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When then-Orange Principal Dr. Stephen Halkiotis hired Dean Dease in 1984 as football and baseball assistant coach, his final words to his new employee was “Don’t screw it up, boy.”

Well, Dr. H, he didn’t.

On Monday afternoon, Dease gathered his returning players for 2019 in centerfield at the field he created, slaved over, mowed, fertilized, cleaned up and won championships on and told them he was retiring after 31 years as a varsity coach.

When most high school coaches depart (its already happened at three Big 8 schools in the past month), they leave behind a team.

Coach Dease is leaving a program. One that he created.

As word spread of Dease’s announcement on Monday night, generations of players who played under Dease expressed surprise and remorse that an era was ending.

For comparison’s sake, in 2018, Orange has a program. In 1984, they barely had a field. During Dease’s years as an assistant under previous head coach Gary Maske, they played some games at the Cedar Ridge Ruritan Club while the regular field was undergoing renovations. Even after those repairs were completed, the light poles were still inside the stadium. At times, that lead to an obstacle course for outfielders chasing fly balls.

While field quality improved over time, Dease saw it all and saw them all on the road in his early years. Before a game against Hillside in the mid-90s, he got off the bus with his team with his mouth agape as he stepped onto the grass consisting largely of weeds and dirt. He ordered his players to line up in the outfield before starting drills.

“Coach, are you making us run extra laps?,” asked one player.

”No,” answered Dease. “We’re going to pick up rocks.”

After replacing Maske in 1988 as varsity coach, Dease won 504 games and captured 12 conference championships. His last win came against Jacksonville on May 9th in the opening round of the 3A state playoffs. It was the seventh consecutive year that the Panthers have won a playoff game. Only Southeast Guilford has a longer streak in 3A baseball.

If only that could statisfy everyone.

Often in college sports, whether its Urban Meyer or Billy Donovan, coaches begin to look elsewhere when winning becomes so common, it starts to feel like a relief instead of a thrill. Sometimes, Dease didn’t even get that luxury.

When Orange defeated Chapel Hill on April 20th, it led to the Panthers’ 16th straight consecutive playoff birth. He was barely done with his team’s postgame huddle when he found a parent waiting for him along the first base line, waiting to read the coach the riot act for not playing his son.

Dease estimates that was the fifth time it had happened this year. It’s something he’s dealt with, to various degrees, since he took the job. At one point, there were over 900 players in the Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association. At one point in time, the vast majority of them aimed to play at Orange. Some of them stood out and raised their parents hopes of grandeur that they do something beyond Hillsborough. Often, Dease had to break it to grown-ups their little Jimmy or Johnny wasn’t the 2nd coming of Mike Trout, Freddie Freeman or Bryce Harper. Some parents understood.

Others waited for Coach Dease after the game and deliver barbs that stung. Even after all the wins and all the years, some parents forgot that the man behind the uniform and the cap was human.

In April, I spoke with Coach Dease for an hour on an Sunday afternoon for my first article as Sports Editor for the News of Orange. When I broached the subject of retirement, he didn’t seem to give it very much thought. He said it barely entered his mind and called coaching his “obsession.” If he was ready to leave, he didn’t show it that day.

Obviously, something happened between then and now. On Monday night, he revealed he met with Orange Principal Eric Yarbrough and Athletic Director Mike McCauley about possibly retiring the week after Orange’s season ended against Chapel Hill on May 12th. He had retired as a teacher in 2017. This spring, he spent his mornings working at Occoneechee County Club under the direction of Scott Ray, one of his former players.

Yarbrough asked Dease to take a weekend to think about it. So he drove to the Greenville Regional of the NCAA Baseball Tournament, where UNC Wilmington was playing. Dease’s daughter, M’Lynn, is an administrative assistant for the Seahawks. She does everything from filing statistical sheets to holding the radar gun.

While Dease has been to many college baseball games, it was the first time he had ever interrupted his routine long enough to sit down and enjoy a regional college tournament. He found that he loved it.

Then he thought about his family. His youngest daughter, Abby, just finished her freshman year at Orange. He thought back to previous summers, which he barely had time to vacation. A baseball coach’s life is dictated by routine, and part of Dease’s routine was getting ready for summer baseball every June. He could take a vacation, but for only about a week. Then summer ball would start and it wouldn’t end until it was almost time to start another academic year.

Increasingly over the last month, Dease began to think about what a life away from that routine he had lived for 31 years would be like.

