Table Rock, Liberty softball enjoy 2-0 weeks
Lady Knights clinch FAC regular-season title
Table Rock's Megan Robinson prepares to fire a pitch to the plate in a file photo from April 9.
Two of Burke County’s middle school softball teams won twice this week, with Table Rock finishing the regular season with an 8-2 record in Foothills Athletic Conference contests and Liberty improving to 9-0 as it secured a FAC regular-season title with one game still to play.
The Lady Falcons started the week with a 16-1 home win over Heritage on Monday before knocking off East McDowell by a 14-3 final on Wednesday in Marion, while the Lady Knights nabbed a 12-0 victory over East McDowell on Monday in Morganton before defeating host East Burke by a 14-2 score on Thursday.
During Monday’s game, Table Rock was led by three hits each from Megan Robinson (five RBIs, two SB) and Lily Thompson, with Parker Thomas adding two hits. Robinson was also the winning pitcher thanks to four innings of one-run, four-hit ball during which she had five strikeouts and two walks.
On Thursday, the Lady Falcons got two hits and four RBIs from Hallie Ollis and a three-run home run from Robinson, who also earned the save in relief of starter Harper Best (3 IP, ER, H, 4 K, 2 BB).
Abigail Roper (run), Emmalin Clark, Marleigh Gidney, and Lainey Sigmon registered one hit apiece on Monday for the Lady Eagles, who also lost by a 5-4 score at EB on Wednesday and by a 12-1 final at the hands of visiting East McDowell on Thursday to fall to 1-8 on the season. Heritage received three hits from Kendalyn Eckard, two each from Gidney (run), Lainey Sigmon (run), Ambria Baker (run), and Keagan Sigmon (RBI), and one from Ansley Compton (run) against the Lady Raiders, who didn’t report any individual statistics from the game (stats were also unavailable from Thursday’s East McDowell-Heritage game).
As for Liberty, it got a home run, a double, three RBIs, and two runs from Lila Hudson on Monday, with Piper Ellis (double, single, three RBIs, run) and Ava Hensley (two singles, RBI, two runs) also notching two hits apiece. Emma Fish (single, RBI, run), Kayden Maines (double, two runs), Desirae Smith (RBI, run), Finley Duvall (two runs), and Whitley Strange (run) were among the other offensive contributors for the Lady Knights, with Strange also allowing one hit and one walk while striking out 11 in a complete-game pitching effort.
Liberty then pounded out 18 hits against EB (3-6), with Ellis tallying five hits, three RBIs, and a run to go with two hits each from Duvall (RBI, two runs), Hensley (RBI, run), Fish (two RBIs, two runs), and Strange (two runs) and one hit apiece from Smith (three RBIs), Serenity Waycaster (RBI, two runs), Maines (RBI, run), Malorie Messer (run), and Paige Hennessee. In addition, Lyrikah Bristol had an RBI, Hudson and Jenna Kanipe scored one run apiece, and Strange was the winning pitcher following four innings of scoreless, one-hit ball during which she struck out five and walked one.
BASEBALL
EB, Heritage win twice apiece
East Burke and Heritage both won two games this week, upping their records to 8-3 and 5-6, respectively.
The Raiders collected a 23-0 road win over Walter Johnson on Monday and a 12-2 home victory over Heritage on Wednesday before falling by a 6-3 final at the hands of Liberty (3-8) on Thursday in Icard. Meanwhile, the Eagles beat Table Rock by a 10-4 score on Monday in Morganton prior to Wednesday’s loss and Thursday’s 13-3 home win over East McDowell.
EB didn’t report any individual stats from Monday’s victory or Thursday’s loss, while head coach Mitchell McGuire pointed out that Tripp Hullette, Greyson Roberts, Hank Lowman, and Rhyan Helton all had “big hits throughout the game” on Wednesday, when pitcher Blade Carson struck out nine in five innings en route to earning the win.
Heritage received two hits and three RBIs from Ian Meadows on Monday, and Meadows also struck out four in five innings as he earned the win on the mound. Nolan Russ added a hit and three walks at the plate, with Corban Mull, Asher Mishler, Collin Clary, and Anderson Clark all recording RBIs.
The Eagles then got two hits from Russ and a solo homer from Meadows on Wednesday. They also received a triple, a double, a single, and two RBIs from Meadows on Thursday, when Mishler and Ethan Cline also had three hits and two RBIs apiece, Noah Clark had one hit and two RBIs, and Clary had one hit, two RBIs, and a diving catch to end the game.
The winning pitcher for Heritage against East McDowell was Currie White (5 IP, 3 K), who also had one hit on offense.
In other action this week, Liberty lost by an 11-9 final against East McDowell on Monday at home before nabbing the aforementioned win over EB. During the loss to the Trojans, the Knights received two hits and an RBI from Hank Ledford, one hit each from Edward Stoudenmire (two RBIs, run), Matthew Piercy (RBI, three runs), Marshall Keathley (RBI, run), Judson Wilson (RBI), Kason Kidd (RBI), and Cason Scott (two runs), and a run from AJ Duckworth.
And in Thursday’s victory, Liberty totaled 11 hits — three from Brody Lorenzo (RBI, run), two apiece from Keathley (RBI, run) and Duckworth (run), and one each from Piercy (two RBIs), Hunter Bowman (RBI), Wilson (run), and Stoudenmire (run) — while Wilson earned the win on the mound thanks to 6 1/3 innings of scoreless, seven-hit ball with three strikeouts, two walks, and a hit batsman. Jack Jandrew also scored a run for the Knights.
Finally, Table Rock (7-5) lost by a 4-2 score at East McDowell on Wednesday following Monday’s defeat — Easton Tollison hit a pair of solo homers and Cade Pritchard also had two hits against Heritage, while the Falcons were led by two hits including another solo homer from Tollison and an RBI from Jaxxon Williams against the Trojans — and Walter Johnson (0-12) completed the year with the loss to EB and a 13-1 defeat at West McDowell on Wednesday. No further details were available from either of the Yellow Jackets’ contests.
TRACK AND FIELD
TR tops East McDowell
Table Rock was a winner over East McDowell in a track and field meet that was held on Tuesday at McDowell High School (no information was available from the other FAC meet that took place the same day at East Burke), with the Table Rock boys outscoring the Trojans 87-45 and the Lady Falcons winning by a 97-46 margin.
Individual winners for the Falcons on the boys side included Zenen Sigmon in the eighth grade 800 meters (2:32.38) and the 110-meter hurdles (17.38), Kaycen Powell in the sixth grade 100 meters (13.06), Xander Summers in the seventh grade 100 meters (12.36), Jayden Douglas in the 400 meters (1:05.71), Jameson Smith in the sixth/seventh grade 800 meters (2:30.70), Xay Tate in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches), and the 4x200-meter (1:50.48) and 4x400-meter (4:34.65) relay teams.
And the Table Rock girls tallied the following victories: Alaysia Mosley in the seventh grade 100 meters (13.97) and the long jump (14.25), Naveah Hawkins in the eighth grade 100 meters (14.01) and the 400 meters (1:13.99), Jayla Smith in the high jump (4 feet, 2 inches) and the triple jump (27 feet, 2.5 inches), Ava Howell in the sixth grade 100 meters (14.41), Kylee Ventura in the sixth/seventh grade 800 meters (3:07.51), Elizabeth Dennis in the shot put (26 feet, 3 inches), Allie Grady in the discus throw (60 feet, 10 inches), and the 4x200-meter (2:04.92) and 4x400-meter (5:33.78) relay teams.
Josh McKinney can be reached at 828-445-8595 or josh@thepaper.media.
