Four high school baseball teams, three softball teams still alive in playoffs entering this week

As the playoffs continue for baseball and softball this week, four baseball teams and three softball teams were still chasing their dreams when the week began.

Trinity in 3-A and Randleman, Uwharrie Charter and Southwestern Randolph in 4-A all had third-round baseball games scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, and Randleman and Southwestern Randolph in 4-A and Providence Grove in 3-A in softball on Tuesday, May 12.

Winners in any of those games moved on to fourth-round games scheduled for later this week. See the early-round results and schedules in today’s Schedule listing on page 2B in the printed version of Randolph Hub.

Also among the highlights this week, a former Providence Grove softball player has set a record for home runs at Appalachian State, and one of her fellow PGHS teammates has earned her third straight All-ACC selection at Virginia Tech.

Let’s get into the week’s results.

Baseball 

■ Chance Holdaway had three hits, including a double, and three RBIs while allowing one earned run with six strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings as No. 12 Eastern Randolph drubbed No. 23 Northeastern 12-2 in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. Cade McCallum pitched 2 1/3 innings of one-hit relief with four strikeouts. Carlos Cordero had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI. Miles Cox had two hits and an RBI.

■ Andrew Thomas pitched a six-inning one-hitter with 12 strikeouts in No. 13 Providence Grove’s 10-0 opening playoff win over No. 20 Bartlett Yancey. Collin Duvall had three hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs. Jacob Flinchum had a single, double and an RBI. Grant Underwood had a two-run double.

■ Reid Sudduth had three hits and an RBI in No. 17 Asheboro’s 12-8 loss to No. 16 Scotland in the first round of the 6-A state playoffs. Justin Guerrero and Grayson Norman each had a two-run single. Asheboro ended the season with a 13-13 record.

■ Walker Parrish delivered a walk-off single as Trinity rallied for a 5-4 win over Chase in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Parrish’s hit drove in Peyton Williams, who had tripled. Williams had three hits and  an RBI. Brody Little had two hits and two RBIs. Indiana Hill and Parrish had two hits. Lincoln Coble scattered 10 hits, striking out four, in a complete-game effort.

■ Bryson Marley took a no-hitter into the sixth inning but Princeton prevailed 1-0 over Eastern Randolph in the second round of the 3-A state playoffs. Marley allowed one hit and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings. Cade McCallum, Isaiah Batchelor, Cooper Smith and Marley had hits for the Wildcats.

■ Caden Waugh and Grant Underwood had RBI singles but Providence Grove’s season ended with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Whiteville in the second round of the 3-A state playoffs. Trevor Kirkman allowed three hits and an earned run with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings as the Patriots took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. 

■ Ty McCauley had a single, double and three RBIs as Uwharrie Charter walloped West Craven 20-5 in the second round of the 3-A state playoffs. Levi Mitchell had two doubles and an RBI. Brody Engle had two hits, including a single, and an RBI. Andyn Wright had an RBI single. Jake Hunter struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings.

■ Carson Coltrane’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted Southwestern Randolph to a 1-0 win over Nash Central in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Logan Weidman pitched a four-hitter with five strikeouts. 

■ Tate Andrews had two hits, three RBIs and pitched a scoreless fifth inning as Randleman pounded Southwest Onslow 13-0 in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Jackson Hill smashed a two-run homer while Ashton Poe had two hits and two RBIs. Kyle Dillow had two hits and an RBI. Jake Riddle had an RBI single. John Kirkpatrick pitched four scoreless innings with five strikeouts.

Softball 

■ Campbell Ziemba pitched a three-inning perfect game with eight strikeouts and had a two-run single as No. 9 Providence Grove routed No. 24 Louisburg 17-0 in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. Cailyn York was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs. Callie Lambert smashed a two-run homer while finishing with two hits and three RBIs. Adi Johnson had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Ruby Caudle and Carly Lambert both had two hits and two RBIs. Lara Wiseman had two hits and an RBI. 

■ Emory Johnson smashed a three-run homer, the first of her career, as No. 12 Uwharrie Charter overwhelmed No. 21 Red Springs 20-1 in the first round of the 4-A state playoffs. Paityn Williams had three hits and pitched a three-inning three-hitter with three strikeouts. Payton Coburn and Jayla Hurley both had three hits, including a double. 

■ Shellee Culler had No. 20 Asheboro’s 16-0 loss to No. 13 T.C. Roberson in the first round of the 6-A state playoffs. The Blue Comets ended their season with an 8-14 record.

■ Adie Beck had an RBI grounder in No. 23 Eastern Randolph’s 11-1 loss to No. 12 Northwood in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. 

■ Lylah Gower had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs as No. 17 Wheatmore held off No. 16 Mountain Heritage 7-5 in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. It was the program’s first state playoff win since 2015. Emma Gower had two hits and an RBI. Emma Carter also had two hits. Makenna Lawrence had an RBI single. Adalyn Boles hurled a seven-hitter with one earned run.

