From staff reports
Carson’s softball team rolled to an 11-0 win against East Rowan in an NPC tournament semifinal on Wednesday.
Lacee Hunsucker pitched the shutout.
Heather Yount went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Chloe Monroe went 3-for-4. Jesse Beach had two doubles. Sidney Grkman and Kaycee Kennedy had two hits each. Morgan Peninger and Jakey Clark also had hits for Carson.
East will still be the league’s No. 2 seed for the 3A playoffs unless third-seeded Carson beats top-seeded North Iredell in the tournament championship game tonight. (North Iredell beat West Iredell 10-0 on Wednesday.)
The title game will be played at 6 p.m. at West Iredell.
Prep soccer
History was made at Carson on Wednesday.
In a must-win situation, Carson scored in the 100th minute and beat North Iredell 1-0 to earn the Cougars’ first trip to the 3A playoffs.
Sarah Safrit scored the game-winning goal, and Alex Allen made 17 saves.
West Rowan beat West Iredell 2-0 on Senior Night.
The Warriors (8-8-1, 5-6-1 NPC) spent much of the game with eight players on defense trying to slow down West Rowan’s attack and were unable to mount any viable attack themselves.
Allison Baucom gave the Falcons the lead 15 minutes in when she dribbled in for a 6-yard shot. Toni Lucente assisted.
West Rowan got its other goal in the second half when Rebecca Parker sent a 12-yarder into the nets off a Mariah Coleman assist.
“I was happy that we sent our seniors out in style in their final conference game,” WR coach Nick Brown said. “Though I think we need to be better in the final third of the field, we played some great soccer at times. These seniors mean a lot to me as well as to West Rowan soccer, and I am grateful to have coached each one of them.”
WI keeper Amanda Urban finished the game with 12 saves, many on pointblank shots.
WR senior Allison Bailey recorded her 11th shutout on the season.
The 13th-ranked Falcons (18-2-1, 12-0 NPC) will wrap up the regular season Thursday when they host Lake Norman Charter School.
Prep tennis
Salisbury’s boys tennis team won 5-1 at North Surry on Wednesday in the first round of the 2A dual team tennis playoffs.
Michael Ogden, Alan Lebowitz, Abraham Post, Brock Overcash and Clint Comadoll won singles matches for the Hornets.
The Hornets will face Maiden in the second round next week. Maiden rolled to a 9-0 win against Brevard.
Prep baseball
Top-seeded Northwest Cabarrus beat Cox Mill 10-1 in an SPC semifinal on Wednesday and advanced to tonight’s championship game at Hickory Ridge.
Ace Weston Smith pitched a complete game for the Trojans with nine strikeouts, and Corey Seager belted a three-run homer.
In the other SPC semifinal, Brody Koerner fanned 12 and pitched a five-hitter to lead second-seeded Robinson to a 4-1 win over Mount Pleasant.
That means the SPC tournament won’t change any playoff seeds.
It’ll be 1. NW Cabarrus; 2. Robinson; 3. Mount Pleasant; 4. Hickory Ridge, and 5. Cox Mill.
In the CCC, Salisbury takes on No. 1 seed West Davidson tonight at Finch Field for the tournament championship.
The Hornets already have secured the league’s No. 2 seed for the 2A playoffs.
As far as the playoffs, it’ll be 1. West Davidson; 2. Salisbury; 3. East Davidson, and 4. Central Davidson.
In the YVC championship game tonight at West Montgomery, top-seeded South Stanly will take on No. 2 seed West Montgomery.
The YVC tournament also didn’t change any seeds for the playoffs.
West Montgomery beat North Rowan 6-0 in the first round, but North still should get a wild-card berth in the 1A playoffs.
In the NPC, things are still very much up in the air with No. 5 seed West Iredell making it to the championship game.
West Iredell plays at No. 2 seed Carson tonight at 7 p.m.
The only certain playoff seed at this point is East Rowan, which will stay at No. 1 no matter who wins tonight.
If Carson wins, it’ll be 2. Carson; 3. West Rowan; 4. South Rowan
If West Iredell wins, it’ll be 2. West Iredell; 3. Carson, 4. West Rowan
North Hills defeated United Faith 18-8 to finish 5-5 in the conference and in third place.
Leonard Murdock went 5-for-5 with three steals. Harper Miller went 2-for-2 with two walks and six stolen bases. Grayson Whicker pitched four innings and allowed one earned run.
The Eagles will host the first game of the conference tournament on Thursday against Statesville Christian at 4 p.m. at Jaycee Sports Complex.
Prep boys golf
Statesville shot 329 and edged South Rowan by two strokes to win the 18-hole NPC Tournament match at River Oaks.
Other scores were East Rowan (341), West Rowan (343), Carson (350), North Iredell (375) and West Iredell (412).
South’s Evan Neas and Davis Richards shot 76s and shared medalist honors with West Rowan’s Jake Kennedy.
Other South scorers were Aaron Rousey (87) and Hunter Chapman (92).
Other West Rowan scorers were Chris Hassard (86), Cameron Hassard (90) and Coyte Kyles (91).
East scorers were James Lohr (78), Conner Lowman (80), Jared Hough (89), Kyle Venrick (94) and Weston Rogers (94).
Carson scorers were Andrew Purcell (81), Ryan Craft (86), Matt Yates (88) and Rob Sawyer (95).