Now, he’s ready to try it. He joked that his wife of 26 years, Jan, thought he was crazy for staying with coaching for as long as he has.

1,000 words isn’t enough to summarize Dease’s career and what he’s meant for Orange Baseball and the Hillsborough community at large. It doesn’t touch on the 57 players who have gone on to play college or professionally. Or the endless stories about the thrilling moments in games, like one contest in the 2nd round of the 1992 4A state playoffs against Anson County, where 2nd baseman Craig Swainey tied the game with a 2-run homer in the 7th inning, a game that Orange would go on to win. It’s still a moment that rolls right off of Dease’s tongue.

So over the next few days, we’ll bring you memories of players and coaches from Dease’s past and how much he meant to the community and their lives.

In the interest of full disclosure, I graduated from Orange in 1991 (There. The secret is out. I’m old. But I’m old going to as many concerts as possible). High school was a struggle for me. I spent a fair amount of it not really caring about my grades because I didn’t feel I had much to offer to the world.

For reasons I still can’t remember, I joined Cathy Bennington’s Newspaper class in 1989, a year of tremendous inner turbulence. That February, Mrs. Bennington (I still call my teachers that) asked me to start doing public address announcing for Orange’s JV baseball team.

Me? I sounded more southern than a UNC football fan that didn’t attend UNC. I barely spoke in class. Not just Newspaper class, ANY class. Somehow, I took the job. No pay, of course.

Orange won the first game 11-1 over Graham, which included Orange pitcher Jonathan Hoffman throwing to catcher Scott Hackler throwing to first baseman Jamey Hall for a 1-2-3 double play. Midway through the game, Coach Dease walked into the press box. We had never spoken before and he wondered why the JV team had a public address announcer while the varsity team didn’t. He asked me to do varsity, too.

Extremely slowly and somewhat surely, that was how I made my living with words, whether they came out through a microphone or over a keyboard like I’m typing on now.

So it isn’t enough for me to simply thank Coach Dease for his cooperation with this article. I have to thank him for his cooperation with my life.

Orange and Cedar Ridge’s baseball seasons ended on Saturday, but that’s about the only thing the two teams had in common this weekend.

In Fayetteville, Cedar Ridge’s game against Terry Sanford went down to the wire. In Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill Tigers pounced on Orange early and proved why they were the best team in the Big 8 this season.

Cedar Ridge went to the bottom of the sixth inning tied with Terry Sanford 4-4 after Adam Chnupa, in his final at-bat for the Red Wolves, smoke a 85-mile-per-hour fastball over the centerfield wall. But those would be the last runs of the Cedar Ridge season.

East Carolina recruit Christian Jayne, who earned the victory on the mound for the Bulldogs, stroked a go-ahead double in the bottom of the inning. Andrew Jayne followed with a two-run homer to centerfield to seal Sanford’s 7-4 victory.

The Red Wolves end the season 18-6, the most victories they’ve had in a season since 2006.

Senior Chris Cox laced a two-run homer in the first to immediately give Cedar Ridge the lead. Sanford’s Christian Jayne responded with a solo blast to right field in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead in half.

The Red Wolves squandered plenty of chances to extend its lead. They left the bases loaded in the second. In the third, Cox and Sailor Ramos were left stranded in scoring position.

The Bulldogs’ Justin Ebert pounded a double to centerfield to start the fourth. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch, pitcher Logan Brown laced a two-run double to right to gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.

In the fifth, Cedar Ridge tied the game. Shortstop Dante DeFranco hit a leadoff double down the left field line. Senior Erik Zehnder lined a two-out single to left field to score DeFranco.

It was the final game for Ramos, Cox, Zehnder, Chnupa, third baseman Landon Badger and Nicholas Starr.

Ramos ends the year with a team-best .439 batting average. He led the team with 29 hits and 23 RBIs. Cox and Chnupa tied for the team lead with three home runs.

In Chapel Hill, a rare battle of Orange County rivals in the state playoffs could have set the table for drama and intensity. Instead, Chapel Hill scored eight runs in the first inning and an intense playoff atmosphere turned into a leisurely stroll into the Round of 16 as the Tigers won 15-3.

After Chapel Hill’s Tyler Tachman flew out to Orange centerfielder Jaydin Poteat in the first inning, nine consecutive Tigers reached base and eight of them scored.

