Tuesday Rewind: Myers Park, Charlotte Christian, Metrolina advance in baseball playoffs

By Steve Lyttle

Correspondent

Myers Park broke to a big early lead Tuesday night and advanced to the quarterfinals in the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s 4A baseball playoffs.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Christian’s late rally carried the Knights back into the championship series of the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association’s 4A baseball playoffs, where they will face Metrolina Christian this weekend for the state title.

Charlotte Christian will be seeking its third consecutive 4A state title.

Myers Park scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning and cruised past visiting Reagan 11-5 in its third-round game. The Mustangs will travel to T.C. Roberson in a Friday quarterfinal.

Owen Anderson and Thomas Bolt each drove in a pair of runs for Myers Park, which added to its big first inning by scoring two more times in the second.

The Mustangs improved to 22-4 on the season.

Knights advance in baseball, softball

Trailing 5-3, Charlotte Christian rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and rallied past visiting Rabun Gap 6-5 in the private schools’ 4A baseball semifinals.

The Knights (28-3), two-time defending state champions, will face Metrolina Christian in the best-of-three final series that begins Friday night. All of the championship series will be played at Charlotte Christian.

Knights’ reliever Ryan O’Rourke pitched hitless ball in the fifth and sixth innings, earning the victory. Johnny Joseph finished with a scoreless seventh.

Drew Beard had two hits and two runs, and D.J. Layton scored twice.

Metrolina Christian (19-6) advanced with a 12-2 rout of Durham Academy. The Warriors scored four times in the top of the second for a 6-0 lead, then added three in the fifth for an 11-0 bulge.

Meanwhile, defending 4A girls’ softball state champion Charlotte Christian trounced North Raleigh Christian 8-1 and moved into the best-of-three state finals series against Cannon School. The series, which will be played at Charlotte Christian, is a rematch of the 2021 finals, which the Knights won in three games.

Anna Hinde led the Knights (18-1) with three hits, including a pair of doubles. Campbell Thompson and Sydney Francois had RBI sacrifice flies in the second inning, giving Charlotte Christian a 3-1 lead that the Knights never relinquished.

Cannon School (14-7) advanced to the finals by beating Covenant Day 9-3. Winning pitcher Maddie Sturgill homered, and Sydney Rose tripled for the Cougars.

Soccer rematch set

Charlotte Latin will face Providence Day on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s 4A soccer title match. The Hawks (17-2) downed Charlotte Country Day 3-1 in double-overtime, while Providence Day edged past Ravenscroft 1-0.

Providence Day (17-2), the defending state champion, got a goal from Maggie Carabell, with Cameryn Sicard getting the assist.

Charlotte Latin scored twice in the second overtime, with Lucy Dempsey and Ella Smith getting the goals.

Providence Day won last year’s championship, beating Charlotte Latin 4-3. Saturday’s championship, set for noon at Forsyth Country Day, will be the last for longtime Latin coach Lee Horton. He is retiring at the end of this season.

Baseball

Cherryville 4, East Wilkes 3 (NCHSAA 1A): The Ironmen scored three times in the bottom of the seventh, with Trip Crisson’s two-run double ending the game.

Community School of Davidson 15, Lincoln Charter 9 (NCHSAA 2A): Sam Kelley’s home run highlighted a six-run second inning, which gave the Spartans an early 10-1 lead. Lincoln Charter was 2-0 against the Spartans in the regular season.

East Lincoln 4, Jesse Carson 2 (NCHSAA 3A): Isaac Armstrong pitched a complete-game victory, as the Mustangs (19-6) moved on. They’ll face fellow Western Foothills 3A foe St. Stephens in the quarterfinals.

South Rowan 8, East Rowan 3 (NCHSAA 3A): More than 1,100 fans packed South Rowan’s stadium, watching the top-seeded Raiders (25-4) beat their county rivals in a third-round game. South Rowan batted around and scored six times in the fourth inning.

SouthLake Christian 14, Asheville Christian 4 (NCISAA 3A): Seth Moon doubled and homered, as the Eagles bashed four home runs. They will face High Point Christian in the championship series.

