For the second time in the last three games, the Delmarva Shorebirds prevailed in extra innings against the Hickory Crawdads, taking Thursday's game by the final score of 3-2 in 10 frames. The Crawdads have won four of their last six games, with the two extra innings losses to Delmarva as the only losses during that stretch. The Crawdads got off to a powerful start, as Jake Kaase led off the game with a solo home run. Two outs later, Mike Bianucci followed suit, belting a solo shot over the right field wall to tie Doug Hogan for the team lead with seven homers, and put Hickory in a 2-0 lead after just one inning. After six shutout innings worked by lefty Yoon-Heen Nam, Delmarva got on the board with a two-out RBI single against righty Tyler Tufts in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the Crawdads lead in half, 2-1. Delmarva tallied again to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, on another on an RBI single. With the 2-2 tie still intact heading into the bottom of the 10th inning, righty Matt Nevarez took over on the mound for the Crawdads. Delmarva welcomed Nevarez to the game with back-to-back singles, followed by a squeeze bunt to the right side of the plate, scoring the runner from third to win the game. Nevarez charged off the mound to field the bunt and scooped the ball to Doug Hogan covering the plate, but it was just a touch late. Nevarez was tagged with the loss, and the Dads fall to 24-23, and drop to 3 and a half games back in the north divsion. The Crawdads conclude their eight-game road trip with a game against the Delmarva Shorebirds Friday evening and return to LP Frans Stadium to host Hagerstown Saturday through Tuesday. The ZOOperstars will be at the ballpark Saturday, always a fun show for fans of all ages. Lees-McRae's Bobcat family will also be enjoying a special night at the stadium and you are invited to join them. Call Frank O'Hagan at 800-280-4LMC for more information.
May 2009 Archives
Lees-McRae women's soccer head coach Renee Lopez has announced the signing of 11 new players to her 2009 Lady Bobcat team. Seven of them are from North Carolina, including Sabrina Ashley from just off the mountain in Wilkesboro. Ashley played for Wilkes Central High School and club soccer with High Country Soccer Association. Others who have signed include Mary Dorn, a midfielder and defender from Shallotte and a transfer from Appalachian; Mary Biehner, a goalkeeper from Wilmington; Lauren Griffin, a center back from Kernersville; Erica Mason, a center back and outside midfielder from Denver, N.C.; Nicole Rogers, a goalkeeper and forward from Durham; and Monica Young, a defender from Supply, N.C. The eleven signees will join 18 returning players, 10 starters, and two Lady Bobcats who will return after season-ending injuries last year. Also, Senior Abby White rejoins the team after taking last season off to concentrate on an internship. The Lady Bobcat's season will begin August 15th with an exhibition match against Lenoir-Rhyne.
Nine ASU track and field athletes head to Greensboro, N.C. to compete at the 2009 NCAA East Regional. Regional competition begins Friday and concludes Saturday at the Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T. On the women's side, six Apps will compete at a chance to go to the NCAA National Championships. Sophomore Rebecca Hazeltine will be making her first trip to regionals for the high jump, Senior Jen Povick will be competing for the first time in her career in the 800m run, Junior Whitney Smyre and senior Shea Snow will making appearances as well, with Smyre set to compete in the hammer throw and Snow the pole vault. Lily Tallent will be vying for a spot at nationals in three events, as the senior will be competing in the shot put, javelin and discus, she captured SoCon crown's in all three events. Rounding out the women's side, junior Danielle Thorpe will compete in the triple jump. Thorpe currently ranks 29th in the nation in the event. Three Mountaineer men will be making the trip to Greensboro. Sophomores Jerod Gardner and Tim Daly both are competing in throwing events, Gardner in the shot put and Daly in the hammer. Senior Mark Sturgis will be competing at regionals in the triple jump for the third time in his career. Best of luck to the Mountaineers in Greensboro, we'll have results on Monday night.
ASU first baseman David Towarnicky became the second academic All-American in Mountaineer history on Tuesday when he earned third-team ESPN The Magazine academic All-America recognition from the College Sports Information Directors of America. The junior from New Bern, N.C., carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average as a double-major in banking and finance and risk insurance management with a minor in international business. Towarnicky hit .328 with 12 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 35 RBI as Appalachian's everyday clean-up batter this season. He went 5-for-8 with three RBIs in the three games that ASU played in the SoCon tournament last week, and picked up all tournament honors for his performance. The southpaw also sported one of the nation's top gloves at first base this year, committing only three errors in 486 chances in the field. Towarnicky is the first ASU baseball player to receive academic All-America recognition since Jamie Harris in 1984. He's just the ninth academic All-American in ASU athletics history, but the third in the past four years and the fourth this decade.
The App State men have won the Southern Conference Commissioner's Cup. ASU claimed the Commissioner's Cup title for the fourth consecutive season and the 29th time overall in the past 32 years, and the 16th win in the last 17 years. The Mountaineers claimed regular season championships in three of the 10 SoCon-sponsored men's sports in 2008-09, and took second place in two other sports. ASU was the league champion in football, cross country and indoor track and field. In total, Appalachian posted 87.5 points in the league's annual all-sports competition, finishing 17 points ahead of the second-place school, Chattanooga. Furman came in third in the points totals. College of Charleston has won the Germann Cup awarded to womens sports. Chattanooga was second and Samford third. The Commissioner's and Germann Cups are awarded annually to the Southern Conference schools fielding the league's best all-around men's and women's sports programs. Schools earn points based upon its regular season finish, with two bonus points going to the team that wins the conference tournament.
Reigning National Champion Richmond landed the top spot garnering 59 first place votes in the sixth annual preseason AnyGivenSaturday.com (AGS) FCS football poll. The AGS Poll has been the first released national poll each year since it's inception in 2004. Appalachian is second in the poll, followed by Montana, Villanova, Northern Iowa, James Madison, Southern Illinois, New Hampshire, Weber State, and Elon. The Mountaineers recieved 20 first place votes, Richmond got 59. Other SoCon teams that made the top 25 are Wofford at 11, Furman at 22, and Georgia Southern at 24.