■ Wiseman had three hits, including a bases-loaded triple, and four RBIs in Providence Grove’s 16-4 romp over Pender in the second round of the 3-A state playoffs. Johnson had three hits, including a two-run homer. Carly Lambert also had three hits, including a double. Caudle had a single, double and two RBIs. Ziemba had a single, double and RBI. Liz Shoe had two hits and two RBIs. Callie Lambert had a two-run single. Ziemba pitched a six-inning nine-hitter with 13 strikeouts.

■ Adalyn Boles had two hits and an RBI in Wheatmore’s 8-6 loss to West top seed West Lincoln in the second round of the 3-A state playoffs. Lylah Gower also had two hits. Kylie Hemric had an RBI single.

■ Katelyn West had two hits, including a double, and four RBIs as Southwestern Randolph beat North Lenoir 9-3 in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Maddie Strider had a three-run triple and Alyssa Harris had two hits. Ryleigh Hineline had an RBI single. West pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and striking out five.

■ Julia Nelson had an RBI double and Tori Dixon singled in a run in Uwharrie Charter’s 12-4 loss to Bunn in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Paityn Williams and Meghan Peters both had two hits, including a double.

■ Kinzie Ivey fired a five-inning one-hitter with 13 strikeouts while getting two doubles at the plate as Randleman drubbed Eastern Wayne 11-0 in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Kaylee Phillips had a two-run triple while Olivia Ashby, Elsie Prince and Ella Rogers had RBI singles.

Girls Soccer 

■ Jaira Arellano had a huge game with six goals in Asheboro’s 8-0 win over Northeast Guilford. Laurel Kingston and Sydney Alston got the other goals. Alston’s goal was the first of her career; she is a senior. Gigi Flores had four assists while Alexis Bautista, Marlene Garcia, Abeni Hernandez and Arellano had one apiece. Crystal Castaneda made four saves.

■ Flores scored three goals and Arellano tallied two as Asheboro dominated Southern Guilford 9-0. Chloe Chanmaly, Penny Smith, Hernandez and Bautista got the other goals. Grace Bigelow had two assists while Eva Vuncannon, Sofia Valencia, Sydney Alston, Chanmaly and Flores both had one. Castaneda made two saves.

Boys Golf

■ Asheboro junior Lee Hooker shot an 83 and finished in a tie for 11th place in the 6-A Central Regional at Chapel Hill Country Club. The Blue Comets’ Brayden Davis shot 84. Asheboro finished sixth as a team.

■ Uwharrie Charter’s Andrew Stover, Evan Morin and Coen Branson all shot 83 in the 4-A Central Regional at Asheboro Country Club. Levi Dalke of Southwestern Randolph had an 87.

■ Eastern Randolph’s Tyler Gee shot an 84 to finish in a tie for 14th in the 3-A Central Regional at Seven Lakes Golf Club. The Wildcats’ Emmitt Frye had and 85. Wheatmore’s Avery Ivey shot an 88 and Providence Grove’s Ethan Porritt had an 89.

College Softball 

■ Former Providence Grove star Makayla McClain was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team for the second straight year after a record-setting season for Appalachian State. McClain smashed her 18th home run of the season on April 2 to set a new ASU single-season record. For the season, she batted .391 with 46 RBIs.

■ Another former Providence Grove standout, Emma Mazzarone, made an All-ACC team for the third year in a row. Playing for Virginia Tech, Mazzarone is 16-4 with a 2.93 earned run average and 161 strikeouts in 124 1/3 innings. As a hitter, she’s batting .319 with 3 home runs and 12 RBIs.

College Men’s Soccer 

■ Former Asheboro star Cameron Letterlough announced he is transferring from Chowan to North Carolina State following an outstanding season. Letterlough had 15 goals, including 7-for-7 on penalty kicks as a freshman at Chowan, a Division II school.

Track

Asheboro High School had three track athletes win Regional titles on Saturday, May 9, in the 6-A 

Regional meet held in Asheboro on the South Asheboro Middle School track.

Jayla Showers won the girls 100 meter run while Aaron Tyson finished first in both the boys pole vault and high jump and Juan Pablo Munoz captured the boys discus title.

But those weren’t the only Regional winners in the county.

■ In the 4-A Regionals, Randleman’s Jazai Cassady won the boys triple jump and Izaiah Troxler won the boys shot put. At the same meet, Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Brennan Thomas won the girls shot put.

■ At the 3-A Regionals, Eastern Randolph’s Mirianna Corea captured both the girls discus and shot put and Roxanne Davis won the girls high jump.

■ Also at the 3-A Regionals, Providence Grove’s Lyndsay Browder won the girls 300-meter hurdles and Laurel Bernhardt captured the girls 1600 meter run, while Trinity’s Kayla Franklin won the girls triple jump title.

The state meets for each classifications are being held this week at NC A&T State University on varying days: 2-A and 4-A on Wednesday, 1-A and 3-A on Thursday, 5-A and 7-A on Friday and 6-A and 8-A on Saturday.