By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Taylor Apple threw a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts and no walks as third-seeded Western Alamance blanked visiting West Carteret 5-0 in Friday night’s second round in the Class 3-A state playoffs for softball.
At the plate, Apple tripled and drove in two runs. Payton Rainey joined Apple with two hits. Western scored two runs in the first and two more in the third.
Next for the Warriors (18-3) is Tuesday’s home game vs. No. 22 seed Erwin Triton (17-10).
No. 19 seed West Carteret finished with a 12-11 record.
- Defending state softball champion Eastern Alamance lost 3-1 at second-seeded Scotland County in Friday night’s second round in Class 3-A
No. 15 seed Eastern (13-9) trailed 2-0 when it scored its lone run in the fourth inning on Kayden Manning’s single. Rebecca Alston, who had two hits, scored the run. Aryanna Parker pitched a complete game for the Eagles.
Scotland County is 19-3.
Class 4-A
At Mt. Hermon, No. 15 seed Topsail upset second-seeded Southern Alamance 5-2 in Friday night’s second-round game.
That snapped Southern’s 13-game winning streak. The Patriots’ season ended with a 21-4 record.
Topsail (13-6) broke a tie with three runs in the top of the seventh inning.
BASEBALL
At Rolesville, Southern Alamance toppled host Rolesville 11-1 behind Braxton Cain’s pitching in a Class 4-A second-round game reduced to five innings by the mercy rule Friday.
The No. 25 seed Patriots (15-10) scored four runs in the third, two in the fourth and five in the fifth for their second road victory of the week.
Southern meets either top-seeded New Hanover or Durham Jordan on the road Tuesday.
Class 3-A
At Rocky Mount, fifth-seeded Northern Nash defeated No. 21 seed Williams 10-7 in the second round Friday night.
The Bulldogs (17-11) scored four first-inning runs, but didn’t cross the plate again until posting three runs in the top of the seventh.
North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association
In the Class 2-A state playoffs, Zachary Cimino and Julian Arreola each homered twice as The Burlington School blew out Village Christian 13-3 in a second-round game that ended by the mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth inning Thursday at Davidson Park.
Arreola hit a grand slam and the game-ending solo homer to click in the 10-run mercy rule. Arreola and Cimino hit back-to-back homers in the second inning. Davis Phillips, C.J. Powell and Jason Johnson also homered for the Spartans (9-9).
“We got some balls in the air,” TBS coach Chad Holland said. “The wind blew out a little bit, and that’s usually not the case here. … You’d hate to lose when you hit seven out.”
Cooper Kelly and Cody Mahaffey pitched for the Spartans.
[Story continues below photo.]
TBS, which received a first-round bye, is the reigning Class 2-A state champion. Next is Saturday afternoon’s game at Rocky Mount Academy.
- Carolina Day School ended host Burlington Christian Academy’s season with a 9-0 victory Thursday at Davidson Park.
Carolina Day School (17-6) made numerous strong fielding plays. Lofton Gonzales and JD Mace each had a single for the only two hits for BCA (10-5), which fell behind 4-0 in the first inning.
