From staff reports

Western Carolina senior softball player Hunter Gibbons (West Rowan) broke the school record for home runs on Friday when she connected against North Georgia for her 30th career homer.

WCU won the game 6-3. The homer was the second of the season for Gibbons, a two-time player of the year in Rowan County.

HS basketball

MORGANTON — A.L. Brown’s boys basketball season ended with an 88-59 loss at Freedom on Saturday in the third round of the 3A state playoffs.

James Freeman (22 points), Fletcher Abee (20), Michael Logan (18) and Jakari Dula (12) led the Patriots (28-2), who will play at Cox Mill on Tuesday.

Kheni Briggs scored 20 for A.L. Brown (21-8). Amare Haynie had 18, and Nick Colson scored nine.

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MOCKSVILLE — Kameron Mack scored 22 points  to lead Myers Park to a 74-65 win at Davie County in the third round of the 4A state playoffs on Saturday.

Drake Maye scored 16, w hile Caleb McReed had 15.

Davie (24-3) was led by Michael Walton with 20 points. Troy Griggs and Jacob Hendrix scored 16 each.

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DENVER — Bryson Childress scored 32 points to lead North Stanly, a No. 21 seed, to a 72-53 win at No. 4 Lincoln Charter.

Childress made 10 free throws in the fourth quarter.

North Stanly will play at Bishop McGuinness, an upset winner over Winston-Salem Prep, on Tuesday.

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MARSHVILLE — Forest Hills eliminated North Davidson from  the 2A state playoffs, 101-58, in a third-round matchup on Saturday.

Themus Fulks had 33 for the Black Knights.

Jai Rorie led the Yellow Jackets with 27, and Nasione Tyson had 26.

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CLEMMONS — West Forsyth’s girls beat Hickory Ridge on Saturday in a 4A third-round matchup, 62-48.

Callie Scheier scored 27 for the Titans.

Nia Daniel and Jadah Shears had 11 each for the Bulls (24-5).

     

HS baseball

Kenny Dollenger, a lefty pitcher in Maryland, committed to Catawba.

Dollenger is not big or an exceptionally hard thrower, but he’s a polished hurler with command of a changeup, curveball and slider.

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  SALISBURY — Salisbury’s baseball team routed Thomasville, 16-1, in a three-inning Central Carolina Conference game  played on Saturday at Robertson Stadium.

Vance Honeycutt went 3-for-3 with four RBIs for the Hornets (3-0, 2-0 CCC).  Parker Lippard went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Bo Rusher had two hits and two RBIs.  JT Taylor was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Sam Combs went 2-for-2 and scored twice.

Honeycutt and David Holden handled the pitching.

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Troy Clary had two RBIs and Joe Johnson and Michael Shelton had two hits each as Davie County (2-0) beat Alexander Central on Saturday, 7-1.

Spencer Nifong hurled five strong innings for the War Eagles.

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A.L. Brown opened the season with a 5-4 win against East Mecklenburg. Matt Shubert knocked in two runs. Antonio Knight  had two hits and scored twice.

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East Rowan won at Mooresville, 3-2, on Saturday.

Local golf

Kap Yang made a rare double eagle at McCanless last week.

It was the first “albatross” for Yang, who has made seven holes-in-one.

Yang carded a 2 on the par-5 No. 13 hole, while playing in the Tuesday Scramble Captain’s Choice.

Yang was playing from the gold tees. The hole measured approximately 400 yards.

The group used Yang’s nice tee shot, and then he holed a 3-wood from 175 yards out. He was playing with Daniel Haga, Lenny Masulie and Larry Harwood.

College baseball

Catawba lost the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader to Lincoln Memorial, 5-4, in 12 innings.

Robbie Cowie’s triple and D.J. Laxton’s sacrifice fly gave Catawba a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th, but the Railsplitters got a run in the bottom of the 11th and a walk-off homer by Joe Stucky in the 12th.

Sawyer Strickland had an awesome relief outing for the Indians, shutting out Lincoln Memorial  for a long time. He entered the game in the fourth and pitched through the 10th.

• In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Bryan Ketchie (5-0) shut down LMU with a complete game and Catawba won 4-1. Ketchie struck out four in the seven-inning contest and walked one.

Heath Mitchem’s three-run homer was the key blow for the Indians.

• Catawba won at Lincoln Memorial on Friday, 11-6. Catawba pounded 17 hits at Hennon Field and knocked out Ethan Elliott, the 2018 SAC Pitcher of the Year, in the fifth.

Jeremy Simpson homered and had four hits for the Indians. Jackson Raper had three hits.

Hunter Shepherd (2-1) picked up the win, limiting LMU to two earned runs.

D.J. Laxton had a two-run double and also closed out the win.

College basketball

Guilford routed Sewanee on Friday, 97-59, in the first round of the D-III playoffs.

Will Leckonby (Salisbury) made a 3-pointer and scored six points.

  

College wrestling

Eight UNC Pembroke wrestlers, including 184-pounder Brandon Sloop (Carson) will compete iin the D-II Championships in Cleveland on March 9-10.

Catawba softball

Catawba was held to two hits in an 11-0 loss to North Georgia on Saturday.

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Catawba bounced back to beat Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, 7-6.

Preston Ellenberg was the winning pitcher and knocked in two runs. Jordan Dean homered,  Leah Huggins had two hits and scored twice.

High school soccer

Salisbury opened a new season with an 8-0 win over the East Rowan Mustangs.

Freshman  Sutton Webb scored the first goal on a night when seven different players scored for Salisbury.

Salisbury lost eight players (who scored 80 goals) to graduation.

“So starting confidently was a point of emphasis fpr us,” SHS coach Matt Parrish said.

The Hornets did. Seniors Ellen Simons (two goals) and Olivia Dagenhart scored.

So did  Piper Muire, Lillie Rusher, Anna Grace Woolly, and Elle Kennedy.

Assists were credited to Rusher (two), Webb and Muire.

Caroline Clark and Lila Harry combined for the shutout in goal.

The Central Carolina Conference opener for the  Hornets is scheduled for Monday at Thomasville at 6 p.m.