From staff reports

Tuesday’s roundup ….

The 14-game South Piedmont Conference baseball season got started on Tuesday, with East Rowan, West Rowan, South Rowan and Carson posting victories.

• East (6-0) survived a pitching duel with Lake Norman Charter at Staton Field, with pitchers Cameron Padgett and Logan Dyer keying a 2-0 victory.

The teams will play again Friday in Huntersville.

• West (4-2) got strong pitching from Casey Gouge and Luke Graham and took a 6-0 win against Northwest Cabarrus in Mount Ulla.

Gouge pitched into the sixth inning and struck out eight. He allowed three hits and three walks.

Gouge and Graham continued to hit well. They had two hits each at the top of the lineup.

The teams will play again Friday at NWC.

• Playing on the road after flipping sites for this week, South Rowan (4-0) beat Central Cabarrus 7-0.

Haiden Leffew struck out nine in five innings, and Chandler Oddie finished the shutout.

Kane Kepley scored three runs. JD James, Colton Fisher and Jacob Ritchie had big offensive games.

South will host Central on Thursday.

• Carson (4-2) cruised to a 7-0 win against Concord, with Mikey Beasley throwing four innings. Samuel Safrit and Casey Crawford completed the shutout.

Hunter Burris and Hayden Simmerson drove in two runs each.

Carson will play at Concord Friday.

Carson picked up an easy 11-1 win against Mallard Creek on Monday.

Simmerson had two doubles. Cameron Burleyson had three hits. Emory Taylor got the win.

•••

Salisbury opened Central Carolina Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Thomasville.

The Hornets (6-2) won 11-2 and 7-3.

Kaleb Burleyson struck out 11 Bulldogs in the 11-2 victory.

Evan Koontz, Aiden Mowery, Jack Everson and Jackson Sparger had two hits each.

• The Hornets had to come back from  a 3-0 deficit to finish the sweep.

Hank Webb had two RBIs, while Cole Price got two hits.

Good relief by Koontz and Price keyed the win.

Salisbury isn’t scheduled to play again until March 22.

• North Rowan (1-4) lost 11-9 in Spencer to South Davidson in a CCC opener.

•••

Mooresville got nine strikeouts from Chad Harvey and three hits and three RBIs from Jake Modrak to beat Hickory Ridge 11-5 in the Greater Metro Conference.

Lake Norman beat A.l. Brown 11-0.

Davie lost 5-0 to East Forsyth in Central Piedmont Conference play. Xavier Isaac had four hits for EF, while Braxton Stewart threw the shutout.

Softball

South Piedmont Conference softball also got started on Tuesday.

The biggest story was the explosion by West Rowan sophomore Emma Clarke.

In the Falcons’ 15-o win against Northwest Cabarrus, she had two homers, a double and six RBIs in three innings.

Karsen Simpson drove in four for the Falcons. Kenadi Sproul tripled and scored twice. Madelyn VonCanon went 2-for-2.

Arabelle Shulenberger and Carmen Freeze did the pitching.

• East Rowan (4-0) romped 22-1 against Lake Norman Charter.

• South Rowan (4-3)  lost 11-1 in six innings to Central Cabarrus. McKenzie Menius, Zoie Miller and Skye Fernandez had two hits each for the Raiders. Lexie Ritchie did the pitching and struck out three.

Soccer

West Rowan lost to Northwest Cabarrus 4-1 in South Piedmont Conference action.

Anna Mead scored for the Falcons. Brittany Vanhoose assisted. Kristin Hammonds made eight saves,

• Concord staged a big comeback in the second half to beat Carson 5-3.

Carson 2-0 to North Iredell in a non-conference match on Monday.

Track and field

A.L. Brown’s boys got wins from Daunte Marshall in the 100 and 110 hurdles in Monday’s track meet held at West Cabarrus. DJ Drye won the discus.