler laid down a gorgeous sacrifice bunt to score Copeland.

Person got Macey Bowes aboard in the bottom of the seventh off a walk, but Brittani Goddard retired Taryn Massey when she caught a line drive for the final out.

In the first inning, Shambley doubled down the left field line. Best followed with a two-run home run to give the Red Wolves an early lead.

Cedar Ridge (8-4) will host Southern Alamance on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. The Red Wolves will step out of conference play to face Northwood on Thursday, also in Hillsborough.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is men’s basketball center Harrison Perel. This season, Perel was the leading rebounder with 9.6 board per game as the Red Wolves pulled some big surprise wins. He was also the leading shooter on the team firing at 40% from the field. He was second on the team with 9.1 points per game. Perel also led the team with 1.2 blocks per game. In the Red Wolves stunning win over Person on January 2 in Hillsborough, Perel had seven points and eleven rebounds, despite the presence of the Rockets big men Lance Clarke and Romello Snow. In the Red Wolves win over Chatham Central, who entered the game undefeated, Perel had six points and eight rebounds. Against Jordan-Matthews, Perel had ten points and ten rebounds. Perel remained a steady presence throughout the course of his two years at the varsity level under head coach Mike Jones. Perel averaged 7.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in his Cedar Ridge career. His season-high came against Jordan-Matthews with 19 points on November 27 in Siler City. He also had eight double-doubles this season and played his best basketball as his career ended. Against Walter Williams, Perel had 16 points and 12 rebounds. He recorded double-doubles in three of his last four games. Perel’s younger sister, Ellamarie, is the starting goalkeeper for Cedar Ridge’s women’s soccer team.

The Orange softball team sits atop first place in the Central Conference. On Tuesday night, the Lady Panthers used home runs from Mia Leathers, Caden Robinson and Hayleigh Hammond to defeat Eastern Alamance 8-5 in a battle of teams undefeated in conference play. Sophomore Katie Carden singled in the first inning, which allowed Sadie Cecil to score a run off an error. Later in the frame, Carden scored off a groundout by Allie Carden. After the Eagles tied the game at 2-2, Orange hit back-to-back homers. Hayleigh Hammond smashed one over the centerfield wall to put Orange in the lead for good. Afterwards, Leathers took one deep, also to centerfield. Later in the fourth, Katie Carden knocked in Addison Guentensberger with a single to centerfield to put Orange ahead 5-2. Katie Carden is hitting .378 this season and has played in all eleven games. Orange has won nine of its last ten games. Leathers has two home runs while starting at first base. On Friday night, the Lady Panthers will travel to Western Alamance, the defending 3A Eastern Regional champions. It will start the second half of the conference slate for Orange. Earlier this year, Orange defeated the Warriors 16-6 in six innings in Hillsborough. The Lady Panthers will host Person on Monday.

Orange senior pitcher Cross Clayton improved to 13-0 lifetime against Central Conference opponents as the Panthers defeated Walter Williams 4-0 on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. Clayton needed only 78 pitchers for his third career complete game shutout. Clayton is now 4-0 with a 0.84 earned run average. Senior first baseman Ryan Honeycutt continued his tear by going 2-for-3 with a home run. In the first inning, Honeycutt sent a double to the left field fence to score Kayden Bradsher and Wyatt Hedrick. In the third inning, Honeycutt added a solo home run to left field. Honeycutt, who missed the first six games of the season with a thumb injury suffered during basketball season, went 4-for-7 in the series against Cedar Ridge as the Panthers swept the Red Wolves. Honeycutt, in eight games, is hitting .455 with two home runs, four doubles and nine RBIs. Including its win over Heritage on Wednesday night, the Panthers have won seven in a row. They currently sit atop the Central Conference with a 4-1 record and are looking for its fourth straight conference championship. The Panthers will travel to Walter Williams on Friday night to face the Bulldogs in Burlington. Orange will face Person in a two-game series next week to start the second half of the season. Orange is currently 11-3.