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Lane Hoover had two hits and winning pitcher Karson Williams drove in a run as visiting Lincolnton High tripped Bandys 3-0 on Friday night in South Fork 2A baseball, stopping the Trojans’ win streak at seven and helping North Lincoln move into first place.
The Wolves (9-4, 7-3) moved one game back of second-place Bandys by winning, and North Lincoln (15-2, 9-1) took over first place alone after beating East Lincoln 9-4 on Friday night for its eighth straight victory.
Williams threw a complete game, allowing five hits with four walks and four strikeouts and throwing 106 pitches to hand the Trojans (15-2, 8-2) their first shutout loss of the season.
Lincolnton scored two runs in the second inning when Hoover had a leadoff single, advanced on an infield error and scored on a hit by Robbie Cowie for a 1-0 lead. Mac Bowden’s deep fly ball to center scored the other run.
Hoover had a single in the fifth inning, moved up on an error by pitcher T.J. Rasar, and scored on Williams’ single to make it 3-0.
Bandys’ biggest threats to score came in the first two innings, when it left six runners stranded. That included the bases loaded in the first inning.
Rasar took the loss, going five innings. He gave up four hits, no earned runs, walked one and struck out eight.
Lincolnton has a South Fork 2A game on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at home against West Lincoln while Bandys plays a non-league game on Monday at 5 p.m. at West Caldwell and meets East Lincoln at Bandys in a conference game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The South Fork 2A plays a 14-game schedule, and with four games to go North Lincoln has a one-game lead.
Bandys and North Lincoln don’t meet again until the final playing date (April 27) in the league. That game will be at North Lincoln.
The Trojans beat the Knights 6-5 in their first meeting, at Bandys.
North Lincoln 9, East Lincoln 4
The Knights won on the road, pushing their win streak to eight, and took over sole possession of first place in the South Fork 2A when Lincolnton nipped Bandys 3-0 at Bandys.
East Lincoln (6-11, 3-7) had an early 3-0 lead that North Lincoln erased with a five-run fifth inning.
The Knights had six hits and had 10 players get at-bats in the fifth inning after Mustangs starter Trent Wood had thrown four shutout innings.
North Lincoln added three runs in the sixth inning.
Joey Cobb, North Lincoln’s starter, gained a win after throwing five innings. He struck out eight, allowed four hits and issued no walks.
David Borges, Nick Solomita, Tyler McPeak, Ty Lilly and Matty Jorgensen each had two hits for North Lincoln.
Evan Pawloski and Tanner Burns led East Lincoln with two hits each.
North Lincoln faces league rival Maiden at North Lincoln on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. while the Mustangs are headed to Bandys for a league game on Tuesday, also at 7 p.m.
Lake Norman Charter 18, Maiden 1, 5 inn.
The Knights scored seven runs in the second inning, five in the third inning and five in the fourth inning to pound the Blue Devils in a South Fork 2A game.
Jack Monti went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Alex Lonergan drove in three runs and was the winning pitcher, and Michael Clark went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs to spark Lake Norman Charter (9-7, 6-4), which is in fourth place.
The Knights had 16 hits.
Maiden, which had won two straight games, fell to 3-13 overall and 2-8 in the league.
Lake Norman Charter plays a non-league game at home on Monday at 7 p.m. against Charlotte Christian before going to Newton-Conover for a conference game on Tuesday (7 p.m.).
Maiden will face league-leading North Lincoln on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a conference game at North Lincoln.
Hickory 6, Watauga 5
Brody Scarborough and winning pitcher Jackson Palmer each went 3-for-3 as the Red Tornadoes (10-7, 4-6 Northwestern 3A-4A) gained head coach David Craft’s 460th career win and his 440th as Hickory’s leader.
Macory Mitchell earned a save for Hickory, now tied with McDowell and Watauga (5-11, 4-6) for fifth place.
The battle for the conference’s second of two automatic 3A state playoff bids is tight, with Alexander Central (8-2) up three games on a four-team pack – Freedom, St. Stephens, Hickory and Watauga — for the No. 2 spot.