T.C. Roberson 11, Marvin Ridge 5 (NCHSAA 4A): The Mavericks (18-10) fell behind early and fell in a third-round game.

Union Academy 10, Swain County 9 (NCHSAA 1A): The Cardinals rallied from a 6-2 deficit with a six-run fifth-inning rally.

Softball

Alexander Central 4, Providence 1 (NCHSAA 4A): The top-seeded Cougars won at home, as Faith Carrigan pitched a three-hitter and struck out 11. Maddy Mateo homered for Providence.

Anson County 5, Bandys 4 (9 innings) (NCHSAA 2A): Camryn Martin went 4-for-6, driving in three runs for the Bearcats,

Crest 3, North Davidson 1 (NCHSAA 3A): The second-seeded Chargers (24-2) won behind Aidan Ledbetter’s two-hitter.

East Lincoln 2, Hibriten 1 (NCHSAA 3A): Madison Currence had two hits and an RBI, as the top-seeded Mustangs remained unbeaten (24-0).

South Mecklenburg 2, Hickory Ridge 1 (NCHSAA 4A): The Sabres (19-1) scored once in the bottom of the sixth for the go-ahead run. They will host Marvin Ridge in the Friday quarterfinals.

Boys’ lacrosse

Lake Norman Charter 18, Bishop McGuinness (NCHSAA 1A/2A/3A): The Knights will face First Flight in Saturday’s state finals.

Weddington 16, Hough 15, OT (NCHSAA 4A): The Warriors rallied from a 14-12 deficit in the closing minutes of regulation, forcing overtime. They will face Middle Creek in the state championship game Saturday.

Girls’ lacrosse

Charlotte Catholic 17, Northwest Guilford 8 (NCHSAA): The Cougars (21-3) moved into the state finals, and match with Cardinal Gibbons.

Charlotte Latin 18, Durham Academy 7 (NCISAA Division 1): The Hawks got six goals and two assists from Evie McMahan and four goals from Crawford Fisher in their semifinal victory. They will face Charlotte Country Day in Saturday’s finals. It is a rematch of a title game that Latin won last year.

Boys’ tennis

Charlotte Country Day 5, Durham Academy 1 (NCISAA Division 1): Noah McDonald (No. 1) and Nathan Jackson (No. 2) won their singles matches, then teamed to win No. 1 doubles.

Country Day, Gaston Day win golf titles

Charlotte Country Day and Gaston Day won N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association state golf championships Monday, and Gaston Day’s Seamus Bogan captured an individual state title.

The private schools’ state tournaments were played at Bryan Park Golf Club in Browns Summit, near Greensboro.

Charlotte Country Day took the 4A title with a team score of 302, 14 over par. Charlotte Latin finished two strokes behind, followed by Ravenscroft (305), Carmel Christian (317) and Christ School (320).

The 4A medalist was Cary Academy’s Bryan Fang, who shot a 1-under 71. The top Charlotte-area golfer was Country Day senior Max Jacobson, who tied for fifth with a 74. Other area golfers in the top 10 were Country Day’s Hudson Schulze (74) and Charlie O’Shea (75), and Charlotte Latin’s Davis Sayman (74).

Charlotte Country Day’s other scorer was William Grasty (79).

In 2A, where only the top three scores make up the team total, Gaston Day had a 10-over 226, with Caldwell Academy and O’Neal School tied for second at 230.

Bogan, a sophomore, tied for the best score all day, shooting a 2-under 70. Davidson Day’s Hunter Justice was second at 71. Other Gaston Day scorers were Jack D’Amore (75) and Max Ginther (81).

St. David’s School won the 3A team title, and Ridgecroft School won in 1A. There were no Charlotte-area teams or individuals among the leaders in those classes.

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All-Conference Lacrosse

Here is the Southeastern/SoMECK conference girls team

Southeastern/So Meck Conference Player of the Year for 2022: Kate Draddy #3, Senior, Midfielid, Charlotte Catholic

Southeastern/So Meck Conference Coach of the Year for 2022: Dee Bier, Charlotte Catholic

High School Football: East-West Rosters released

Here are the rosters for the East-West football all-star game to be played in Greensboro July 13. The game annually brings together some of the state’s top public school seniors for a final game of their careers.