By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The baseball seasons will continue for Southern Alamance and Burlington Christian Academy after playoff victories.
Southern topped visiting West Carteret 10-6 in Friday night’s Class 3-A second round behind the pitching of Kaden Parker and Nathan McKean. McNeal struck out six batters in four innings.
Eli Gilley had three hits and Johnny Rojas had two hits for the third-seeded Patriots (18-6-1), who’ll be home again Tuesday night vs. No. 22 seed Triton (15-10) in the third round.
West Carteret finished with a 14-10 record.
- In Class 2-A, No. 22 seed Southeast Alamance’s season ended with a 6-0 loss at sixth-seeded South Lenoir on Friday night. That completed an 18-8 record for the Stallions, who were limited to three hits.
- In the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association, Cooper Kelly threw a two-hitter with nine strikeouts as Burlington Christian Academy defeated Harrells Christian Academy 9-1 in the Class 2-A state quarterfinals Saturday afternoon.
Kelly, who had three hits at the plate, and J.D. Mace both drove in two runs in the game at Eastern Guilford High School. The top-seeded Royals (21-1), who received a pair of byes, scored three first-inning runs. They’ll play again at Eastern Guilford on Tuesday in the semifinals against fifth-seeded Westchester Country Day School (9-11).
Harrells Christian (8-13) was in its third game of the week.
Softball
Delani Straughan pitched her second consecutive shutout as host Eastern Alamance defeated ninth-seeded Harnett Central 2-0 in the Class 3-A second round Friday night.
Eighth-seeded Eastern (19-7) visits top-seeded Southern Nash (23-0), which topped No. 17 seed Orange 6-4 in the second round, in Tuesday’s third round.
Straughan held Harnett Central (18-5) to three hits and two walks while striking out four. The Eagles scored both runs in the first inning on Olivia Foster’s single. Edie Stewart had a single and walked twice for Eastern.
- Western Alamance managed only one hit – a double by Addison Beal – in a 5-0 loss at second-seeded Scotland (25-1) in the second round.
Avery Stutts struck out 13 Western batters. Beal took the pitching loss for the No. 18 seed Warriors (12-11).
- No. 23 seed Southern Alamance’s season ended with a 17-7 loss at seventh-seeded Cape Fear in the second round. It matched the most runs allowed this season by the Patriots (12-15), who led 7-6 before the Colts tied the score in the bottom of second and went ahead with three third-inning runs.
- In Class 2-A, sixth-seeded South Lenoir dispatched No. 22 seed Southeast Alamance 13-6 in the second round Friday night.
The Stallions (12-12) led 5-0 going to the bottom of the third inning but couldn’t hang on. After going ahead 6-5, South Lenoir notched seven sixth-inning runs. Tatum Shelton had a home run and Katie Lloyd, Addison Reich and Brooke Hardister joined Shelton with two hits for Southeast.
- In Class 1-A, No. 10 seed Clover Garden was eliminated with a13-6 loss at seventh-seeded Chatham Central. The Grizzlies ended the season with a 12-6 record.
Boys’ tennis
Adam Boylston and Timothy McDowell of Western Alamance reached the Class 3-A state semifinals in doubles.
The Warriors dropped a 6-2, 6-3 semifinal decision to South Point’s James Dover and Rex Dover in Saturday morning’s semifinal at Burlington Tennis Center.
The Dover brothers defeated East Lincoln’s Carson Brown and Lawson Miller 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
Boylston/McDowell began the tournament with two victories Friday.
The duo outlasted Wilson Fike’s Collins Pearson and Zachary Hill by 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 and then dispatched Sohan Sagar and Bradley Swayne of Winston-Salem Atkins by 6-3, 6-1.
In singles, Western’s Luke Durham won in the first round by defeating Greenville Rose’s Ethan Tang 6-1, 6-0. Then in Friday’s quarterfinals, Hickory’s Graham Powers stopped Durham 7-6 (6), 6-4.
Alex Brown of Williams dropped a 6-1, 7-5 decision to First Flight’s Anthony Vucinovic in the first round.
Meanwhile, Fayetteville Sanford’s Drew Hedgecoe became the second four-time singles champion in North Carolina High School Athletic Association history by defeating Powers in the final.