Statesville won for the season by 10 strokes, with East second, West Rowan third, South fourth and Carson fifth.
South’s Richards and Neas finished in the top four as far as season scoring.
Middle schools
Baseball
China Grove stayed unbeaten by beating Corriher-Lipe 21-6 in a three-inning game.
Fourteen different Red Devils contributed to a 19-hit attack, and China Grove pounded out 11 extra-base hits.
Ryan Bearden hit two homers, one to right field and one over the 315-foot marker in center.
Austin Corriher had three hits, while Peyton Penninger and Dillon had two each for the Devils (11-0).
Blake Johnson picked up his fourth win by scattering six hits.
China Grove plays at North Rowan today.
Golf
Erwin shot 153 and won a nine-hole match with China Grove (166) and Southeast (187)
Logan Shuping’s 32 led the Eagles. Other Erwin scores were posted by Nick Lyerly (36), Mason Basinger (42), Ben Rollins (43), Cooper Grubb (45) and Ike Emerson (48).
Brennan Lambert and Patrick Street shot 40s to lead China Grove. Other scores posted by the Red Devils were Bobby Bauer (43), Colton Brewer (43), Alex Lentz (50) and Josh Coker (51).
Southeast scores were Joseph Mitchem (44), Miguel Miller (47), Nate Faulkner (47), Devin Prowker (49) and Robert Sullivan (50).
The conference championship match is Monday at 4:30 at the Country Club of Salisbury.
Sacred Heart shot 177 and beat Salisbury Academy (182) at Country Club of Salisbury on Tuesday.
Sacred Heart’s Michael Childress shot 33 for medalist honors. He made three birdies.
Salisbury Academy’s Grace Yatawara shot 39, including an eagle 3 on the par-5 No. 3 hole.
Robbie Bergstone shot his best round of the year with a 39 for Salisbury Academy.
Other Sacred Heart scores were Alex Antosek (43), Will Casmus (470, Adam Habeeb (54), Henry Holman (57) and Jonathan Harper (60).
Other Salisbury Academy scores were Boyd Temple (51), Harrison Smith (53), Thomas Cummings (58), Jacob Crosby (61) and Abby Lee (62).
Both teams will play at Rock Barn in the conference championships next Tuesday.
Kannapolis Komets
The Kannapolis Komets 11th-grade girls basketball team opened the season in the Real Deal Showcase Tournament at Charlotte Vance.
Teams from both Carolinas participated.
The Komets beat Easley’s S.C. Elite 43-42 for the championship. Carson players on the roster are Allison Blackwell, Alex Allen, Kate Cole, Katherine Barringer and Megan Gray.
Former A.L. Brown, North Meck and First Assembly coach Doug Wilson serves as director and head Coach and is assisted by Duane Allen.
The Komets ninth-grade roster includes Sydney Huffman from Carson and is coached by Justin Kuralt, formerly of Dean Smith’s UNC staff and also A.L. Brown High and Covenant Classical.
The Komets return to action this weekend in Charlotte in the Carolina Basketball Challenge.
For information on the Komets including games and scrimmages, contact Wilson at 800-230-8819.
Parks and Rec
Salisbury Parks and Recreation will host a local Pitch, Hit & Run competition on Sunday, May 6, at 2 p.m. at Salisbury Community Park.
This free event is for boys and girls ages 7-14, with winners advancing to the sectional competition at Hickory’s L.P Frans Stadium on May 20. To register call 704-638-5289.
College baseball
The Catawba Indians are still ranked sixth in the Southeast Region and are still in position to get one of six available berths in the regional.
No.1-ranked Mount Olive and No. 2 Tusculum already have won tournaments to secure automatic bids.
The other four berths go to at-large teams.
Catawba still has to worry about a team ranked below the Indians winning the Peach Belt Tournament to earn an automatic bid, but if No. 3 Armstrong Atlantic, No. 4 Francis Marion or No. 5 USC-Aiken wins the event, the Indians should be OK.
The Peach Belt tourney starts on May 9. Lander and Georgia College loom as the biggest threats to knock Catawba out of the mix.
Appalachian State lost to East Tennessee State 7-4 on Wednesday.
Trey Holmes (East Rowan) went 4-for-4 with a triple to lead the Mustangs.
Preston Troutman (East) had three hits, including triple.
Brandon Burris (Mount Pleasant) had two doubles for the Mountaineers.
Noah Holmes went 2-for-2 for ASU in a 6-0 win against Wofford on Sunday.
College softball
Elon freshman Chelsea White (East Rowan) earned the first win of her college career on Wednesday in a 7-1 victory against North Carolina A&T.
White pitched a complete game and struck out seven.
College lacrosse
Catawba’s Ebony Mills was selected to the All-Independent women’s lacrosse team.
NCHSAA
The NCHSAA adopted a mercy rule for soccer if a nine-goal differential is reached at halftime or in the second half.
The NCHSAA will go back to a 12-week interval to play 11 football games.
The NCHSAA approved the requirement of non-faculty coaches to take a “Fundamentals of Coaching”course.
The realignment plan has been approved with all appeals heard.
Intimidators
The Augusta GreenJackets rallied to beat Kannapolis 9-6 on Wednesday.
Reliever Daniel Webb (0-5) took the loss for Kannapolis.
Leighton Pangilinan hit a two-run homer for the Intimidators.