Lees-McRae Athletic Director Ried Estus has announced that Luke Winger will have the interim tag removed will be the fulltime head cycling coach for the Bobcat cycling program. Winger is a 2007 graduate of Lees-McRae and four-year member of the Bobcats cycling team. Winger, a Cat 1 Road and Cat 1 Track cyclist, brings 15 years of racing experience to the Bobcat program. He was part of the team's first Division I National Cyclocross Championship title in 2006 and was selected as the team's MVP. Winger graduated from Lees-McRae with a Physical Education Degree and a minor in Performing Arts Studies and currently also works as the Assistant Director of Admissions for the college.
Lees-McRae Assistant volleyball coach Megan Wargo has accepted the assistant coaching position for women's volleyball at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri after spending four seasons as assistant of the Bobcat men's and women's volleyball programs. Lees-McRae has been to the NCAA women's tournament three times with Wargo serving as the program's assistant and won three straight Conference Carolinas tournament championships. The Bobcat women's program has compiled a 101-46 record during her four-year tenure at the program, while Wargo helped guide an upstart men's program to a 13-4 record in 2006 and a 19-5 record in 2009. Wargo also has taken on a major role with Gold Medal Squared, a premier provider of volleyball camps and coaching clinics throughout the United States and Canada. Truman State is in the NCAA Division II Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, MIAA.
Relief pitcher Zach Quate headlined three ASU baseball players that received all-Southern Conference recognition from the league's coaches Monday. Joining first-team honoree Quate are second-team selections Wes Hobson and center fielder Rand Smith. The SoCon Media list also includes all of the aforementioned Mountaineers, plus Isaac Harrow is included on their second team list. Harrow just missed the coaches list in the voting. Winners of 26 of its last 31 games, sixth-seeded Appalachian (32-19) opens SoCon Tournament action on Wednesday when it squares off with No. 3-seeded The Citadel at 1 p.m. at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.
Watauga Pioneer golfer Linzy Cook has signed on to play golf at Montreat College. Cook was named All-Northwestern Conference her sophomore, junior and senior seasons, and made the regional and state tournaments all three years. She finished third in the Northwestern Conference her senior season. Montreat is a private school that is located near Asheville, and competes in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.
The Avery Lady Vikings softball squad lost a hard-fought playoff game to Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy on Monday afternoon by a 6-1 final score. The Gryphons scored a pair of runs in the first inning, one run in the fifth inning, and three more in the sixth inning, while Avery could only manage a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Justina Rieger RBI base hit which scored Sara Singleton. The Lady Vikings finish their best season ever with a record of 9-12 overall, including three conference wins during the regular season.
Avery Vikings baseball had their game halted on Friday and resumed the contest on Saturday, but didn't let it bother them, winning the opening round playoff game over Highlands 10-0. Nine of Avery's 10 runs scored came on home runs, Chris Childress belted a leadoff homer on Friday, and took a second one Saturday for three RBIs in the game. Adam Pate knocked a pair of solo shots, Steven Daniels had a pair of round trippers as well, and Jack Buchanan got an RBI. Avery travels to Murphy for second round play Tuesday.
Six Avery athletes and one alternate participated in the 1A state championships in Greensboro Friday. Kyle Griewisch ran a personal best 11.67 seconds in the 100 meters, but missed the finals by 2-tenths of a second. The Viking's 400 meter relay team of Kyle Griewisch, Alex Villanueva, Chase Arrowood and Andrew Ingram finished in a time of 46.98 seconds, just off of their qualifying time of 46.73. Hunter Shields was an alternate. The winning squad was from Winston-Salem Prep, which finished in 43.05. Caroline Crenshaw ran the 300 meter hurdles but rolled her ankle clearing an outside lane hurdle, but persevered and finished the race. She spent the rest of the meet with her ankle wrapped, elevated and iced. Mary Chesnut Smith Smith ran a new personal best of 5:23.6 in the 1600, besting her last year's state meet 4th place finish by almost 9 seconds and moving up two spots to finish 2nd in the state, but lost to Hendersonville's Kristen Stout. Smith got her her second personal best of the day in the 3200 meters, and finished second, just 1.3 behind the winner, with a time of 2:21.79, eight second better than her time last year. Overall, The Lady Vikings finished 16th in the state, just 10 points out of 8th place. Congratulations to the Lady Viking runners.
The Men's Tennis Individual State Championship matches were held Friday, and in first round action, Watauga's Steve lake defeated Matt Alexander of Hopewell 6-1, 6-2, however Michael Smith fell to Robbie Mudge of RJ Reynolds 6-0, 6-1. In second round play, Lake fell to Roman Cacha of Athens Drive out of Raleigh, 6-2, 6-3. In first round doubles play, Kevin Ashline and Brian Geldmeier fell to Landon Kinsey-Austin Ansari of Page 7-6, 6-4.
The Track and Field Western Regionals were held at AC Reynolds Saturday, and the Watauga Lady Pioneers finished 5th and the Pioneer boys came in 6th overall. Watauga had a number of athletes qualify for State Championships this coming Saturday at North Carolina A&T. Hannah Barbour qualified for the 3200 m run, Kasey Jones in the 100 m high hurdles, Kaylan Schneider, Khristina Kanagy, Hailey Middlebrook and Hannah Barbour for the 4 X 800 m relay, Tara Trivette qualified for the high jump, Taylor Cook and Kristina Tracy in the pole vault. Daniel Osborne, Thomas McDonough, Justin Martin and Ethan Poulas qualified in the 4x800 relay, Daniel Osborne also earned a spot in the 3200 meters, Ian Boyd qualified for 110 m high hurdles & the pole Vault, and Jordan Pineda qualified for the shot put & discus. Congratulations to these Pioneer athletes, and best of luck come Saturday.
The Watauga Pioneers opened the state 4A baseball playoffs at home on Friday against Weddington, out of the Southwestern Confererence. Despite trailing 1-0 after the first inning, the Pioneers took the lead in the fourth inning by way of an RBi single by Austin Story and a squeeze bunt by Phil Gordon, that put Watauga up 2-1. However, Weddington would strike back in the seventh inning, putting five straight batters on base, and with two outs, scored two runs to take the lead and hold on for the 3-2 win, and ending the Pioneers very successful season. Watauga finishes the year 17-8 overall, and going 10-2 in all conference games. Weddington advances to play Ardrey Kell Tuesday. As for other Northwestern conference teams, South Caldwell demolished Berry Academy 23-0 Thursday, on Friday, Meyers Park eliminated McDowell 3-1, and AC Reynolds advanced with a 2-1 win over East Gaston. Northwest Guilford eliminated Alexander Central 5-0, and Mount Tabor took out East Burke 11-0. On Tuesday, AC Reynolds will face Providence and South Caldwell gets South Mecklenburg.
