Speaks’ pitching leads Indians past Hickory;
Trojans score 8 in one inning, beat West Caldwell
HobbsDailyReport.com
Jake Speaks’ complete game shutout sparked St. Stephens High on Tuesday as it beat archrival Hickory 5-0 in a semifinal game of the Catawba Valley Easter Classic, as the Indians won back-to-back baseball games for the first time since opening the season 2-0.
The victory moved the seventh-seeded Indians (8-14) into a championship game on Wednesday against fourth-seeded Alexander Central (15-8) at 7 p.m. at the Legion Fairgrounds in Newton.
Sixth-seed Hickory (11-9) plays top-seeded Fred T. Foard (14-3) at 4 p.m. for third place.
Alexander Central snapped Foard’s 11-game win streak with an 11-1 decision on Tuesday in the tournament’s other semifinal.
Speaks provided St. Stephens only its second shutout of the season and the Indians won back-to-back games after having downed West Lincoln in the opening round of the Classic on Monday. Prior to that, St. Stephens had not won consecutive games since beating Bunker Hill and McDowell to begin the season.
Alexander Central 11, Fred T. Foard 1
The fourth-seeded Cougars (15-8) won their fifth straight game – and eighth in nine games – behind Bryson Hammer and the hitting of Dylan Stikeleather, Byron Younts and Jacob Beeber.
Hammer pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, an unearned run and walked five and struck out 13 to help Alexander Central reach the title game of the Catawba Valley Easter Classic.
The Cougars play seventh-seeded St. Stephens at 7 p.m. on Wednesday for the title. The teams have played twice in Northwestern 3A-4A play with Alexander Central winning 5-2 at home on March 26 and 11-0 in five innings on April 17 at St. Stephens.
Stikeleather drove in three runs, Younts went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Beeber had two hits and drove in four runs for the Cougars.
Top-seeded Foard (14-3) had an early 1-0 lead that Alexander Central overcame with two runs in the third inning and three runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings.
Jeremiah Wike took the loss for the Tigers, going five innings. He gave up five hits, five runs (three earned), walked five and struck out six.
Foard plays sixth-seeded Hickory at 4 p.m. on Wednesday for third place.
Alexander Central improved to 6-0 this season when scoring 10 or more runs and the Cougars have outscored opponents 55-4 in their five-game win streak.
Foard had its lowest scoring game in the loss Alexander Central, and its other losses this season are 5-4 to West Lincoln and 15-2 to Bunker Hill.
Bunker Hill 14, Hibriten 6
The Bears beat Northwestern Foothills 2A rival Hibriten for the first time in three games this season with 17 walks playing a key role in a Catawba Valley Easter Classic consolation bracket game.
Bunker Hill had only five hits and scored five runs in the second inning with the help of six walks.
Ethan Hildebran stole home for the go-ahead run for the fifth-seeded Bears (11-7) while Seth More and Seth Pennington had RBIs on base-loaded walks.
Casey Knighton had two RBIs and freshman Jordan Yoder scored twice and drove in three runs for Bunker Hill, which had nine players with at least one RBI.
Reliever Chance Carden had five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings for Bunker Hill.
Third-seeded Hibriten (14-7) lost its second straight game and for the third time in four games.
The Panthers had beaten the Bears 10-9 in Claremont and 10-0 in five innings in Lenoir earlier in the season.
West Lincoln 13, Newton-Conover 0
The top-seeded Rebels (16-6) got two-hit pitching from Seth Willis to score their fifth win of the season by shutout in a consolation bracket game of the Catawba Valley Easter Classic.
West Lincoln had 13 batters in the first inning and 10 more in the second inning.
Willis threw four innings, striking out six, and the Rebels won for the sixth time in their last seven games.
Newton-Conover (2-19, No. 8 seed) was shutout for the ninth time this season and for the fourth time in five games, extending its losing streak to six games in which it has been outscored 50-5.
West Lincoln has beaten the Red Devils three times this season.
TONY CAUSBY CLASSIC
(at Patton High)
Bandys 11, West Caldwell 1, 5 inn.
The Trojans (13-6) used an eight-run second inning to beat the Warriors (5-15) and advance to the title game of the Causby Classic.
Alex Reavis was the winning pitcher for Bandys, which improved to 7-0 this season when scoring in double digits.
The Trojans face R-S Central for the title at 7 p.m.
Nick Kidd had two hits for West Caldwell and Bailey O’Brien took a loss after pitching 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits, 11 runs (six earned), walking three and striking out five.
The Warriors will play Chase for third place on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
Bandys has outscored opponents 27-7 in two five-inning games in the tournament.
Draughn 6, Patton 5
In a consolation bracket game, the Wildcats (4-17) snapped a five-game losing streak and beat the Panthers (9-12) for the second time this season.
Daniel Melton hit a home run and had two hits and an RBI, Bryan Walker drove in a run, Preston Houston went 3-for-3 and Isaac Walker added an RBI for Draughn, which improved to 1-1 in one-run games this season.
Ethan Pons, Gunner Grady, Bryson Ratliff, Matthew Byrd and Zach Smith, who hit a home run, drove in runs for Patton.
Gabe Strickland was the winning pitcher for the Wildcats, going 4 2/3 innings. He gave up three hits, five earned runs, walked eight and struck out seven.
