HobbsDailyReport.com
MORGANTON – No. 2 meet No. 1. Again.
The top two seeds in the Northwestern 3A-4A softball tournament both won Wednesday in the semifinals and will play for the title on Friday at 6 p.m. at Catawba Meadows.
In the first semifinal on Wednesday, top-seeded South Caldwell smacked No. 5 St. Stephens 13-3 in five innings before No. 2 Fred T. Foard outslugged No. 3 Hibriten 19-12.
South Caldwell, the regular season champion in the league, is 18-6 and Foard, which finished second, is 14-6.
They’ll meet for the third time this season, and they split in the regular season – South Caldwell won at home 7-4 and Foard won in Newton 4-1.
The outcome Friday won’t change the seeding process into the state tournaments. The Spartans are 4A and won the regular season title, while Foard is 3A and had the best record among those 3As (11-3) during the league race.
South Caldwell beat St. Stephens three times this season; the other two were 4-3 in eight innings in Hickory and 12-2 in Hudson.
Foard and Hibriten had split in the regular season, the Tigers winning 10-1 on the road and Hibriten winning 14-8 at Foard.