When Tyson Wolter graduates from Orange in June, he will leave behind a rich athletic history. He is the all-time saves leader in Orange lacrosse history. On Thursday night, he was in net as the Panthers defeated Chapel Hill 6-5 at Culton-Pearman Stadium, Orange’s first-ever win at CHHS. Now with an 8-6 record, Orange appears set to make the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. Hours before the win at Chapel Hill, Wolter officially signed his letter of intent to play college lacrosse at Division IIII Pfeiffer University On top of that, Wolter played football at Orange as an interior lineman. Plus, Wolter wrestled as a sophomore. When he hasn’t been on the lacrosse field, Wolter has learned to play a wide array of songs on guitar from his favorite progressive metal bands on guitar, including Tool, Mastodon, Dream Theater and Electric Wizard. 

Despite a disappointing loss to East Chapel Hill on Wednesday afternoon, the Cedar Ridge Women’s Soccer team has officially qualified for the 3A State Playoffs for the third year in a row. The Red Wolves’ back line has been anchored by centerback Brittany Daley, who has committed to play at Greensboro College. Daley, who has played on the varsity level for four years,  has scored four goals this season while helping goalkeepers Taylin Jean and Grace Davies. Cedar Ridge is 8-3-4 overall and 6-3-2 in the Big 8. Next week, the Red Wolves wrap up the regular season with two home games. They host Hillside on Monday and Southern Durham on Wednesday.  

Adam Chnupa has signed his letter of intent to play college football at Elon University of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Phoenix will host its spring game this Saturday, and Chnupa will miss Cedar Ridge’s baseball game against Eastern Guilford to be in attendance. Last season as a linebacker, Chnupa had 36 tackles and a fumble recovery. Before he leaves for Elon, Chnupa has some business to finish with the Cedar Ridge baseball team, which is only one game behind first-place Chapel Hill in the Big 8 Conference with four league games remaining. Cedar Ridge will host Hillside on Thursday, then travel to Durham to face the Hornets on Friday. This season, Chnupa has been a regular starter in right field while hitting two home runs.

Cedar Ridge junior Natalia Garay has set two personal bests this season for the Red Wolves Women’s Track & Field team. In Cedar Ridge’s 5th home meet of the season against Hillside, Garay ran a personal best time of 13.34 seconds in the 100 meters. In the Orange County Championships at Orange High on April 14th, she ran the 200 meters in 28.54. Garay is also part of the 100 and 200 meter relay teams for Cedar Ridge, along with Yolanda Simpson, Madison Wardlow and Katrina Watkins. The relay team finished third in the Orange County Championships in the 200 meters with a time of 1:57.5. In the 4×100 meter relay, Cedar Ridge finished 2nd with a time of 53.6. In the winter, Garay is a starting guard for the Cedar Ridge girls’ basketball team, who finished 14-12 last season.

A year removed from winning the 3A state championship, the Orange softball team finds itself in a battle just to make the state playoffs.

With four games remaining in Big 8 Conference play, Orange is tied with Northwood for 4th place with a 5-5 league record. The top four teams in the Big 8 automatically earn a state playoff birth.

Northern Durham is in 3rd place at 6-3. The Knights and the Lady Panthers start a two-game series on next Tuesday. In addition, Northern is slated to make up a rained-out game with 2nd place East Chapel Hill Thursday.

Northwood starts a crucial series with East Chapel Hill on Wednesday at Wildcat Field. East travels to Pittsboro on Friday. After dropping both games to Northern Durham last week, the Chargers finish the season next week against Hillside.

64 teams will make the 3A state softball tournament. There are spots for wildcard teams that finish in 5th place in their respective conferences, based on their overall win-loss records. The regular season ends on May 3rd.

The falloff from winning a state championship isn’t surprising for an Orange team that has been scrambling to make up for losses both planned and unexpected.

From the time that Orange swept the 3A State Championship series from Piedmont last June at N.C. State’s Dail Field, the Lady Panthers fans and players knew what odds they faced in 2018. They understood the entire starting battery would be gone, and it was a battery that came along very rarely.

Catcher Mia Davidson, the 2017 North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year, now leads the Southeastern Conference in three categories as a freshman at Mississippi State. Pitcher Christina Givens went 22-3 with a 1.36 ERA in 22 starts in 2017. Another senior, Abby Hamlett, voluntarily moved to shortstop at the request of Coach Eddie Davidson to accommodate freshman Grace Andrews at 2nd base. Hamlett responded by hitting  a team-best .489 with 43 hits (also a team-high) and 22 RBIs, second only to you-know-who’s 39.

What wasn’t anticipated was Eddie Davidson’s departure just days before the season-opener against Eastern Alamance. Davidson moved to Washington, D.C. when he received a promotion with the National Letter Carriers’ Association, leaving assistant Henry Horn as the interim coach.

Now, Orange has a team with only four seniors on the roster with a 7-7 overall record going into a nonconference game at Eastern Guilford on Wednesday.

