Local digest

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on March 21, 2007 2:43 PM

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Johnson's game-winning RBI part of Eagles' seventh-inning comeback

ROCKY MOUNT -- Doug Johnson delivered the game-winning RBI and Wayne Christian seized a come-from-behind, 12-10 victory at Faith Christian-Rocky Mount on Tuesday afternoon.

Johnson's single occurred during the Eagles' six-run, seventh-inning uprising. With two outs, Dante Arthur stroked a bases-clearing triple to pull Wayne Christian within 10-9. Adam Brannan plated Arthur with a double and scored on Johnson's single for an 11-10 advantage.

Jeremy Jefferson doubled home Johnson for the final two-run margin.

The Patriots loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. Eagle left fielder Michael Johnson made a diving catch and doubled up a Faith Christian runner at third. Johnson induced a game-ending groundout to second base to preserve the non-conference win.

Johnson tossed three innings of one-run relief and earned the mound victory. Brannan and Jefferson combined for five strikeouts in four innings of work.

Faith Christian led 7-0 after three innings and Wayne Christian climbed to within 7-6 in the top half of the fourth. The Patriots rebuilt their lead until the Eagles' game-winning surge in the seventh.

Johnson and Kyle Harrell, who doubled, finished the day with three hits apiece. Brannan doubled in a two-hit outing, while Arthur contributed two hits.

Wayne Christian (3-1 overall) travels to Community Christian on Friday.

W. Country Day

claims home win

Travis Davis smacked two home runs and state-ranked Wayne Country Day turned back Trinity Christian-Fayetteville 9-5 on Tuesday afternoon.

Davis batted 4-for-4 with five RBI in the seven-inning, non-conference affair. It was his fourth and fifth home runs of the season.

Cameron Strickland and Joseph Cha (three RBI) each added two hits, including a double. Trent Langston (RBI) and Cameron Ford combined for four hits in seven plate appearances.

The Chargers accumulated 14 hits.

Kyle Pender tossed three innings of shutout ball and retired six Trinity batters on strikeouts. Cameron Ford threw one-plus innings in relief and notched the win, while Davis earned the save with two-plus innings of four-strikeout relief.

Wayne Country Day, ranked No. 2 in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Class 1-A poll, improved to 4-1 overall. The Chargers open their Coastal Plains Independent Conference schedule at archrival Greenfield today. Game time is 6 p.m. at Fleming Stadium in Wilson.

Trinity 000 230 0 -- 5 5 3

WCDS 620 001 x -- 9 14 3

Leading hitters -- Wayne Country Day -- Travis Davis 4-4, 2 HRs, 5 RBI; Cameron Strickland 2-3, 2B; Joseph Cha 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Trent Langston 2-3, RBI; Cameron Ford 2-4.

IP H R ER BB SO

W. Country Day

Pender 3 0 0 0 0 6

C. Ford (W, 1-0) 12/3 5 5 2 1 3

Davis (S, 1) 21/3 0 0 0 0 4

C.B. Aycock

blanks Bruins

PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock began defense of its co-Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference regular-season crown with a 9-0 blitzing of Wilson Beddingfield on Tuesday afternoon.

Grant Sasser allowed two hits and fanned seven Bruin batters in a four-inning stint. Kyle Harmon provided three innings of two-strikeout relief for the Golden Falcons, who shared the ECC title with county rival Southern Wayne a year ago.

Thomas Pilkington belted a two-RBI single and Garrett Davis added an RBI triple during Aycock's seven-run, second-inning uprising. The Bruins (0-1 ECC) misplayed two bunts, which led an unearned run during that stretch.

Jay Rose emerged the Golden Falcons' top batter with three hits and two RBI in three at-bats.

Travis Lucas endured the pitching loss for Beddingfield.

C.B. Aycock (5-1 overall, 1-0 ECC) entertains North Lenoir on Thursday and travels to Kinston on Friday. Each game is slated for a 5 p.m. start.

Beddingfield 000 000 0 -- 0 2 4

C.B. Aycock 070 002 x -- 9 7 1

Leading hitters -- C.B. Aycock -- Jay Rose 3-3, 2 RBI; Thomas Pilkington 1-2, 2 RBI; Garrett Davis 1-3, 3B, RBI.

IP H R ER BB SO

Beddingfield

Travis Lucas 2 5 7 1 2 2

Patel 3 1 0 0 2 3

Dew 1 1 2 0 0 1

C.B. Aycock

Sasser (W, 2-0) 4 2 0 0 1 7

Harmon (S, 1) 3 0 0 0 0 2

Softball

North Lenoir

blanks Rosewood

LaGRANGE -- Brittany Sanders homered and Connor Jordan tossed a one-hitter in North Lenoir's 7-0, non-conference conquest of Rosewood.

Sanders drove in two runs for the Hawks, who seized their fourth consecutive victory. Jordan struck out eight and walked three in a complete-game effort.

Kayla Letchworth led North Lenoir with two hits, including a triple, and two RBI. Timon Jones batted 2-for-2.

The Hawks (6-2 overall) entertain C.B. Aycock at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Burroughs throws

two-hitter on road

ROCKY MOUNT -- Cynthia Burroughs notched 11 strikeouts and yielded two hits as state-ranked Wayne Christian defeated Faith Christian-Rocky Mount 13-2 on Tuesday afternoon.

