ROCK SOLID SPARTANS
South Caldwell won another conference baseball title on Saturday, beating Hickory on the road 8-2 to improve to 20-2. Here’s a look at the Spartans’ previous nine teams, all coached by Jeff Parham, as this year’s is the 14th in 21 seasons to win at least 20 games:
Year Record
2018 20-2
2017 19-6
2016 28-2
2015 26-1
2014 23-6
2013 14-10
2012 24-3
2011 21-4
2010 21-5
2009 22-5
TOTALS 218-44
Notes: The Spartans’ best season since 1998 is 31-3 in 2007…The records in years they did not win 20, since 1998, were: 19-4, 18-7, 17-7, 16-10, 19-6, 14-10, 19-6.
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files.
HobbsDailyReport.com
With Jackson Brown going 4-for-5 with two RBIs to lead a 14-hit attack, South Caldwell High reached 20 wins again with an 8-2 baseball victory over host Hickory on Saturday afternoon.
The Spartans (20-2, 13-1) won another conference title, taking this year’s Northwestern 3A-4A crown, and they are the top seed for the league tournament that begins on Tuesday.
South Caldwell faces eighth-seeded West Caldwell (3-19, 2-12) on Tuesday in Hudson at 7 p.m. and will be going for its 10th straight victory.
Hickory — which had a chance to wrap up fourth place with a win — fell to 12-8 overall and 6-8 in conference games to tie Freedom and McDowell for fourth.
The Red Tornadoes dropped to No. 5 after the tiebreakers and open the tournament Tuesday at 5 p.m. at No. 4 Freedom (12-11, 6-8).
South Caldwell survived making three errors to reach 20 wins for the fourth time in five seasons and the 14th time in the 21 seasons.
Austin Reynor, Jarrett Pritchrd and Tyler Wike each had two hits for the Spartans. Pritchard and Wike each drove in a run.
South Caldwell starter Daniel Dye gained a win, going five innings. He gave up four hits, two runs (both earned) with one walk and nine strikeouts.
Brody Scarborough had two of Hickory’s five hits.
The Red Tornadoes made two errors, and Jackson Palmer took the loss. He worked three innings, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned), walking none and striking out four.
Bunker Hill 6, West Iredell 4
The Bears closed out their Northwestern Foothills 2A schedule with a home win on Saturday afternoon and won the conference title.
Bunker Hill ran its win streak to eight games, finishing 10-2 in the league and two games up on Hibriten and Fred T. Foard, who shared second place. Hibriten should get the No. 2 conference tournament seed via being 2-1 against Foard (won a Catawba Valley Easter Baseball Classic game).
The Bears’ victory was No. 451 for head coach Marty Curtis, now in his 35th season at Bunker Hill.
No other game details were available.
Bunker Hill will be the top seed for next week’s league tournament and have a first-round bye.
West Iredell (9-13, 5-7) tied East Burke and Patton for fourth place, and the No. 4 through No. 6 seeds must be determined for the conference tournament.
Patton had the worst record among the three teams tied re comparative records at 1-3 and will likely be the No. 6 seed.
In a head-to-head tie between East Burke and West Iredell, West Iredell would get the No. 4 seed because it swept East Burke.
UNOFFICIAL NORTHWESTERN FOOTHILLS 2A TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS
(dates, sites TBA)
First round
No. 1 Bunker Hill, bye
No. 5 E. Burke at No. 4 W. Iredell
No. 6 Patton at No. 3 Fred T. Foard
No. 7 Draughn at No. 2 Hibriten
West Caldwell 5, Hickory 4, 8 inn. (Friday)
The Warriors snapped a 11-game win streak, winning a Northwestern 3A-4A game at home behind a key hit in the eighth inning by Jordan Bowman and three home runs by Cy Smith.
Smith’s third home run tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Brody Scarborough had two hits and drove in two runs for Hickory.
West Caldwell is the No. 8 seed for the league tournament, opening it Tuesday at 7 p.m. at top-seeded South Caldwell.
Alexander Central 3, St. Stephens 1 (Friday)
The Cougars (17-7, 11-3) had only four hits in a Northwestern 3A-4A victory as they finished in second place and left the Indians (12-8, 8-6) in third place.
Josh Jacobs hit a home run and drove in two runs for Alexander Central, which grabbed a 2-0 lead with two runs in the first inning.
St. Stephens was limited to two hits by three Cougars pitchers – starter and winner Zach Hammer (5-2) and Bryson Hammer and Nate Moretz (second save) in relief.
Jordan Lavelle and Chance Benfield had the Indians’ hits.
Zach Hammer went four innings, giving up one hit, one run (earned) with three walks and five strikeouts. Bryson Hammer pitched 2 ½ innings without a hit, walking three and striking out four, and Moretz went two-thirds of an inning and gave up one hit and struck out one.
