From staff reports

Catawba Baseball will host its second annual First Pitch Dinner on Saturday, Jan. 14, in the Gordon A. Kirkland Lobby  in the Abernathy Physical Education Center on the Catawba campus.

Catawba is proud to welcome guest speaker Bob Ryan along with special guest Darryl Strawberry.

Ryan has earned the NSSA National Sportwriter of the Year four times.  In retirement, Ryan adds commentary to numerous ESPN shows.

Strawberry was a nine-time MLB All-Star and   1984 NL Rookie of the Year with the New York Mets.   

Cost for the dinner is $75 with proceeds going to support the 2017 baseball program.  For more information or to purchase a ticket, call 704-637-4394 or visit www.catawba.edu/firstpitch.

Proceeds will help Catawba baseball’s program.

Prep baseball

Tommy Small has been named head baseball coach at North Rowan.

Small is a graduate of East Rowan and Pfeiffer and has won championships at Mount Pleasant High.

Small replaces Aaron Rimer, who was hired at Topsail.

A story is upcoming.

Prep basketball

Spartanburg Day (S.C.) junior  Zion Williamson may be the nation’s best basketball player in the Class of 2018.

The  guard/forward has attracted  34 Division I college offers, including North Carolina and Duke.

Williamson, who has refined shooting, passing, ballhandling — and dunking skills —  has a lot of Livingstone connections.

His mother is Sharonda Sampson, who was a high jumper for the Blue Bears.

Zion’s biological father, Lateef Williamson,  played football at Livingstone.

As a freshman, Willamson was 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds and was a point guard. Now, at 16,  he’s 6-foot-7, 230 pounds.

  Williamson has been playing basketball since he was 4 years old. He isn’t expected to make a college decision any time soon.

Women’s basketball

Livingstone hosts Lenoir-Rhyne today at 2 p.m. at New Trent Gym.

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In Mars Hill’s loss to Carson-Newman on Saturday, freshman Aliyah Farmer (North Rowan) had  17 points and seven rebounds.

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Shay Steele (West Rowan) had 17 points and 10 rebounds in Morehead State’s win against UT-Martin on Saturday.

Steele shot 8-for-10 from the field and blocked four shots.

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In Saturday’s romp against Milligan, Longwood freshman Khaila Hall (West Rowan) had five points, six assists, five blocks and four rebounds.

“Khaila has been stuffing the stat sheets for a while now,” Longwood coach Bill Reinson said. “She continues to improve every game.”

Salisbury Bucks

The Salisbury Bucks 9U boys basketball team is looking for players for the 2017 season.

The Bucks are sanctioned through the National Travel Basketball Association and believe in teaching strong competitive, fundamental basketball skills to players while developing personal charactor.

For more information,   contact SalisburyBucks@yahoo.com or call/text (470) 313-4278.

Also check out www.BallCharts.com/SalisburyBucks.