Avery Lady Viking soccer returned to Polk County to start the state playoffs, to face the team for the third time this season, and to take on Polk in the first round for the third straight year. Avery's 2-1 win over Polk earlier in the season is the first conference loss Polk has suffered since joining the WHC five years ago, and it would prove to be the last, at least for now. The Lady Wolverines struck first in the 9th minute, when Avery could not get the ball cleared after a Polk throw-in deep in Viking territory and it eventually found its way into the back of the net off the foot of Kaitlyn Franks. Avery's defense would keep Polk out of the net for the rest of the half, but the Vikings could not counter during the first half and trailed 1-0 at the break. It took Polk 48 minutes to get their second goal of the match, Jessica Antionio was able to find the net in the 57th minute. Then five minutes later, Franks got her second goal, and the Lady Wolverines were up 3-0. With twelve minutes left in the game, Avery scored when Melinda Eggers connected with a Katelynn Eudy throw-in, and it was 3-1 Polk. There was time left and Avery played with renewed vigor, but it was quickly deflated when Emily Banner left the game with a wrist injury. While she returned to action with her wrist wrapped, she was obviously in pain, and the Lady Vikings could not mount the comeback, and Polk dashed the Lady Vikings' playoff hopes for the third straight year. Avery finishes the year with a 13-6-1 record, 9-3 in conference play, good enough for third in the conference and 10th in the state.
Watauga Softball pulled another upset Wednesday night. Playing down in Taylorsville, the sixth seeded Lady Pioneers defeated third seed South Caldwell 2-1 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night, then defeated second seed Freedom Wednesday night by a score of 7-5. The Lady Pioneers hope to keep the upsets going on Friday, when they take on number one seed Alexander Central Friday night at 6 in Taylorsville. This is the fisrt time Watauga fast pitch softball has reached the Championship Game. Central advanced to the final by knocking out AC Reynolds 12-0. Congratulations to the Lady Pioneers, and best of luck on Friday evening.
Watauga womens soccer came up short to Providence in the first round of the state soccer playoffs, falling 2-0.
Watauga Baseball hosts Weddington in first round action of the state 4A tournament Friay night at Pioneer field, gates open at six and the first pitch is set for 7, admission is 5 dollars and only state issued passes will be accepted.
The Watauga MEN'S basketball team will be having summer camp from June 10th - June 12th. The camp will be open for any rising 3rd through rising 9th grade boys. The Watauga WOMEN'S basketball summer camp runs June 17th -19th, and is open for any rising 5th through rising 9th grade girls. These camps are designed to improve individual skills for players of all abilities. Registration forms have been taken to all elementary schools. You can also contact the coaches. For the boys camp call Rob Sanders, and for the girls camp contact Klay Anderson at 264-2407. You can also get more information online at watauga.k12.nc.us/whs.
ASU baseball wraps up an impressive regular season and honors the seven members of its senior class when it hosts Longwood for a three-game series on Thursday and Friday at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. Game one is Thursday night, and the series concludes with a Friday afternoon doubleheader beginning at 2 with Senior Day festivities held in between the doubleheader games. Following the series with the Lancers, Appalachian turns its focus to next week's 2009 SoCon Tournament. The Apps will square off with the league's still-to-be-determined No. 3 seed - could be Georgia Southern, The Citadel, College of Charleston or Western Carolina. Charleston is at the Citadel and Western is at Davidson Thursday, the outcome of those games will help decide who the Apps will get. Whoever it is, the game will be next Wednesday at 1pm in Greenville South Carolina.
The Crawdads and Captains kick off a four-game series at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory Thursday night. The two teams met for four games in Ohio last week, and the Dads took three of those four, including a sweep of the Captains in a doubleheader last Friday night. The Crawdads are right at 500, at 16-16, and tied with Kannapolis at two and a half games behind. Delmarva and Lakewood are tied for first place in the north. The Lake County Captains are 15-16, three games out of first. As part of this series, the Crawdads are offering a special. Current and retired military members and immediate family recieve complimentary tickets on Friday. Just bring a military ID or proof of service to get your free tickets. They'll even have fireworks after the game. On Saturday BIRDZERK will be there, and on Monday, the first senior adult night will take place, senior adults receive a complimentary ticket with the purchase of a regular priced ticket. Get all the details and the full eight game homestand schedule of activities by calling (828) 322-3000 or online at hickorycrawdads.com.
After the long wait, and even with home field advantage, it just didn't work out Tuesday night. South Caldwell beat Watauga 5-0 in the finals of the conference tournament, and for the second year in a row. The Spartans got the win behind a four-hit shutout pitched by Cody Poarch, who was named tournament MVP. Poarch limited the Pioneer batters to just four hits, the biggest ones were doubles by Cal Hardee and Jake Wallace. Watauga opens the state 4-A playoffs Friday at home against Weddington, a 7pm start. Other conference teams in the playoffs, East Burke will play West Forsyth, Alexander Central against Northwest Guilford, AC Reynolds will take on East Gaston, McDowell will play Myers Park, and South Caldwell gets Berry Academy.
The sixth seed Lady Pioneers softball team upset third seeded South Caldwell 2-1 in Taylorsville in the quarterfinals of the NWC Tournament. The Lady Spartans led the entire game 1-0 until the 7th inning. Chandler Butler led off with a single. Then centerfielder Kara Tester drove in the tieing run with a line-drive double to the left field fence. Tester then scored the go-ahead run by stealing home, jumping over the Spartans catcher to score. Tori Wright got the win for the Pioneers, who advance to play second seed Freedom Wednesday night.
Watauga's boys' tennis team was eliminated from the state 4-A dual tournament Tuesday. Pioneer Coach Scott Taylor said his team "gave them a good fight but could not pull it out." The Pioneers lost 5-1 to Ardrey Kell. Davis Roberts picked up the only win for Watauga, taking his number six singles match 6-4, 6-4.
Back to the state baseball playoffs, the Avery Vikings are in the 1A playoffs as a wild card. They will travel to second seed Highlands. The number one seed from the Western Highlands Conference is Polk and they will host Elkin, and second seed Hendersonville will host fourth seed Rosman.