Hickory has now won at least 10 games in 22 straight seasons, in records dating back to 1997. Craft is in his 30th season as head coach at his alma mater.
The Red Tornadoes will travel to Freedom for a league game on Tuesday at 6 p.m., and Watauga has a home non-league game against Ashe County on Monday at 6:30 p.m. before facing Alexander Central on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Boone.
Alexander Central 9, West Caldwell 1
The Cougars (14-4, 8-2) stopped their losing streak at three with a Northwestern 3A-4A road victory over the Warriors (2-15, 1-9), who have lost seven straight.
Dawson Elder (2-0) and Nate Moretz combined to three-hit West Caldwell. Elder went 5 1/3 innings, giving up three hits, an earned run, walking one and striking out seven. Moretz did not give up a hit or run in 1 2/3 innings.
Alexander Central had 11 hits, led by three by Moretz and two each by Josh Lafone and Josh Jacobs. Jacobs drove in three runs and Lafone and Bryson Hammer each added two RBIs for th Cougars.
Cy Smith, Cody Baker and Thomas Melton had hits for the Warriors and Melton drove in their only run, in the third inning.
Up 5-1, the Cougars had a fourth-run seventh inning.
Nick Kidd took the loss for West Caldwell, going 4 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, three runs (all earned), walked seven and struck out two.
Alexander Central plays a home non-league game Saturday at 2 p.m. against Providence and goes to Watauga for a conference game on Tuesday (6 p.m.).
West Caldwell faces Bandys at West Caldwell on Monday at 5 p.m., then plays a league game on Tuesday at home against conference-leader South Caldwell (6:30 p.m.).
South Caldwell 3, Watauga 1
Daniel Dye struck out 12 over 6 2/3 innings as the Spartans won a Northwestern 3A-4A game in Boone that virtually assures they win reach the state 4A playoffs.
South Caldwell (16-2, 9-1), which has won five straight games, moved five games ahead of the only other 4A school in the league, McDowell, with four conference games left.
Dye allowed five hits and finished at 105 pitches thrown, 72 of them strikes.
Curtis Massagee had two hits for South Caldwell, which had six, with Austin Blevins and Tyler Wike driving in runs for the Spartans.
Jackson Greene had two hits for Watauga (5-11, 4-6), and Jon McClannon went 6 2/3 innings, giving up five hits, three runs (two earned), walking one and striking out 10.
The Spartans went up 1-0 in the first inning when Austin Reynor singled, stole second and third and scored on a passed ball.
Massagee had a one-out single in the sixth inning, advancing on an error, and scoring on a double by Blevins.
Wike drove in a run in the seventh inning for South Caldwell.
The Spartans go to West Caldwell on Tuesday for a league game (6:30 p.m.), and Watauga plays Monday at home at 6:30 p.m. against Ashe County and at home on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Alexander Central in a conference battle.
St. Stephens 7, Freedom 6, 8 inn.
J.D. Everett’s two-run single in the eighth inning carried the Indians (8-7, 5-5) past the visiting Patriots (10-8, 5-5) and into a tie with them for third place in the Northwestern 3A-4A.
St. Stephens scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 4-all tie to force extra innings, with Cole Chapman leading off with a single, taking second on Justin Bullock’s sacrifice bunt and scoring on Owen Vansickle’s single.
Freedom scored twice in the top of the eighth inning – via Hunter Smith walking and scoring on an infield hit that also included a throwing error on the play. That left T.J. Twitty on second and he scored after a passed ball got him to third base.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jason Speaks had a leadoff single for St. Stephens. With one out, Matt Walker singled, then Bullock singled with two outs to drive in a run. Bullock reached second on a throw to the plate on the throw. After Vansickle was intentionally walked to load the bases, Everett delivered his game-winning single.
St. Stephens outhit Freedom 13-7 as Everett had three and Walker, Bullock and Vansickle each added two.
No Freedom player had more than one hit.
