STANLY BASEBALL: South pulls off upset, others advance in state playoffs
Published 9:40 pm Wednesday, May 11, 2022
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Four Stanly baseball teams opened play Tuesday in the first round of the NCHSAA state playoffs. One team got a big win on the road while another advanced with a home win.
1A Baseball
The Bulls, seeded No. 20, traveled into the mountains to take on No. 13 Hayesville and upset the Jackets 3-1.
Chance Hunt went the distance on the mound for South (8-14) while “timely hits and solid defense” helped lead to the win, according to head coach Terry Tucker.
South will head back to the mountains to face another Smoky Mountain Conference opponent in No. 4 Swain County (15-3) Thursday night. The Maroon Devils advanced with a 11-1 home win over No. 29 Hiwassee Dam. (Sports Editor’s Note: The previous paragraph was updated to reflect a schedule change.)
In other games, No. 29 Gray Stone Day’s season ended with an 14-1 road loss at No. 12 Christ the King. The Knights finished the season 6-12 overall.
2A Baseball
The number-two seeded North Stanly Comets opened the playoffs Tuesday with a wild offensive game against No. 31 Bunker Hill. The Comets won 10-7.
Nic Melton earned the win for the Comets (22-2), allowing three runs while striking out nine in five innings. He was 3-for-3 at the plate.
Clay Hatley was 3-for-4 for North with an RBI, while Trey Gibson was 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs. Hayden Furr was a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs, while Chance Blake added two hits and drove in two runs. Jackson Lisk added two hits for North and Luke Shaver added an RBI.
North will host the No. 14 seeded Community School of Davidson (14-8) Thursday night at 6:30. The Spartans advanced with a 9-6 win over No. 19 Chase. (Sports Editor’s Note: The previous paragraph was updated to reflect a schedule change.)
West Stanly faced a long-time conference and geographical opponent in Mount Pleasant in the opening round of the state playoffs Tuesday.
The No. 8 seeded Colts fell to the 25th-seeded Tigers in a close 3-2 game.
Mount Pleasant (11-10) had two hits in the game and took advantage of four West errors, including an error in the top of the fourth. The Tigers took a two-run lead on a one-out double from Broc Overcash.
Jordon Hart drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth, but the Tigers answered with a run in the top of the sixth with an error and a Jack Pruitt RBI double.
Charlie Carpenter narrowed the gap to one run in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out RBI single.
Carpenter took the loss on the mound for West (20-7), allowing one earned run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
West finished the season with 20 wins for the third full season in a row, not counting last year’s shortened season and the 2020 season ended by the COVID-19 pandemic.