Last week, Orange swept Chapel Hill in a two-game series, winning 18-3 on Friday. Andrews went 3-for-3 with 5 RBI, while 1st baseman Jaden Hurdle went 2-for-3 with a double. Senior Olivia Latta-Harshaw went 2-for-2 with a double and 3 RBI.

On Tuesday, senior centerfielder Alysann Lloyd went 4-for-4 with 7 RBI as Orange defeated Chapel Hill 28-1. Sophomore Rachel Tilley hit a two-run homer to centerfield.

Hurdle, who has started eleven games as pitcher, is the leading hitter on the team with a .432 average. She also leads the team with 19 hits. Freshman Emma Puckett is hitting .415 with 13 RBIs. Junior Alisha Pettiford, playing 1st base in Hurdle’s absence, is hitting .343 and leads the team with 16 RBIs and two home runs.

The Cedar Ridge softball team was supposed to play Hillside on Tuesday, but they were rained out. Rain has been the only thing that has stopped the Red Wolves this season. After sweeping the two-game series against East Chapel Hill last week, the Red Wolves are 10-1 overall, 9-0 in the Big 8. In Friday’s 8-1 win, sophomore 1st baseman Tori Dalehite went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs, including a triple. Dalehite, playing her first varsity season, leads the team with a .529 batting average. She leads the team in hits (18), runs scored (17), RBIs (16), triples (5) and on-base percentage (.579). 

Taylin Jean is a three-sport athlete for Cedar Ridge, but not your typical one. She plays two sports during the spring. Currently, she’s the goalkeeper for the girls’ soccer team, where she’s posted given up only four goals all season. She’s registered four clean sheets, the most recent last Monday when Cedar Ridge shut out Orange 4-0. Occasionally, Jean plays as a midfielder and has scored two goals this season. Jean also participates in track and field. Over the winter, Jean was a starting forward on the Cedar Ridge girls basketball team, the only high school team from Hillsborough to make the state playoffs this season.

Editor’s note: I apologize for saying Chapel Hill girls soccer team in the introduction.

Mia Davidson: For the 3rd time this season, Davidson was named the SEC Rookie of the Week after Mississippi State took two-of-three games from archrival Ole Miss. On April 16, Davidson hit her 15th home run on a 7-6 loss to the Rebels, tying her with Georgia’s Alyssa DiCarlo for the SEC lead. Against Ole Miss, Davidson went 6-for-10 with a double, a home run and three RBI. On Friday, Davidson hit her 16th homer against #5 Florida in a 8-3 loss. Mississippi State is now 33-15 overall, 6-12 in the SEC. Davidson was also named a Top 25 Finalist for the National Freshman of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Davidson has started all 48 games for the Bulldogs, leading the team with a .413 batting average with 16 home runs and 41 RBIs (team lead in the latter two categories). She also leads the team with 13 doubles, 127 total bases and a .480 on base percentage. Davidson is two home runs away from tying Iyhia McMichael for the school single-season record.

Rachel Peel: The Meredith Softball team ended its season over the weekend with a four-game, non-conference road series. Pfeiffer swept the Avenging Angles 8-0 and 4-3. Meredith defeated Guilford 9-0 to end the season 28-17. Against the Quakers, former Orange catcher Rachel Peel went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and a double. In the first inning, Peel knocked in Alyssa Drake on an RBI fielder’s choice. In the next frame, Peel laced an RBI single to right, scoring Kelsey Mabe. In the 6th, Peel doubled to left field to bring in Drake and Mabe. In the 4-3 loss to Pfeiffer, Peel went 1-for-4 with a run scored. In 23 games this season, Peel hit .323 with 21 hits, five doubles and eleven RBI. Peel was named to the USA South Conference East Division first team, one of eight Avenging Angels honored.

Bryse Wilson: The 2016 Orange graduate got a no-decision on Saturday afternoon as the Florida Fire Frogs defeated the Lakeland Flying Tigers 7-5 at Osceola County Stadium. Wilson gave up four hits and four runs, only one earned, through four-and-two-thirds innings, striking out five and walking two. On April 15, Wilson earned his first win of the season against the Palm Beach Cardinals, throwing five shutout innings and yielding only one hit. Wilson struck out five and walked none. Through three games, Wilson is 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA with 15 strikeouts and three walks.

Mackenzie Cates: Lenoir-Rhyne Softball captured the South Atlantic Conference regular season championship outright on April 14 after sweeping a doubleheader from Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The Bears captured the nightcap 7-5 in eight innings. In that game, former Orange catcher Mackenzie Cates hit her team-record 12th home run of the season in the 7th inning. On Wednesday, Lenoir-Rhyne swept another doubleheader from Newberry, 11-0 and 6-3. In the opener, Cates hit a three-run homer. On Friday, King College ended Lenoir-Rhyne’s 16-game winning streak with a 2-1 defeat of the Bears. The Tornado went on to capture game two 4-3. Lenoir Rhyne will be the top seed in the South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship starting Saturday in Anderson, S.C. Cates leads Lenoir-Rhyne with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs. She also hitting .347.