The Avery Lady Vikings Soccer team is in Columbus for a match against Polk County, again, this time in the state soccer playoffs. Both teams split during the regular season, each beating the other on their home field.
All the middle school track teams from the Toe River Conference converged on Avery High School Tuesday for the Toe River Conference Track Championships. Cranberry Middle School and Avery Middle School hosted the event on the new Avery High School synthetic track. The Avery and Cranberry athletes all battled hard. For the Avery Boys, Carson Williams won the long jump with a jump of 16 feet 9 inches. He also ran well in the 100 meter, finishing second, and he finished 4th in the 200 meter. One of the greatest races was the mile run for the boys, as Avery finished both 1st and 2nd. Avery's Isauro Estrada went out to a big lead early, and held this lead for all 4 laps. However, Avery's Heraclio Flores is famous for his closing kick, and sprinted down the final stretch to make the finish very close, but Isauro held on for the win, with Heraclio finishing second. For the Avery girls, Shannon Smith had an excellent meet as she won the long jump with the best distance of the conference season, a jump of 13 feet 9 inches, to win by more than 3 feet. Shannon also won the silver medal in the 100 meter, and then poured it on down the home stretch to win the gold medal in the 200 meter by more than 10 yards. In total, Shannon scored 28 points for Avery, making her the leading individual scorer for the entire Conference meet. Avery's Nikki Wright also had an outstanding meet as she finished 2nd in the shotput and third in the discus to bring in 14 points for the Avery girls. Nikki has continued to work hard and improve all year, and her hard work paid off with a great performance. Avery's Christy Ray put together her very best performance of the season in the high jump, as she led all her competitors to take home the gold medal for Avery. Also for the girls, Cranberry's McKenzie Thomas finished 3rd in the girls mile run, putting in another gutsy performance, but coming up just a little bit short of the gold medal at the end. The great performances by all the Avery runners and competitors led the Avery Middle School girls team to a third place finish in the meet, while the Avery boys team finished in 4th. The Cranberry girls and boys teams finished in 6th and 5th, but battled hard throughout. For the girls team competition, Avery finished 3rd, with Cane River 2nd, and Harris Middle School in 1st. In the boys team competition, Harris finished 3rd, with Cane River 2nd, and East Yancey in 1st. MTN congratulates all the Avery and Cranberry athletes for their efforts.
Mountaineer baseball gave the NC State Wolfpack a run for their money, leading 6-4 in the top of the eighth inning, but State rallied for six runs in the the bottom of the inning and took the contest 10-6 from the Apps. The Mountaineers trailed going into the eighth inning, but Wes Hobson smacked a three-run homer to put ASU ahead. Hobson got into an 0-2 hole with two runners on and two outs when he drilled the ball over the right-field wall. The frustrating thing is that, in all, ASU left 11 men on base in the game, so they had opporunities, but just couldn't get the runs. Isaac Harrow led the Mountaineers' 13-hit effort with a 4-for-5 performance that upped his batting average to .425 on the season. Hobson collected three of the Apps' four RBI with his eighth-inning blast. Appalachian closes the regular season with a three-game home series with Longwood Thursday and Friday at Smith Stadium. Game one is Thursday night at 7 p.m. and Friday will see a doubleheader, beginning at 2, with the Mountaineer seniors honored between those two games.
After falling behind early 3-0, the Lakewood Blue Claws scored three runs in the fourth to break a 3-3 tie and went on to defeat the Hickory Crawdads 8-3 at First Energy Park in Lakewood, NJ Tuesday night. After a season high three game winning streak during the eight game trip, the Crawdads have responded a season high three game losing streak as they evened their record at 16-16. On the other hand, the Blue Claws improved their record to 18-13 and pulled even with first place Delmarva. The Dads return to LP Frans Stadium to begin an eight game home stand, the first four of which will see them entertaining Lake County, followed by four games against Delmarva.
It was supposed to happen on Friday, then it was backed up to Saturday, then backed up to Monday. And finally, the Watauga Pioneers will get to play for the Northwestern Conference Tournament championship Tuesday evening. And if there is any consolation to having to wait and wait and wait, it is that they get to play at home. Tuesday evening at Pioneer Field, Watauga finally faces South Caldwell for the tournament championship. And there will be no rain delay or postponement this time. Best of luck to the Pioneers. I'm sure they are glad to finally get to play, and even happier about playing at home.
Also postponed Monday was the conference tournament quarterfinal softball game pitting Watauga against South Caldwell. That game will be played Tuesday evening at South Caldwell. The semi-finals will be Wednesday at Alexander Central.
Watauga Pioneer mens tennis hosted the second round of the state playoffs Tuesday afternoon against Ardrey Kell. We'll have details on all of this on Wednesday night. On Wednesday night's schedule, the Women's Soccer Playoffs first round action at Providence High School.
Watauga track and field missed first place overall by just a few points in the conference track and field championships last Thursday. The Lady Pioneers finished in second place, with 207 points, behind first place AC Reynolds 224.5 points. In the mens competition, the Pioneers finished third, with 139 points, Reynolds was second with 142.6 and East Burke finished first with 153.3 points. Amoung the ladies, Ryann Jones finished second in the 100 meters, third in the 200. Kayla Schneider won the 800 meter, Hannah Barbour was second in the 1600, Kayla Schneider third, and Kristina Kanagy fourth. Hannah Barbour won the 3200, and Kristina Kanagy finished third. Kasey Jones won the 100 hurdles and finished second in the 300 hurdles. The Lady Pioneer 4x800 relay team finished first, the 4x100 and the 4x400 relay teams both finished second, and the 4x200 team was third. In the field events, Tara Trivette was first in the high jump and teammate Sydney Cook took second. Taylor Cook was second in the pole vault, Kristina Tracey was third and Sydney Cook was fourth. Taylor Cook also took third in the triple jump, with Kristina Tracey coming in fourth.
In the Boys competition, Thomas McDonough won the 800 meter, with Justin Martin in second place. Daniel Osborne was second in the 1600. Andrew Vandenberg was first in the 3200 meters with Daniel Osborne in second. Ian Boyd took second in the 110 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles. He also was first place in the pole vault. Watauga's relay teams finished fourth in the 100 and 200, and fifth in the 400. However, the Pioneers finished first in the 800 relay. Jordan Pineda took second place in the shot put and second in the discus. Overall, both Watauga's mens and womens competitors had 50 top five finishes combined in preliminaries and finals.