Tyler Hansen scored the first run after Ryan Lonegan drew a bases-loaded walk. Colin Liebe, who singled off of Orange starter Will White, tallied a run after a wild pitch. Anthony Castellano reached on a catcher’s interference call and scored after Drew Govert lined a ball off the third baseman’s glove.

The only positives on the night from Orange came when junior first baseman Trey Clayton lined a opposite field double to right, scoring Mark Willms. Caige Clayton, in his final game, led off the fourth with a single to left. After catcher Cooper Porter singled to right, Clayton scored off an RBI groudout by senior Dalton Brown.

In the fifth, Poteat singled in his final at-bat as a Panther, ending his career with a nine-game hitting streak. Joey Berini reached on a fielder’s choice and scored off a triple by Jason Slaughter.

Slaughter, who will play in college at Belmont Abbey, led Orange with 27 hits and 24 RBIs this season. Orange finishes the year 13-11.

It was the final game for Poteat, Slaughter, Clayton, Willms, pitcher Kaymin Matsko (who earned the win on Saturday in the state playoffs), Clayton, White and Brian Werden.

To go along with competing in the Penn Relays and taking two conference championships, Jamar Davis has added to his long list of accomplishments.

The Orange senior earned two regional championships during the 3A Mideast Regionals at Southeast Guilford High School in Greensboro on Saturday.

Davis captured the championships in the long jump and the triple jump, both events that he competed in at the Penn Relays and numerous national meets since March. On Saturday, Davis won the long jump with a distance of 22 feet, eight inches, beating Chapel Hill’s Terry Green by five inches.

The triple jump wasn’t nearly as close. Davis won with a maximum leap of 48-feet, 4 inches. Southern Durham sophomore Jordan Purvis finished 2nd at 44 feet, one inch.

It’s the second year in a row that Davis has won the triple jump regional championship. Last year, he won with a jump of 45 feet, seven-and-a-half inches. Davis finished fourth in the long jump last year.

Orange’s Morgan Paschall claimed the regional championship last year in the high jump. Paschall was unable to compete on Saturday because of a leg injury.

Davis will go for the state championship next weekend at the North Carolina High School Athletic Assocation Track and Field Championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.

Cedar Ridge freshman Ben Pardue qualified for the state championships in the pole vault. Pardue finished fourth clearing 12-feet. Chapel Hill’s Jacob Hickerson won the regional championship for the second year in a row at 13-feet, 6-inches.

On Saturday, the Cedar Ridge 4×800 Relay Team did something that even past Red Wolves tracks teams that won state championships couldn’t accomplish.

They broke the school record at the 3A Mideast Regionals.

The team of freshman Anne Morrell, sophomore Ella Nissler, junior Mason Henry and sophomore Allison Musty set a new school mark with a time of 10:08.78 at Southeast Guilford High School. The squad finished third behind champion Chapel Hill and runner-up Union Pines.

Morrell, Nissler, Henry and Musty qualified for the 3A State Track & Field Championships at next Friday at North Carolina A&T State University.

Morrell qualified individually in the 3,200 meters, finishing third with a time of 12:17.88.

They will have company.

Orange freshman Sasha Godfrey qualified for the state championships in two events. She finished 2nd in the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:23.09. Chapel Hill’s Katherine Dokholyan, who won the Big 8 Championship last week at Southern Durham, finished first.

She also finished fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:25.76. Chapel Hill’s Megan Marvin won the regional championship, while her teammate Anna Stouffer came in second.

Orange’s Kate Burgess also earned a spot in the state championships in the 300 meter hurdles. Burgess finished fourth with a time of 47.85 in an All-Big 8 affair. Hillside had the top two finishers. Jessica Wright beat her teammate Ashlyn Bowery by five-tenths-of-a-second. Northwood’s Annika Tracy came in third.

While falling short of the state championships, Cedar Ridge’s Yolanda Simpson finished sixth in the discus finals. The senior’s best toss was 104 feet, eight inches.

The biggest question surrounding the 3A North Carolina State Softball tournament is who can hit Rivers Andrews?

Not in the traditional softball sense of opposing teams getting base hits and scoring runs off of them, but actually trying to make contact with Andrews’ pitches.

On Friday night in the second round of the 3A state playoffs, West Carteret (16-8), who rolled to the Coastal Conference Championship with a 10-0 record, had just two players put the ball in fair play.