Speaks, pitching in relief, got the win for St. Stephens after throwing 3 1/3 innings (two hits, two runs, two walks, two strikeouts). Everett started for the Indians and went 4 2/3 innings, giving up five hits, four runs (two earned) with one walk and six strikeouts.
Lyle Holland went 6 1/3 innings as Freedom’s starter, giving up six hits, four runs (one earned) with two walks and three strikeouts. Reliever Cody Thomas took the loss, allowing four hits, three runs (all earned) over 1 1/3 innings.
In their next league games on Tuesday, it’s St. Stephens at McDowell at 6:30 p.m. and Freedom at home against Hickory on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
St. Stephens and Freedom are one game up on three 3A teams in a chase for two automatic 3A bids into the state playoffs (Alexander Central is nearing a lock up of the 3A No. 1 seed).
SOFTBALL
South Caldwell 7, Watauga 5
The Spartans rallied in Boone to win a Northwestern 3A-4A game that kept them in first place in the conference.
South Caldwell, 9-1 in the league, scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning with Jenna Pittman’s two-run single breaking a 5-all tie.
Sam Reese had a three-run triple for Watauga, 2-7 in the conference, in its four-run sixth inning.
South Caldwell plays at West Caldwell in a league game on Tuesday at 6 p.m., and Watauga is at home Saturday for a league game with McDowell and second-place Alexander Central visits Boone for a conference game on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Alexander Central 12, West Caldwell 0, 5 inn.
Chesney Millsaps won her 12th game of the season, throwing a five-inning four-hitter as the Cougars rolled at home in a Northwestern 3A-4A game.
She gave up four hits, walked one and struck out four to improve to 12-3.
The Cougars collected 12 hits, including two each by Julie Gast, Kelsea Dejarnette, Alexa Rash and Gracie Rhoney. Rhoney drove in three runs and Gast and Dejarnette each had two RBIs.
Annie Bean, Haley Price, Tristen Wilson and Kyle Reid each had a hit for West Caldwell, 5-5 in the league with one of those wins coming over the Cougars earlier in the season.
Price took the loss, going four innings. She gave up 12 hits, 12 runs (eight earned) with four walks and no strikeouts.
Alexander Central is at Watauga for a conference game Tuesday at 6 p.m. while West Caldwell is at home (6 p.m.) on Tuesday, facing South Caldwell.
North Lincoln 2, East Lincoln 0
McKayla Watts pitched a shutout in a South Fork 2A game that had only seven combined hits at East Lincoln.
The Knights scored a run in the second inning and another in the fifth inning, winning despite being outhit 4-3 by the Mustangs.
North Lincoln, 9-1 in the league, remains tied with Maiden for first place – the Blue Devils won 9-0 on Friday at Lake Norman Charter – and East Lincoln, at 6-4 in conference games, is in third place.
Emily Stolzenbach took the loss for East Lincoln.
North Lincoln has a showdown game with Maiden on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Maiden while East Lincoln goes to Bandys for a 6 p.m. league game.
Freedom 7, St. Stephens 1
The Patriots prevailed at St. Stephens, improving to 7-3 in the Northwestern 3A-4A, and they are in third place, a half-game up on McDowell.
Freedom scored four runs in the fourth inning, two in the fifth and two more in the seventh.
Katy Sherrill and Hannah Edins had hits for St. Stephens, 2-8 in the league, and Lauren Moser took the loss after pitching seven innings. Moser gave up 11 hits and struck out five.
Freedom plays East Burke at Freedom in a non-league game on Monday at 4:30 p.m. and faces Hickory in Morganton on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a conference game.
St. Stephens plays a league game at McDowell on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Watauga 2, South Caldwell 0
Bailey Whitehead and Emma Snider each scored a goal as the host Pioneers dealt the Spartans their first Northwestern 3A-4A loss of the season.
South Caldwell fell to 7-1-0 in league play and Watauga improved to 7-1-0 to move into a tie atop the standings.
The Pioneers play Alexander Central in Boone in conference match on Tuesday at 6 p.m. while the Spartans face West Caldwell on the road in a league match Tuesday at 6 p.m.