HobbsDailyReport.com
For a schedule of Friday games, view an earlier post on HobbsDailyReport.com
Ayden Gates scored five goals and Kasey Hahn had three on Thursday, sparking Lake Norman Charter to a 9-0 home girls’ soccer victory over Lincolnton to assure winning at least a share of the South Fork 2A title.
The victory improved the Knights to 14-0-1 overall and 11-0-0 in the league and opened their lead over second-place Lincolnton (8-3-0) to three matches with three to go.
Olivia Tanaka had the other goal for the Knights, who also got one assist each from Hahn, Olivia Masterton, Alex Behnke, Casen Yates, Hallie Arko and Lindsey Rich.
Goalkeeper Kaela Rasenberger made three stops for Lake Norman Charter.
Blanca Morales had three saves for the Wolves.
BASEBALL
Postponements
Most of Thursday’s scheduled games were rained out with most of them reset for Friday and a few for Saturday.
South Fork 2A: Lake Norman Charter at Bandys was moved to Monday at 7 p.m., and North Lincoln widened its lead over the Trojans by beating Lincolnton 5-4 in a rain-shortened 5 ½ inning game.
Bandys goes to North Lincoln on Friday at 7 p.m. at 10-2 in the conference and North Lincoln, at 12-1, has clinched at least a share of the conference title.
If Bandys wins its two games ahead and shares the league title with North Lincoln, the Trojans would get the No. 1 state playoff bid because they would have swept North Lincoln.
Northwestern Foothills 2A: East Burke’s 4-3 win on Thursday over Hibriten in Lenoir locked up at least a share of the title for first-place Bunker Hill, which reset its game at home against West Iredell to Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Bears are 8-2 in the league and Hibriten (8-4) and Fred T. Foard (7-4) are the only other conference teams with a chance to share a title with Bunker Hill.
Northwestern 3A-4A: League-leading South Caldwell moved its rained out game at Hickory to Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
The Spartans go to Freedom on Friday for a 4 p.m. game and a win would secure an outright league title.
There’s not much left to be decided playoff-wise in the conference, as South Caldwell has locked up the No. 1 4A spot and Alexander Central has secured the No. 1 3A spot.
St. Stephens (8-5 conference) has a 1 ½-game lead over Hickory (6-6 conference) in the chase for another 3A berth and has the tiebreaker over the Red Tornadoes via sweeping them in the regular season.
McDowell 6, Alexander Central 5 (Wednesday)
Despite being outhit 9-5, the Titans held off the visiting Cougars to win a Northwestern 3A-4A game.
Dylan Poplin, Kell Smith, Ryan Murdock, Josh Maddux and Sydney Pike each had one hit for McDowell (9-13, 5-8), which snapped a four-game losing streak.
Daniel Dessecker went 3-for-3 and Justin Cook had two hits to lead Alexander Central (16-7, 10-3), which is 4-6 in its last 10 games.
McDowell starter Nathan Watkins gained a win after throwing four innings, giving up six hits, five runs (four earned), walking one and striking out three. Juan Camps pitched three innings to earn a save, allowing three hits, no runs, walking one and striking out four.
Cook (5-2) started and took the loss for the Cougars. He pitched 3 2/3 innings, giving up four hits, six runs (three earned) with three walks and three strikeouts.
Alexander Central scored three runs in the top of the second inning to lead, but McDowell scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 4-3.
Two runs in the fourth inning extended the Titans’ lead to 6-3 before the Cougars got within a run with a two-run fifth inning.
Alexander Central, in second place, closes the conference schedule on Friday at St. Stephens (6:30 p.m.).
McDowell’s final league game is Friday at 4 p.m. in Marion against Watauga.
SOFTBALL
Knights take league lead
North Lincoln pounded Lincolnton 10-1 on the road Thursday, moving into first place by a half-game over Maiden in the South Fork 2A after the Blue Devils’ game against Newton-Conover was suspended.
The Knights are 11-2 in the conference and Maiden is 10-2.
Newton-Conover led 2-0 in the first inning on Thursday at Newton-Conover when its battle with Maiden was halted by weather.
South Fork 2A games scheduled Friday are: Newton-Conover at East Lincoln, West Lincoln at Lake Norman Charter, Bandys at North Lincoln and Lincolnton at Maiden.
Alexander Central 4, McDowell 1 (Wednesday)
Chesney Millsaps threw a complete game, allowing just three hits, to lead the visiting Cougars (17-4, 11-2) to a Northwestern 3A-4A victory.
Millsaps (17-4) gave up one run (earned), walked three and struck out two. She was backed by seven hits, with Kelsea Dejarnette driving in two runs for the Cougars.
Dezi Williams, Hannah Shelton and Laynie Hudgins each had one hit for the Titans, 9-4 in the league and in third place.
Three of Alexander Central’s runs came in the first inning.
Kirsten Melvin took the loss for McDowell, pitching one inning. She gave up three hits, three runs (all earned), walked one and struck out none. Reliever Lea Conner, who pitched six innings, struck out eight.
Alexander Central, in second place and a game back of South Caldwell, closes its league schedule on Friday at 6 p.m. at St. Stephens.