The Avery Lady Vikings have a shot at a bit of revenge Wednesday as they head to Columbus for another matchup with the Polk Lady Wolverines, for the third time this season, this time in the state 1A soccer playoffs. Avery split the season series with Polk, each team won at home. The Vikings enter the playoffs as a Wild Card with a 13-5-1 record. The Lady Wolverines earned the #1 conference seed as Western Highlands champions and are 15-6 overall. The winner will play the winner of the Highland Tech/Gray Stone match.
Mountaineer baseball wraps up the road portion of its regular-season schedule Tuesday night against the NC State Wolfpack at Doak Field in Raleigh. It's the first of four non-conference matchups this week to close the regular season. After taking 2 of 3 from UNC Greensboro in the final SoCon series, the Apps tied a school record with 15 conference wins and assured itself of the No. 6 seed in next week's SoCon Tournament in Greenville, S.C. They will play the third seed on Wednesday the 20th. The Mountaineers return home to close the regular season with a three-game series versus Longwood. First game is Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Friday. In between Friday's two games, ASU will honor the seven members of its record-breaking senior class.
Mountaineer field athlete Lilly Tallent earned the SoCon's Field Athlete of the Month award for April. At the SoCon Championships Tallent won the shot put, discus, and javelin competition while being named Field Athlete of the Year and Most Outstanding Performer. It's the first award for the Cherryville, N.C. native. She is now fifth on Appalachian's all-time list in the javelin throw and seventh on the all-time list in the shot put. The physical education major will compete in all three events at the NCAA East Regionals in Greensboro May 29.
Lees-McRae Bobcat tennis saw its terrific season come to a close Friday in the semi-final match of the NCAA Southeast Regional, falling 5-1 to host and number 6 ranked Georgia College and State University. The doubles pair of Alek Mojski and Tyler Grove scored the Bobcats only point of the match with an 8-5 win at number three doubles. The Number 20 Bobcats finished the season undefeated in the Conference Carolinas, and 19-6 overall. Head Coach Paul Goode said "we had a good run." They most certainly did. Congratulations to the Bobcat Men's Tennis team.
The Lakewood Blue Claws struck for a run after two were out in the ninth inning to defeat the Hickory Crawdads 4-3 in Lakewood New Jersey Monday night. It was Hickory's second straight loss to the Blue Claws after winning the first game of the series. Hickory drops to a tie for fourth place with Kannapolis, 2 1/2 games out of first place Delmarva. The two teams go at it for the last time Tuesday night. The Crawdads return to LP Frans Stadium Thursday to host the Lake County Captains.
Jeff Link, Athletics Director at Watauga High, says the conference final between Watauga and South Caldwell is canceled for Monday night, the new schedule will be announced later Monday.
The Pioneers' softball game against South Caldwell has also been rained out, and rescheduled for Tuesday, 6pm at South Caldwell.
Watauga Baseball is in the championship game of the Northwestern Conference tournament. They downed East Burke 9-4 on Friday, and was supposed to play in the final on Saturday at M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls, but the weather again prevented play. So the final will be Monday evening, again, weather permitting, and the Pioneers will face South Caldwell for the conference title. The Spartans have won the championship the last three consecutive seasons, the Pioneers last won it in 2001. The last time Watauga won both the regular season and the tournament titles was in 2000. This will be Watauga's eighth appearence in the final. After the conference final, the Pioneers will be the number one seed in the state playoffs and will open at home Friday against Weddington, the number 5 seed from the Southwestern Conference.
In other Pioneer action, Lady Pioneer soccer defeated Freedom 3-0 Friday, and Watauga finishes in third place in the conference.
Freedom's softball team defeated Watauga 11-1, the Lady Pioneers will open the quarterfinals of the Conference Tournament Monday, weather permitting, against South Caldwell. Watauga is the #6 seed while the Lady Spartans are the #3 seed. Watauga Pioneer mens tennis did well in the Individual Regionals at Ardrey Kell High School over the weekend. Four Watauga players advanced to the State Championships. Steve Lake
won the Regional Championship in Singles and will be seeded #1 in the West. Michael Smith will be seeded 4th in the West in Singles. The Doubles team of Kevin Ashline and Brian Geldmeier will also seeded 4th in the West.The Pioneers will compete in the 2nd round of the Dual Team Playoffs Tuesday at home against Ardrey Kell.
Not all of the Avery Vikings who qualified for the regional track meet traveled to Columbus, NC for the second time in less than two weeks. But of those who did, several qualified for the state meet Friday at NC AT&T in Greensboro. On the men's side Alex Villanueva competed in the High Jump, but didn't qualify for state. He tied for 7th in the event. Villanueva then ran in the 300 meter hurdles but didn't make the finals, missing it by 4 tenths of a second. Kyle Grieswich ran in the 200 meter race and qualified for the finals. In a very close race, he finished 3rd, only because he leaned forward at the finish to beat the 4th place finisher, and with a top 4 finish, Kyle qualified for the state championship meet next weekend. Andrew Ingram ran in the 100 meter dash, and missed the finals by one spot, and 1 tenth of a second. The 4 x 200 meter relay did not qualify for states but the 4 x 100 team of Griewisch, Ingram, Villanueva and Chase Arrowood placed 4th and did qualify. For the Lady Vikings, Caroline Crenshaw won her preliminary heat in the 300 hurdles and finished second in the finals and will go to the state meet. Mary Chesnut Smith won the 1600 meters and the 800 meters and placed third in the 3200 to qualify for state competition. The Avery girls finished 9th with two girls qualifying for states in a total of 4 events at the meet and the guys finished 11th with 1 individual and a relay team qualifying for states in two events.
Buzz Peterson was officially inducted as the new men's basketball coach at Appalachian Monday morning. In a press conference at the Broyhill Inn, the new head coach said he is very excited about being back in Boone. Coach Peterson took questions at the press conference and one of them was about the difficulty in coming to a decision on returning to Boone. With a good job with the NBA Bobcats, and working for his good friend and former teammate Michael Jordon, plus a daughter about to graduate from high school, the new coach said there were a lot of sleepless nights before he finally decided to accept the job. Peterson said he wants to take the program back to the top of the conference and make all Mountaineer fans proud of the team. MTN aired several of Coach Peterson's comments Monday evening, and will feature more with the new coach this week.