Maiden 6, Lincolnton 2 (Friday)
Jay Sipe went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Carlos Reynoso, Dylan Abernathy and Bain Sipe each drove in a run each, leading Maiden past the visiting Wolves in a South Fork 2A game.
Reynoso had two hits and also pitched the last inning to close it out, going one inning with one hit allowed, two walks and two strikeouts.
A six-inning effort gained Bryson Ledford a win for Maiden (5-15, 4-10), which finished seventh in the conference. He gave up six hits, two runs (both earned) with three walks and six strikeouts.
Mack Bowden was 3-for-3 with an RBI, Lane Hoover had two hits and Robbie Cowie drove in a run for Lincolnton (11-7, 9-5).
Maiden will not advance to next week’s South Fork 2A tournament, which will alter its tournament by dropping the last two teams in the standings (see posted story).
Lincolnton finishes third and will be the No. 3 tournament seed. The Wolves will face a to-be-determined No. 6 seed in the first round on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Bandys.
Freedom 1, West Caldwell 0, 5 inn. (Thursday)
Junior Lyle Holland pitched a no-hitter to lead the Patriots to a Northwestern 3A-4A victory in Morganton.
He walked none and struck out nine. The only baserunner for West Caldwell reached on an error in a game halted after five innings by rain.
SOFTBALL
Bunker Hill 7, West Iredell 5
The Bears held the visiting Warriors to four hits and erased an early two-run deficit to win a Northwestern Foothills 2A game on Saturday and finish in a three-way tie for second place with Draughn and Hibriten.
Winning pitcher Payton Bryant gave up three hits, walked two and struck out 11 for the Bears, 8-4 in the conference. She gave up only two earned runs.
West Iredell, up 2-0 in the first inning and 2-1 entering the third inning, fell behind when Bunker Hill scored three runs in the third inning.
The Warriors finished 4-8 in the league and in fifth place.
The conference tournament pairings have not yet been released but Draughn should be the No. 2 seed behind Fred T. Foard, leaving Bunker Hill and Hibriten tied for No. 3-No. 4 (that should come down to a draw in tie-breaking).
Draughn beat Foard in the regular season and Bunker Hill and Hibriten did not.
If the Bears are No. 3, they will be at home against No. 6 Patton. If they are No. 4, they will be at home against No. 5 West Iredell.
If Hibriten is the No. 3, it would be at home against No. 6 Patton and, if No. 4, would play host to No. 5 West Iredell.
Maiden 19, Lincolnton 0 (Friday)
The Blue Devils rolled past the visiting Wolves behind Maggie Sigmon, Grace Herman and Rachel Cook in a South Fork 2A game and remained in contention for the league title.
Maiden, 11-2 in the league, is a half-game behind North Lincoln (12-2 league) and has to complete a suspended game at Newton-Conover on Monday to finish its league schedule.
Newton-Conover leads the suspended game 2-0 in the first inning.
Sigmon, Herman and Cook each had two hits against Lincolnton with Cook driving in three runs and Sigmon and Abby West adding two RBIs.
The Wolves had one hit.
Maiden led 3-0 after an inning and 14-0 by the end of the second inning.
Maiden needs to beat Newton-Conover to share the South Fork 2A title, and it would get the No. 1 tournament seed because if swept North Lincoln.
The official tournament pairings won’t be released until Tuesday morning (see other posted story) and Maiden will be a site for two games that day as those are scheduled at the fields of the first-place and second-place teams.
Maiden will play a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday against the winner of a 4 p.m. game on its field on Tuesday.
Lincolnton lost all 14 of its conference games and won’t be in the six-team field for the conference tournament.
Alexander Central 15, St. Stephens 3, 5 inn. (Friday)
Chesney Millsaps pitched a four-hitter and she and Mattie Starnes each drove in three runs as the Cougars rolled to a Northwestern 3A-4A victory on the road.
Millsaps gave up three runs (two earned), walked two and struck out six.
Lauren Moser took the loss for the Indians, going five innings. She gave up 16 hits, 15 runs (14 earned) with five walks and one strikeout.
Julie Gast had three hits and two RBIs, Kelsea Dejarnette was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Ashley Seagle went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs for the Cougars.
Payton Layda, Katy Sherrill, Sophie Hainor and Kyra Stillwell each had a hit for St. Stephens, 2-12 in the league and finishing in eighth place.
Alexander Central led 3-2 after one inning but scored five runs in each of the next two innings for a 13-2 lead.
The Cougars (18-4, 12-2) finished one game back of league champion South Caldwell and they play No. 7 St. Stephens again on Monday at 5 p.m. in Taylorsville in the first round.