From staff reports

College softball

Pfeiffer’s softball program  is going to be hard to handle in the D-III ranks and is off to an 18-2 start.

Junior shortstop Vada Blue Sherrill is batting .556 with 10 homers, 38 RBIs and 28 steals.

Pfeiffer is scheduled to play a home doubleheader against Meredith on Wednesday.

•••

The next scheduled action for Catawba softball (12-11) is a home doubleheader against North Georgia on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Freshman shortstop Jordan Dean has three homers, seven doubles and a team-leading 18 RBIs. Delane Smith and Kaylee Cooke are batting .340.  Smith has four homers.

•••

Newberry’s McKenzie Barneycastle (Davie County) has been one of the best freshmen in Division II. She’s batting .523 with 16 runs scored and eight doubles.

•••

Sophomore Kaitlin Moore (A.L. Brown)  is batting .300 and leads Belmont Abbey in RBIs with 12.

 

College football

After the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, N.C. A&T offensive tackle Brandon Parker (A.L. Brown) is rated as the 12th best offensive tackle available in the upcoming draft.

Parker currently projects to be picked in the fourth or fifth round. He has a wide base, coordinated feet and an unusually wide wingspan.

Officially, he measured 6-foot-7 1/2 and 305 pounds.

 

 

College baseball

Heath Mitchem (Carson) is batting .436 for Catawba and has a .560 on-base percentage.

Luke Setzer (East Rowan) has 27 RBIs, while Kyle Smith and Chance Bowden (Salisbury) have 26 each. Setzer has eight homers, while Bowden has five.

Catawba (10-14) couldn’t play due to weather on Monday. That game against Indiana University of Pennsylvania was postponed to Wednesday at 2 p.m.

There’s a game scheduled for 5 p.m. today at Newman Park against St. Thomas Aquinas.

Catawba has been out-homered by opponents, 29-27, and the team ERA is 6.09.

Despite a slow start, Catawba is 6-3 in the South Atlantic Conference and in the thick of the league race.

•••

Ike Freeman (East Rowan) had started 14 games for UNC and is batting  .286 with a homer and nine RBIs. Among the UNC starters. Freeman has been the toughest to strike out. He’s fanned three times.

•••

Montreat’s Ross Hoffner (Davie County) had two hits, including a third-inning homer, in a 4-3 loss to Reinhardt on Saturday.

•••

John Owen (East Rowan) pitched well for Pitt Community College on Saturday. In a 9-8 win against Southeastern CC, Owen (1-0) pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs. He struck out seven and walked none.

•••

Mars Hill catcher Matt Honeycutt (South Rowan) is batting .304 with four homers and 12 RBIs. Honeycutt hit two homers in a game against Newberry.

College tennis

Alexandra Drye (Salisbury) has won all three of her spring singles matches for Christopher Newport.

•••

Margaret Correll (Carson) is playing No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles for Brevard.

YMCA swimming

In the NC Senior Championships, Ethan Knorr (Salisbury) wsa second in the 1650 freestyle.

In the NC 14U Championships, Emily Knorr won the mile. Katie Knorr scored in the meet.

The Knorrs were competing for the Greensboro Community Y team.

Prep basketball

Lexington High School  announced in an email to the Post, the Lexington Dispatch and other media outlets  on Monday that it has started a  search for a new boys basketball coach.

College golf

Catawba took fifth among 12 teams at the rain-shortened Hargett Memorial Invitational Men’s Golf Tournament. The event, which was held at the 6,725-yard, par-72 Monroe Country Club, was shortened to two rounds after Monday’s round was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Catawba posted a 589 total for the two rounds on Sunday. Lenoir-Rhyne won the tournament with a four-under-par score of 572. The Bears topped Belmont Abbey by eight shots. Wingate’s Jarett Stowe claimed medalist honors with a 7-under total of 137. He edged Belmont Abbey’s Nick Stafford by a single shot after both carded a 66 in round two.

Trey Burton led Catawba and finished third overall with a 140 total. He shot a three-under 69 in round two. Burton’s 11 birdies were second most in the tournament and he also scored an eagle. Jesse Vensel followed Burton for the Indians as he was 12th at 145. Vensel also had an eagle to go with six birdies.

The Indians are in action next week at the NGU Invitational in Blythewood, S.C.

Catawba finishers

3. Trey Burton, 71-69 — =140

12. Jesse Vensel, 73-72 — 145

24. Mack Sheppard, 77-73— 150

32. Tanner Bibey, 77-77 — 154

37. Tyler Mulkey, 77-78 — 155