Mountaineeer baseball took two of three from UNC Greensboro over the weekend in the final SoCon series for the Apps. The Mountaineers dropped the series opener on Friday, but came back in a huge way on Saturday with a 19-4 blowout. Most of the damage was done by one Mountaineer. Isaac Harrow drove in seven runs with a grand slam and a three-run triple. His mammoth grand slam to straightaway center came in the third inning and gave Appalachian a 4-0 lead, and his bases-loaded triple off the very top of right-field wall capped a four-run fourth that extended the ASU advantage to 8-0. The Mountaineers scored twice in the top of the sixth inning to go up 10-3 and added five runs in the eighth and four in the ninth to close out the 19-run explosion, the second-highest scoring output of the season. The Apps 24 hits were a season high. Additionally, Rand Smith went 5-for-7 with a triple, home run and four runs scored and Jerod Faggart capped a 3-for-4, three-run, five-RBI afternoon with a grand slam of his own in the eighth inning.
Then on Sunday, Wes Hobson's RBI single in the 10th inning proved to be the difference and the Apps took the final game 9-8. Appalachian trailed 5-2 after seven innings but scored two runs in the eighth and took an 8-5 lead on Chris Alessandria's grand slam with one out in the top of the ninth. But the Spartans came back with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings. Hobson's single in the tenth scored Jerod Faggart and Zack Quate made the lead stick from the mound and the Mountaineers got their 30th win of the season, and improved to 15-13 in the conference. The Mountianeers travel to NC State Tuesday, then host Longwood in a three game series Thursday and Friday, before SoCon tournament play begins May 20th.
One final baseball note, Isaac Harrow has been named the Southern Conference's Player of the Month, and Zach Quate was named Pitcher of the Month.
Kayla Richardson allowed just one unearned run in 17.1 innings at the SoCon tournament and earn all-tournament team accolades. Richardson allowed just 10 hits in three appearances, two starts, and did not allow an earned run while striking out 12. She scattered five hits in a complete game shutout in ASU's 2-0 win over UNC Greensboro and followed that up with 4.1 innings of shutout relief against Samford. In her final collegiate start, Richardson allowed just four hits and one unearned run in a 1-0 loss to Georgia Southern. For the season, Richardson broke Appalachian single-season records for wins, 14, strikeouts, 155, complete games, 23, and innings pitched with 204.1 while setting career marks in wins with 34 and strikeouts with 349.
Wednesday night's Northwestern Confernece baseball quarterfinal game between East Burke and Alexander Central was postponed. The game is now set for Thursday at 7:00 at Shuey Field in Morganton. With that cancellation, the tournament semi-finals and finals will have to be moved to Friday and Saturday. Games will still be played at MS Deal Stadium in Granite Falls. Watauga will take on the East Burke/Alex. Central winner at 4:30 Friday afternoon, and at 7:00 it will be South Caldwell vs. AC Reynolds. South Caldwell advanced by beating Freedom 8-4 and Reynolds knocked off McDowell 5-3. The championship game will now be Saturday at 7:00 PM.
Wednesday's Watauga softball game against South Caldwell was postponed due to rain. The game has been rescheduled for Thursday with the varsity playing first due to threat of evening storms.
The Conference track championships were rained out as well, they were also rescheduled for Thursday at A.C. Reynolds.
Lady Pioneer soccer did get their match in against McDowell, but might have preferred a posponement. McDowell got the 3-0 shutout over Watauga. There was no JV game due to the weather. The Lady Pioneers will host Freedom Friday at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex, Lady Pioneer softball will also host Freedom Friday at Pioneer Field.
Avery Viking baseball and softball games against Mountain Heritage that were rained out Tuesday were rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. The final Viking baseball game of the regular season is scheduled for Friday at Mitchell. Softball will also travel to Mitchell Friday but also has a home game next Wednesday against Draughn, it will be Senior day.
School systems should consider reducing the number of games in various sports to cut down on costs due to the economic slowdown. That's the word from the board of directors of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association who approved a statement Wednesday that "strongly encourages" schools to voluntarily cut down the number of regular-season games. The statement specifically mentions reducing the number of nonconference games in both junior varsity and non-revenue varsity programs. The NCHSAA says additional measures are up to schools and conferences. Approval came at the close of the association's spring meetings in Chapel Hill. The Association will also post cost-cutting suggestions on its web site and encouraged member schools to submit their own suggestions.
Kayla Richardson threw her fourth shout of the season and Brittany Gaston drove in the what proved to be the winning run with a sacrifice fly and ASU Softball advances in the the Southern Conference tournament by beating UNC Greensboro 2-0 in the first round. They will play again Thursday night, against the winner of the Charleston Samford game. All the first round games were rained out Wednesday, bringing about the doubleheader format for Thursday. The Apps scored first in the contest, Sarah Rappe getting home on the sacrifice fly by Gaston in the bottom of the first. That first run proved to be the winner, but then Katie Boyd put the Mountaineers up 2-0 in the third with her SoCon leading 17th home run of the season. The 17 homers puts her tied for second in SoCon single-season history. Richardson picked up her school record 14th win of the season with her fourth shutout and ASU tied the single-season team shutout record with their seventh of the season. No Spartan runner got beyond second base in the contest. We'll have results of the nightcap second round game on Friday.
And in the midst of all this baseball and softball news, lets talk a little football. ASU football has five players that have be placed on the 2009 FCS Preseason All-America list. Quarterback Armanti Edwards, defensive back Mark LeGree and linebacker Jacque Roman were all named as first team honorees, while offensive lineman Mario Acitelli and defensive back Cortez Gilbert were honorable-mention selections. LeGree, a junior, is one of only six non-seniors named to the 27-member first team. While the honors are the first of the year, All five received all-America plaudits following last season's 11-3 campaign.
Now for some not so happy football news. 2005 National Champions quarterback Ritchie Williams and DB Jason Hunter have both been released by their teams. Williams was a backup quarterback with the Hamilton Ticats of the Canadian Football League for three years. There has been a new coach brouught to Hamilton, as well as a number of other quarterbacks, and Ritchie was release in late April. In fifty-two games, Ritchie passed for 2,077 yards, threw 11 touchdowns and ran for 531 yards and two scores.
