From staff reports

Mocksville rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to win 6-4 at Foothills on Monday.

Mocksville took the Area III American Legion first-round series two games to one.

Mocksville got four hits from Ryan Thiel and three each from Jackson Sink and Dan Loyd.

Loyd hit a first-inning homer at East Surry High.

Hunter Daywalt pitched five innings to keep Mocksville in it, and Sink pitched the last two. Sink got a strikeout to end the game and the series with runners at second and third.

Mocksville will play at Rowan County tonight at 7 p.m. to get a best-of-three quarterfinal series started. Retiring broadcaster Buddy Poole will be honored at the ball park.

Casey Gouge is the probable starter for Rowan County in the first game. Game 2 will be at Mocksville’s Rich Park.

Other quarterfinal series starting tonight in Area III are Davidson County-Kannapolis, Randolph County-Mooresville and Eastern Randolph-Stanly County.

Junior Legion baseball

West Rowan-Stokes County and Kannapolis-West Forsyth Blue are the semifinal matchups for Area III Junior Legion baseball.

Stokes County edged West Rowan 3-2 in the first game of a series on Monday. They’ll play tonight at West Stokes in King.

 

Minor league baseball

Texas Rangers prospect Owen White (Carson) recently moved into the top 100 prospects list for all of minor league baseball for the first time.

White is now the Rangers’ No. 6 prospect and is No. 97 overall.

He’s been scintillating in his first three starts on the mound for Double-A Frisco after a promotion from Hickory.

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St. Louis Cardinals prospect Austin Love is posting solid strikeout and walks numbers at Peoria (High-A), but he’s been hit hard in four of his 15 starts and has an ERA of 6.72.

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Former Catawba and Illinois third baseman Jackson Raper is slugging homers for the Billings Mustangs, an independent team.

Raper hit two more on Thursday, including  a game-tying blast in the ninth.

College softball

Catawba College Director of Athletics Michelle Caddigan announced Brady Tigert as the new head softball coach on Monday.

“We are so pleased to welcome Coach Tigert to Catawba College as the leader our softball program,” Caddigan said. “Coach Tigert is a highly respected and tenured coach who has coached at all three levels within the NCAA. Much of his career has been spent as a head coach in Division II. He is a proven winner and phenomenal person who prioritizes the welfare of his student athletes.”

Tigert served as the head coach at Wesleyan College and led the Wolves to the most wins in program history as well as the program’s first-ever winning season last spring. Tigert guided Wesleyan to a 24-16 record and the USA South Tournament championship series in his first year at the helm.

Prior to Wesleyan, Tigert spent 13 seasons as the head coach at Midwestern State in Texas. In his tenure, Tigert compiled 486 wins, a .655 winning percentage, and was awarded the Lone Star Conference Coach of the year six times.

Local golf

Michael Swaringen’s 67 and Kevin Lentz’s 69 paced qualifying for the 44th annual Horace Billings Rowan Amateur, which is set for Corbin Hills this weekend.

Nick Lyerly is the defending champion and has won the last four tournaments.

Qualifying for the Senior Rowan Amateur was led by Brian Sutton’s 72.

Steven Gegorek won the inaugural event last summer.

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The Carolinas Amateur begins on Thursday at Charlotte Country Club.

 

NBA basketball

Davie County’s Martin twins, who Rowan fans got to watch in some Sam Moir Christmas Classics, have come a long way.

Cody Martin, a former second-round pick, has signed a four-year deal with Charlotte for $32 million.

Caleb Martin, who wasn’t drafted after his final year of college, has signed a three year deal with the Miami Heat for $24 million.

 

HS basketball

Salisbury rising junior guard Jayden “Juke” Harris scored 33 points in a game in an AAU tournament in Rock Hill this weekend and did it with a host of Division I coaches in attendance.

Harris has rocketed to a national ranking of No. 75 in the Class of 2024 this summer.

He announced his latest offers are from Virginia Tech and St. John’s. He has more than a dozen Division I offers.

 

College basketball

Former Carson star Jamarius Hairston is in the transfer portal and has gotten his first Division I offer from East Tennessee State.

 

Semi-pro basketball

Rowan Bull Avery Patterson (A.L. Brown) scored 44 points in the East Coast Basketball League All-Star Game.

The former St. John’s guard can still light it up. Patterson shot 24-for-38 with 10 3-pointers and scored 66 in a game in Rocky Mount in February.

 

Little League softball

The Rowan Little League 10U girls made it to the championship game in Henderson County but finished runner-up in the state to Pitt County.

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The Rowan Little League 8U girls won their two pool games at Salisbury Community Park and will be back in action on Saturday.

They’ll play Pitt County in a semifinal. The other semifinalists are Person County and Lincoln County.

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The Rowan 12U girls are busy raising money for their trip to the Southeast Regional in Warner Robins, Ga.

If they can win the regional, they’ll go to the World Series in Greenville, N.C.

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Rowan will host the Southeast Regionals for Junior (12-14) and Senior girls (13-16).

Those games start Friday, July 22, with winners advancing to the World Series.

There’s a big “Challenger” game set for Thursday, July 21, as part of that event.

 

Lady Legion softball

Rowan County’s senior team returns to action Thursday at the East Rowan field with its annual “Veterans Night” game.

Veterans get free admission and a free meal.

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South Rowan’s Junior Lady Legion team returned to action Monday and split with Davidson County.

Kynlee Dextraze had three hits in a 5-4 loss.

In a 4-2 win, Lexie Ritchie pitched a strong game. Dextraze drove in three runs. Dextraze and Meghan Eagle had triples.

 

Summer baseball

Vance Honeycutt (Salisbury, UNC) will be making his Cape Cod Baseball League debut this week for the Bourne Braves.

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Carson Whisenhunt (Davie, ECU) is certain to be picked in the first two rounds of the upcoming MLB draft.

The 6-foot-4 lefty is currently pitching in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Chatham Anglers.

Events

Former Carson and Appalachian State star Myquon Stout is leading a sports skills camp at the school on July 23.

South Rowan has scheduled an alumni soccer game for Thursday.