Jordan Toney: The former Orange pitcher has seen increased action for Division II UNC Pembroke recently. Toney started against Flagler on Saturday, throwing six-and-a-third innings, giving up six hits, three runs. He took a no decision as Pembroke won 5-3. On April 18th, Toney threw an inning of mop-up duty as Pembroke put away Coker 15-9. Toney struck out two while giving up one run and two hits. Against North Georgia in April 14th, Toney threw a season-high eight innings, giving up eight hits, four runs (two earned), while striking out two in a no decision. The Nighthawks defeated the Braves 5-4 in eleven innings. Toney took his third win of the season in an 8-4 win over Francis Marion. Toney tossed seven shutout innings, scattering six hits

Stephen Tanner: The former Cedar Ridge goalkeeper ended the season over the weekend with Greensboro College. The Pride lost to Huntingdon 12-5 in the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament in Lagrange, GA on April 14. Tanner made eight saves in the loss. Tanner, a senior, 8-9 with a 9.12 Goals Against Average.

Cole Churchill: Churchill saw action as a defenseman for Randolph-Macon in the Yellow Jackets 25-4 win over Randolph on Saturday.

Bowen Collins: Lenoir-Rhyne capture the South Atlantic Conference regular season championship after beating Coker 15-7 on Saturday. Collins played in the game late for the Bears.

Zach Wright: The former Orange attacker fired two shots as Mars Hill defeated Newberry 10-9 on Saturday. It was the Lions 2nd win of the season.

With no hesitation, Dean Dease can remember in 1992 when 2nd baseman Craig Swainey hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 7th inning to tie a 4A state playoff game against Anson County. Or the little signs of leadership that Larry McDonald showed towards his teammates that let Dease know that 2008 would be no ordinary year. It would be a state championship one.

Now, McDonald is a personal assistant to Texas A&M head football coach Jimbo Fisher after previously serving on Kevin Sumlin’s staff for six years.

On Tuesday, 34 years after joining Orange High as a junior varsity baseball coach at football assistant, Dease will go for his 500th head coaching victory when Orange travels to Southern Durham.

On Friday, Orange secured Dease’s 499th career win with a 6-3 win over Chapel Hill. Junior reliever Luke Riley threw two-and-a-third shutout innings for his first varsity win. Third baseman Caige Clayton took over pitching duties in the 7th with the bases loaded after Riley gave up two walks and hit a batter. Clayton struck out Marlowe Iorio and Tyler Tachman. Jack Olcott flew out to centerfielder Jaydin Poteat for the final out. Clayton, who had never pitched an inning of varsity baseball before this season, earned his second save in as many weeks.

Slaughter drove in four runs for Orange. In the 1st inning, Slaughter bounced a RBI single up the middle to score shortstop Joey Berini, who doubled in the previous at-bat. After Chapel Hill’s Drew Govert led off the 2nd with a homer to tie the game, Slaughter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Colin Guentensberger and give Orange a 2-1 lead.

Orange is now tied with Northwood for 4th in the Big 8 Conference with an 6-4 conference mark with four games remaining. The Panthers, 8-10 overall, ends the regular season next week against Northern Durham.

Orange ended Chapel Hill’s 10-game winning streak. The Tigers are 8-2 and remain in first place in the Big 8 by one game over Cedar Ridge and East Chapel Hill. Entering Friday, CHHS had won three in a row against the Panthers.

Though Dease’s name is synonymous with baseball across Hillsborough, what brought him to Orange High was his first love: football. He played club football at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a linebacker, traveling by bus each weekend to face teams at Appalachian State, Richmond, N.C. State and elsewhere.

In 1984, Dease was hired by principal Dr. Stephen Halkiotis to become a history teacher, defensive coordinator for the football team and an assistant to head baseball coach Gary Maske.

Halkiotis’ encouraging final words to Dease after hiring him: “Don’t screw it up, boy.”

34 years later, he hasn’t. Counting Clayton and Slaughter, 55 players who have played under Dease have gone to play college or professional baseball. Since 1988, Orange has captured one state championship, one regional championship, 12 conference championships, made 19 appearances in the state playoffs with an overall record of 499-253.

On Friday night, Orange will host Southern Durham. The game will include a reunion of the 2008 2A State Championship team, which swept East Rutherford for the title. Anyone who has played for Coach Dease is asked to attend Friday’s game.

The Orange baseball team took a giant step toward a birth in the 3A state playoffs on Friday night with a 6-3 win over Chapel Hill. Senior 2nd baseman Jason Slaughter had 4 RBIs, including a two-run single in the 4th that put Orange ahead for good. Junior pitcher Luke Riley threw two-and-a-third scoreless innings for his first varsity win. Orange ended Chapel Hill’s ten-game winning streak. The Panthers also gave Coach Dean Dease career victory #499. Orange is scheduled to play at Southern Durham on Tuesday.