Jason Hunter was picked up by the Green Bay Packers as a free agent in 2006, and led the Pack in special team tackles, before being moved to outside linebacker. Hunter was picked up by the Detroit Lions Wednesday and will wear number 67.
Watauga Men's Tennis had a good start in the First Round Dual Team Playoff against Northwest Guilford, winning 5-1 at Yanahlosse Resort's indoor facility. The Pioneer singles players were solid, with only Steve Lake falling in singles play. Michael Smith, Kevin Ashline, Brian Geldmeier, Preston Stigall, and Davis Roberts all winning their matches in straight sets. The Pioneers next match will be Tuesday May 12th against Ardrey Kell in Boone.
Pioneer baseball still doesn't know who they'll play in the conference tournament because the #4 East Burke vs #5 Alexander Central game was rained out Tuesday, and will be played Wednesday evening, weather permitting. Whoever they play, it will be Thursday at 4:30 at Deal Stadium in Granite Falls. The other first round games were played Tuesday, with #2 seed South Caldwell advancing after an 6-4 win over #7 seed Freedom. #6 seed AC Reynolds upset #3 seed McDowell 5-3. In addition, the Pioneers find themselves ranked 9th in the IMPACT baseball 4-A poll released Monday.
Lady Pioneer Soccer got the 4-0 shutout of South Caldwell Tuesday in a match played at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex. It was hoped that the Senior Day match could have been played at Jack Groce Stadium, but it was just too wet. The Lady Pioneers improve to 7-8-3 overall, 6-3-1 in conference play. The Pioneer JV's also got the win and by the same 4-0 score. Watauga was scheduled to host McDowell at the Mackorell Complex Wednesday, weather permitting, then host Freedom on Friday in the final regular season match.
The Pioneer track and field was scheduled to compete at the Northwestern Conference Championships at AC Reynolds in Asheville Wednesday, weather permitting.
The Avery Lady Viking Soccer team had another down night Tuesday, and lost 1-0 to Polk. The third loss in a row for Avery and two losses to teams that were tied with the Lady Vikings before the week began. Avery did not play as solidly as they had a bit more than a week ago when they defeated Polk in Newland. Polk stole a throw-in deep in Avery territory and took it to the goal. Keeper Cailan Callaway got a hand on it but couldn't deflect the shot and Polk went up 1-0, and that would prove to be enough for the win. The Lady Vikings finish the regular season 13-5-1 and 9-3 in the Western Highlands Conference, and end the year in third place in the conference. Hendersonville will take on Polk Thursday night to determine the regular season champ. Polk won the earlier match 3-1 at Hendersonville. Polk will get the chance to repeat on their home turf Thursday.
Avery's baseball and softball home games against Mountain Heritage are now scheduled for Thursday, weather permitting, and Thursday looks to be the driest day this week. The Vikings are scheduled to close out the regular season against Mitchell Friday.
Day one of the Southern Conference Softball tournament was rained out and all games have been moved to Thursday. ASU was scheduled to play UNC Greensboro but that game has been moved to Thursday morning at 11 in Chattanooga, and should the Apps win, they'll play the winner of the College of Charleston Samford game Thursday evening at 7. If the Apps lose, they'll play the the loser of the Charleston Samford game at 5pm. Appalachian enters the tournament with an overall record of 25-27 and a school record 14 SoCon wins.
The Avery Lady Viking Soccer squad suffered their second loss in a row Monday, but this one hurt a bit more than the loss to Watauga. Avery, Hendersonville and Polk were all tied for first place in the conference until the Lady Bearcats got a 1-0 win over Avery on Senior night. Kasey Brown, Rachel Buchanan, Cailan Callaway, and Brianna Strange, along with their parents, were all honored before the match began. All four are starters for the Lady Vikings and will certainly be missed next season. As for the game itself, Avery managed to keep Hendersonville out of the net for most of the contest, but unfortunately, the Lady Bearcats kept Avery out of the net as well. No one was successful until well into the second half, at the 68th minute, Hendersonville's Amber Yancey got by the Avery defense for a clear shot on goal. It would be the only goal in the match and Hendersonville got the 1-0 win. Avery took 7 shots on goal in each half, to Hendersonville's 6 total, but the Lady Vikings just could not get into the net. Avery drops to 13-4-1 overall and 9-2 in conference. The Lady Vikings travel to Polk Tuesday in a very important match. Avery defeated Polk once already this year, but must beat them again plus Polk will have to beat Hendersonville for a second time in order for the Lady Vikings to have a share of the regular season title.
Avery's scheduled baseball and softball home games Tuesday against Mountain Heritage have been postponed due to rain. The baseball game has been rescheduled to take place on Thursday, with no confirmed make-up date at this time for the softball game. Avery's teams will close out regular season play at Mitchell on Friday.
The rain has forced some cancellations and postponments to the Watauga Pioneer schedule as well. The Tuesday baseball game against TC Roberson at Pioneer Field has been cancelled with no make up announced, and since its a non-conference game, and the tournament starts soon, it probably won't be rescheduled. The Lady Pioneer softball game against South Caldwell is postponed to Wednesday. Lady Pioneer soccer was still on for Tuesday as of earlier in the day, but the match moved the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex instead of Jack Groce Stadium. Pioneer mens tennis match against NW Guilford in the first-round of the state playoffs was moved to the Yonahlossee Resort's indoor facilities. And the Middle School track meet is postponed to Thursday at Watauga High.
The USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships will be held in Fort Collins, Colo. for the second year in a row, May 7-10, and the Lees-McRae Bobcats will be returning to defend their Division I title. The event will see hundreds of men and women from Division I and Division II institutions compete for individual championships in three categories - criterium, road race and individual omnium. The collegiate squads will also fight for team titles in both the team time trial event and the prestigious overall team (omnium) classification, which combines results from all three races, both male and female. Heading into the final USA Cycling Collegiate Cycling National Championship of this season the competition remains very tight in the overall team omnium standings. In DI only a single point separates rivals Lees-McRaeand Fort Lewis. You can learn more about the event online at bobcatsports.lmc.edu.