Losing pitcher Christian White worked three innings for the Panthers, giving up four hits, six runs (two earned) with one walk and three strikeouts.
Draughn led 2-1 early and extended its lead to 6-2 with four runs in the third inning.
Patton pulled with a run after scoring three runs in the fifth inning.
Draughn plays Freedom for fifth place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
R-S Central 9, Chase 3
The Hilltoppers (15-5) beat the Trojans for the fourth time this season to reach the title game of the Causby Classic against Bandys at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
R-S Central has won six straight games since a conference loss to South Point.
Chase plays West Caldwell for third place at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Freedom 11, East Burke 1
The Patriots (13-9) scored more than 10 runs for the fifth time this season, beating the Cavs (1-19) for the second time this season and extending East Burke’s losing streak to 12 games.
East Burke’s only win of the year was over Freedom on March 20 in Morganton. The Patriots beat the Cavs 13-1 at East Burke on April 3.
Freedom meets Draughn on Wednesday at 2 p.m. for fifth place while East Burke faces Patton for seventh place at 11:30 a.m.
OTHERS
North Lincoln 8, North Gaston 7
The Knights (15-4) ran their win streak to 10 games by wiping out a 7-4 deficit in a tournament game at Mooresville.
North Lincoln scored a run in the sixth and three in the bottom of the seventh inning for a walk-off victory.
The Knights had two hit batters and two walks to start the seventh inning and a two-out single by Sam Brady scored Jake Soorus with the winning run.
Soorus was the winning pitcher, going two innings. He did not give up a hit, walked two and struck out one. At the plate, he had two hits, including a home run, and scored three runs.
McDowell 7, South Brunswick 3
Playing at home, the Titans (13-8) won for the sixth time in seven games as winning pitcher Brycen Seymore threw a complete game and went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Seymore allowed four hits, three runs (all earned), walked three and struck out four.
Josh Maddux had two hits, one a double, and drove in two runs for McDowell.
Ethan Hamm was 2-for-3 and scored twice for the Titans, who play Black Mountain Owen in Marion on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
South Caldwell 8, Pittsboro Northwood 0
Hunter Ingle had three hits, including a home run, and drove in four runs as the Spartans (18-4) won to finish third at the Bulldog Invitational at Fayetteville Sanford.
Owen Foxx went 3-for-3 with two doubles and drove in a run for South Caldwell, which posted its seventh win by shutout this season.
Colby Collins pitched five innings for the Spartans, giving up two hits. He walked four and struck out four.
South Caldwell will be the top seed for the Northwestern 3A-4A tournament that begins on Tuesday (pairings TBA).
West Iredell 9, Forest Hills 5
The Warriors (7-14) snapped a four-game losing streak and finished seventh in the East Rowan Tournament.
Josh Graham went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in three runs and winning pitcher Eli Kitchen drove in two runs and went five innings. He gave up 10 hits, four runs (all earned), walked none and struck out seven.
West Iredell scored three runs in the first inning and led 5-1 through four innings.
Forest Hills pulled within 5-4 with a three-run fifth inning that the Warriors answered with two more runs in their half of the fifth inning.
West Iredell will be the No. 5 seed for the Northwestern Foothills 2A tournament, which starts Tuesday, and play at No. 4 Bunker Hill at 7 p.m. in a first-round game.
Eden Morehead 5, Maiden 1
The Blue Devils (9-9) fell for the sixth time in seven games after Morehead scored all of its runs in the fifth inning in a game at the Beach Diamond Invitational at West Brunswick.
Maiden, shutout only once all season, plays South Columbus on Wednesday.
SOFTBALL
Cherryville 6, West Lincoln 5
Taryn Jenkins had a two-hit shutout through the fifth inning and got a groundout with the tying run at third base as the Ironmen won in their own round-robin tournament, which revamped the teams playing and pairings.
Zaria Griggs had a two-run home run, a two-run double and a triple in the sixth inning, collecting six RBIs.
The Ironmen play Maiden on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
West Lincoln 9, Bessemer City 2
The Rebels jumped to an 8-0 lead and beat the Yellow Jackets behind Alyson Eaker going 2-for-3 and driving in two runs and Emma Bumgarner also driving in two runs in a game at the Cherryville tournament.
West Lincoln plays Cape Fear at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, and Bessemer City plays Hickory at 1 p.m.
Maiden 11, Bessemer City 2
The Blue Devils scored six runs in the second inning, when Bessemer City made two errors, and won a game in the Cherryville tournament.
Addy Ikard tripled and scored twice, Kaidyn Rodgers had a two-run single and Rachel Cook hit a home run for Maiden.
The Blue Devils meet Cherryville on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Cherryville 19, Hickory 3
A six-run first inning sparked the Ironmen, who got a 3-for-3 game from Gracie Hester and two hits and three RBIs from Faith Anthony.
Cherryville battles Maiden at 3 p.m. on Wednesday while Hickory meets Cape Fear on Wednesday at 9 a.m. and Bessemer City at 1 p.m.
Cape Fear 10, Maiden 7
Cape Fear beat the Blue Devils in a Cherryville tournament game.
No other details were available.
Cape Fear faces Hickory at 9 a.m. on Wednesday and battles West Lincoln at 11 a.m.
