From staff reports

From  Livingstone College sports information

Livingstone  announced Monday that Stan  Smith, a football player for the Blue Bears, passed away.

“A great young man, great athlete, great leader on and off the field,” Livingstone head coach Daryl Williams said.

Smith starred at Cass Tech High in Detroit as a linebacker and played on state championship teams before coming to Livingstone.

He was listed on the 2016 Livingstone roster as a 5-foot-10, 225-pound wide receiver.

  “Stan Smith was a tremendous representative of our school and a beloved member of the Blue Bear football team,” said Livingstone AD Andre Springs. “My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, teammates and fellow students.”

Funeral services are pending.

 

Independent baseball

Former Catawba baseball  star Chris Dula threw a pitch clocked at 102 miles per hour, a league record, on Saturday in the independent United Shore Professional Baseball League.

Dula, who turns 26 today, is pitching for the Utica Unicorns in Michigan. He’s thrown 21 eventful innings for the Unicorns  this season, with 35 strikeouts and 26 walks. He has a 5.57 ERA.

Dula faced five batters, threw 29 pitches and recorded one out on Saturday — a strikeout.

Dula was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 25th round in 2013. He piled up impressive strikeout totals, but they were accompanied by walks and wild pitches.

He was released by the Rangers in 2016 after peaking at the advanced A level.

He’s played in the Australian Baseball League and in several independent leagues since then.

Besides possessing an electric right arm, Dula was a powerful hitter for the Catawba Indians and was the South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year in 2013 as well as the SAC’s Male Athlete of the Year for the 2012-13 school year.

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In the independent Pecos League, Michael Elwell (Catawba) of the Bakersfield Train Robbers was the winning pitcher in Saturday’s league championship game.

The lefty allowed two earned runs, four hits and eight walks, throwing   six innings in a 7-4 victory.  He struck out five.

Elwell struck out 49 batters in 36 innings during the regular season.

East-West All-Stars

Carson’s Brooke Stouder has been named as the assistant coach for the West girls basketball team for next summer’s all-star game in Greensboro.

Stouder has coached Carson for 12 seasons — since the school opened.

North Surry’s Shane Slate will be the head coach.

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The West boys basketball team will be coached by East Forsyth’s Andy Muse (head) and Cherryville’s Scott Harrill (assistant).

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Monroe’s Johnny Sowell will be the head coach of the West football team.

His assistants will include former Robinson coach Joe Glass (now at Eastern Guilford).

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East Lincoln’s Jason Dragoon will coach the West girls soccer team, while Northwest Guilford’s Jason Allred will coach the West boys soccer team.

Local team

The team of Susan Wydner and Ralph and Pam Carver won Sunday’s McCanless Couples match.

Harry Owen and David & Azalee Huneycutt came in second.

Ralph Carver had closest to the pin, while Pam Carver had the longest putt.

  

Intimidators

KANNAPOLIS — Tyler Frost hit a two-run homer,  and Yosmer Solorzano allowed just one hit over five innings as the Kannapolis Intimidators defeated the Greensboro Grasshoppers 9-0 in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday.

Solorzano (3-6) picked up the win after he struck out one and walked two.

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In the first game of the doubleheader,  Greensboro’s Taylor Braley, Jeremy Ovalle and Michael Mertz combined to pitch a no-hitter, leading the Grasshoppers to a 2-1 victory. Mertz struck Luis Curbelo out with a runner on first to end the game for his fourth save of the season.