The Southern Conference released its softball regular season awards Tuesday, and ASU pitcher Kayla Richardson made first team all conference. Catcher Michelle Lighton and third baseman Katie Boyd were named to the all conference second team. Megan Rembielak recieved all freshman honors. The 2009 Softball Championship begins Wednesday and concludes with the Championship game Saturday at Jim Frost Stadium in Chattanooga Tennessee. The Mountaineers are the third seed in the tournament and will take on sixth seed UNC Greensboro in the opening round.
ASU's Melissa Morrison and Valorie Whiteside were two of 10 former Southern Conference student-athletes that were inducted into the inaugural class of the SoCon Hall of Fame Monday at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, S.C. Now Melissa Morrison-Howard, Morrison won 17 individual conference championships in eight different events from 1989-93. She was a two-time all-American, and still holds six ASU and four SoCon records. Twenty-one years after the conclusion of her illustrious college basketball career, Whiteside remains the SoCon's record-holder in nine different categories, and holds 42 ASU records, which include all of the scoring, rebounding and blocked-shot standards. She remains among the top 10 in NCAA history in career points and scoring average. She was a three-time first-team all-American, four-time all-conference honoree, and garnered SoCon all-tournament honors three times (including tournament MVP twice) and was the 1987-88 SoCon Player of the Year.
Lees-McRae Bobcat men's tennis will make an appearance in the NCAA Tennis Tournament's Southeast Regional at Georgia College and State University May 7th through May 9th. The Bobcats will face Conference Carolinas foe Limestone in their first round match-up May 7th, with host Georgia College and State University getting the winner. The Bobcats enter the tournament after claiming the Conference Carolinas regular season title and finishing second in the tournament, finishing the year with an 18-6 overall record and an 8-0 conference record.
Jennifer Povick was the lone Mountaineer to compete at the Duke Twilight track and field invitational over the weekend, and posted a standout performance as she came in third overall in the 800m run, and in the process earned her first ever NCAA qualifying mark and moved her into third on Appalachian's all-time list in the event.
Mountaineer softball closed out the regular season on a down note, falling to NC State in Raleigh 6-1 on Sunday. State's pitching allowed only five Mountaineer hits in the ball game, and Morgan Price drove in Katie Boyd with a single to center field for the only run for the Apps in the contest. Kayla Richardson took the loss, allowing nine hits while striking out four. The four strikeouts ties the single-season school record for strikeouts in a season with 143. The Southern Conference tournament begins Wednesday in Chattanooga, No. 3 seed Appalachian squares off against No. 6 seed UNC Greensboro at 2 p.m.
Mountaineer baseball is off for exams until this Friday, when they open a three game conference series at UNC Greensboro, the last conference games for the Apps, but there will be a road game at NC State on May 12th, then two games at home against Longwood on the 14th and 15th, before the SoCon tournament begins May 20th in Greenville South Carolina.
Throughout the course of this academic year, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has been making efforts to recognize some of the great names of the past to highlight the heritage of the Association in honor of it's 95th anniversary. Recently the Association has highlighted former Watauga coach and Athletic Director Jack Groce. Groce came out of Wilkesboro High School and became an all-American football player at Appalachian. He was head coach at Appalachian High School and then at Watauga for a span of 20 years total, and he never had a losing season. During that time he was also an assistant coach at ASU. Groce then served as athletic director and assistant principal at Watauga from 1977 to '90, followed by two years as county athletic director. He was president of the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association, and served a four-year term on the NCHSAA Board of Directors, a charter member of Appalachian State University's Hall of Fame, inducted in 1975, and was named to the N.C. Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 1996, and was inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2001. The Watauga Board of Education honored him in 1998 by naming the Watauga stadium in his honor.
Lady Pioneer soccer traveled to McDonald Stadium for the annual cross-county rivalry with Avery. The Lady VIkings were hoping to ride their recent momenteum to their frist soccer victory over Watauga, and got on the board first, when Mary Chesnut Smith found Melinda Eggers for a goal at the 2 minute mark to put Avery up 1-0. Seven minutes later, Watauga's Ashlyn Clark got by several Avery defenders to tie the game at the 9 minute mark. The match stayed even for the rest of the half, as both teams battled back and forth but neither could gain an advantage. The match stayed even for much of the second half as well, but at the 45 minute mark, Watauga's Sydney Atkinson laced an outside shot into the goal, giving the Pioneers a 2-1 lead. Less than a minute later, in the 46th minute, with a scurry of activity in front of Avery's goal, Watauga's Ashlyn Clark ended up with another score, off an Avery player's miscue. Watauga's defense was able to hold on to the 3-1 lead for the remaining 34 minutes to take the win. Avery got 5 shots on goal compared to Watauga's 11. The Lady Vikings had 5 corner kicks but could not capitalize. The win was Watauga's third straight and the Lady Pioneers improve to 6-8-3 overall, while Avery drops to 13-3-1. The Lady Pioneers will host South Caldwell Tuesday for senior night, then take on McDowell on Wednesday and Freedom on Friday. Watauga leads Freedom by a half game for third place in the Northwestern Conference. The Lady Vikings host Hendersonville for Senior night Monday evening, then on Tuesday, Avery wraps up the regular season at Polk County. Avery, Hendersonville and Polk are all tied for first place in the conference.
Alexander Central's baseball team did the Watauga Pioneers a favor, by defeating South Caldwell 3-2 on Friday, to assure the Pioneers of an outright regular season championship. The Pioneers finished the season with a 10-2 conference record and the number 1 seed in the tournament, which will begin for the lower seeds on Tuesday, and Watauga's first game will be Thursday at 4:30. The Pioneers will get the winner of the #5 Seed Alexander Central at #4 Seed East Burke game. The other first round games will see #7 Freedom at #2 South Caldwell, and #6 AC Reynolds at #3 McDowell. Thursday's semis and Friday's final will be at MS Deal Stadium in Granite Falls. In the meantime, to keep fresh, the Pioneers were able to reschedule the postponed game with North Davidson on Saturday, and managed a 4-3 win at Pioneer field. The Pioneers fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but picked up two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a Trey Lowder RBI double to go up 2-1. Then North Davidson got a two-run homer in the top of the fifth to regain the lead 3-2. But the Pioneers were not done yet. In the bottom of the fifth Austin Story opened with a home run, and Adam Church got an RBI single and the Pioneers got back out in front and held on for the 4-3 win. Watauga improves to 16-6 overall. They take on TC Roberson Tuesday in the final warm up for the conference tournament.