The first, Makyiah Mitchell, came up to bat in the third inning after Andrews started the game by striking out the first ten Patriots she faced. Mitchell grounded out to Red Wolves shortstop Tionna Carter. The other was Sierra Mitchell, who was thrown out by third baseman Taylor Barnes. That was the 15th and final out.

Andrews struck out the other 13, bringing her total for the season to 190, and Cedar Ridge rolled past the Patriots 10-0 for the school’s second-ever win in the state playoffs.

“It goes back to the framework that we put in early on last year,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Allen Byrd. “It’s fundamental softball and we’ve stuck to the game plan.”

On Tuesday, Cedar Ridge will travel to face top-seeded West Brunswick in Shallotte in the 3rd round. The Trojans cruised past Wilson Fike 9-0 Friday. Last season, West Brunswick lost to Orange in a best-of-three Eastern Regional Championship series, dropping the final two games in Hillsborough.

How dominant has Andrews been?

Her five-inning perfect game on Friday night was her ninth no-hitter this season and second in as many games. In playoff wins over Southern Wayne and West Carteret, Andrews has faced 37 batters. One of them has gotten on base.

That was a walk issued with two out in the top of the seventh on Wednesday against Southern Wayne after she had retired the first 20 Saints.

Andrews has struck out 32 of 37 batters in the postseason. So how does the rest of the defense keep from getting complacent?

“That’s something we work on in practice everyday,” said Byrd. “Because there’s going to be girls that can hit her. These girls that play in travel ball see that speed. (There’s) not a lot of them. But they’re expecting the ball and we the ball comes to them, they come up with some plays.”

The Red Wolves (17-1) scored in the opening inning, then added six more in the second to put the game away in front of a packed home crowd that watched for all of 67 minutes for the final out.

In the first, Taylor Ruhl and Carter singled. Andrews grounded to 2nd baseman Kiersten Newton, who threw out Cater at second, but the relay throw to first nearly wound up in the West Carteret dugout along first base, allowing Ruhl to score.

12 Red Wolves came up to bat in the second. Kara Wagoner, Taylor Barnes and Amy Stutzer all reached on errors to start the frame. Tori Dalehite, who leads the team with 29 RBIs, stroke a single to right field. Ruhl followed with a three-run, inside-the-park home run to left to push the Cedar Ridge to 5-0 and they were just getting warmed up.

After Andrews got aboard on a fielder’s choice, courtesy runner Shili Quade scored after Wagoner lined a ball off pitcher Breann Caldwell’s glove.

The Red Wolves pushed across three more runs in the fourth. After Andrews and catcher Kymberlie Thacker each singled with one out, Quade scored off a looper to center by Emma Roby. Wagoner lined a 2-1 fastball to center, scoring Reagan Ruhl, who was running for Thacker. Roby scored the final run off a groundout by Barnes.

Of Cedar Ridge’s 17 wins, nine have come from the slaughter rule, which is outscoring teams by ten runs after five innings, or 15 runs after three.

Now Cedar Ridge will made a four-and-a-half hour bus trip to West Brunswick, just a few miles from the South Carolina line. It’s only natural that a team that’s never been to the third round of the playoffs faces an unfamiliar opponent at a place they’ve never played.

“I just told the girls in the dugout that they made a statement tonight,” said Byrd. “It doesn’t matter who we play because eventually we’re going to have to play at someone’s else place at some point. Wherever we play, we’re going to tackle it one step at a time.”

Cedar Ridge’s Rivers Andrews was dominant again on Friday night in the Red Wolves’ 10-0 win over West Carteret in the 2nd Round of the 3A State Playoffs. Andrews struck out the first eleven batters that came to the plate, 13 of the 15 batters overall as the Red Wolves advanced to the third round of the 3A State Playoffs to face West Brunswick on Tuesday. Through the first two games of the playoffs, Andrews has allowed just one baserunner after facing 37 batters. That one was after a walk issued on Wednesday against Southern Wayne, ending a perfect game after Andrews had retired 20 consecutive Saints. 

Cedar Ridge Pitcher Rivers Andrews on Another Perfect Game

Cedar Ridge’s Rivers Andrews was dominant again on Friday night in the Red Wolves’ 10-0 win over West Carteret in the 2nd Round of the 3A State Playoffs. Andrews struck out the first eleven batters that came to the plate, 13 of the 15 batters overall as the Red Wolves advanced to the third round of the 3A State Playoffs to face West Brunswick on Tuesday.