Traci Davis provided two innings of three-strikeout relief. The Eagles, who remained unbeaten in four outings, are ranked No. 1 in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A poll. Faith Christian entered the game ranked No. 5 statewide.

Burroughs collected Wayne Christian's lone extra-base hit.

Wayne Christian has scored 61 runs and entertains Carolina Christian 1-A foe Community Christian on Thursday afternoon.

Southern Wayne

stops archrival

Southern Wayne pitchers Lauren Darden and Morgan Davis came within an out of securing a perfect game during the Saints' 8-0 win over county archrival Eastern Wayne.

It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.

Darden threw three shutout innings and recorded five strikeouts. Davis tossed four innings of one-hit, eight-strikeout relief. Warrior sophomore Caitlin Turner spoiled the duo's perfect-game bid.

The Saints' Brianna Lofton batted 3-for-3 with an RBI and stole three bases. Lynn Grantham tripled, while Davis and Haley Fail each drove in a run.

Jordan Hill, Darden and Haley Gerstler each batted 1-for-2.

Lani Fricks and Carrie Adams pitched for the Warriors.

Southern Wayne (8-1 overall, 1-0 ECC) steps outside league play today with a home against perennial 1-A power North Johnston. Eastern Wayne (0-10, 0-1) continues league play Thursday at Wilson Hunt.

Tennis

Greene Central

picks up EPC win

SNOW HILL -- Greene Central opened its Eastern Plains 2-A Conference schedule with a 9-0 thrashing of Farmville Central on the Snow Hill Tennis Complex courts.

Travis Moore, Banks Nimmo, Trey Cash, Spencer Dail, James Kersey and Andrew Harrison each picked up a straight-set singles win. Moore, Dail and Kersey did not lose a game.

Moore-Nimmo, Dail-Cash and Kersey-Harrison completed the shutout with dominating doubles wins.

"I was pleased with our patience today," said Greene Central head coach Brad Sauls. "We made very few unforced errors and played solid in singles and doubles. Andrew played with a lot of confidence and served really well today.

"His singles play has really improved over the last few weeks."

Greene Central (7-2 overall, 1-0 EPC) travels to Tarboro on Thursday.

Greene Central 9

Farmville Central 0

Singles -- No. 1 Travis Moore (GC) d. Tyler Benson 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 Banks Nimmo (GC) d. Christian Cardona 6-0, 6-1; No. 3 Trey Cash (GC) d. Ben Stone 6-1, 6-0; No. 4 Spencer Dail (GC) d. Montrell Edwards 6-0, 6-0; No. 5 James Kersey (GC) d. Kory Brown 6-0, 6-0; No. 6 Andrew Harrison (GC) d. Jonathan Fields 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles -- No. 1 Moore-Nimmo (GC) d. Benson-Cardona 8-0; No. 2 Dail-Cash (GC) d. Edwards-Brown 8-0; No. 3 Kersey-Harrison (GC) d. Stone-Fields 8-1.

Aycock netters

score ECC triumph

PIKEVILLE -- Freshman Blake Vail remained unbeaten on the singles scene and C.B. Aycock throttled Wilson Beddingfield 9-0 on Tuesday afternoon.

It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.

Vail improved to 9-0 at the No. 1 slot with a 6-0, 6-1 conquest of the Bruins' Justin Webb. Teammates Addison Westbrook, Ben Evans, Blake Cooper, Ben Nichols and Dylan Quinn each notched a straight-set singles win.

The tandems of Vail-Westbrooke, Evans-Quinn and Cooper-Nichols each prevailed in doubles.

C.B. Aycock (5-4 overall, 1-0 ECC) travels to Southern Nash today and visits ECC rival Kinston on Thursday.

C.B. Aycock 9

Wilson Beddingfield 0

Singles -- No. 1 Blake Vail (CBA) d. Justin Webb 6-0, 6-1; No. 2 Addison Westbrook (CBA) d. Nirau Patel 6-0, 6-0; No. 3 Ben Evans (CBA) d. Tony Arizpe 6-0, 6-3; No. 4 Blake Cooper (CBA) d. Ryan Phillips 6-1, 6-0; No. 5 Ben Nichols (CBA) d. Alex Ferrell 6-3, 6-4; No. 6 Dylan Quinn (CBA) d. Mark Webb 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles -- No. 1 Vail-Westbrook (CBA) d. Webb-Arizpe 8-5; No. 2 Evans-Quinn (CBA) d. Patel-Phillips 8-1; No. 3 Cooper-Nichols (CBA) d. Ferrell-Bates 8-1.

Defending ECC

champs cruise

Eastern Wayne opened defense of its Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference championship with an 8-1 decision against county rival Southern Wayne on the Wayne Community College courts.

The Warriors earned their 10th straight league victory and have won 22 of their last 24 ECC matches since 2005.

Jared Stone, Drew Jackson, Ben Wines, Christian Phufl, David Benton and Eric Barnes each supplied a straight-set win in singles. Stone-Jackson and Benton-Barnes each won in doubles.

The Saints' No. 2 duo of John Stedman-James Poandl edged Wines-Phufl 8-6.

Eastern Wayne travels to Wilson Hunt on Thursday, while Southern Wayne visits Wilson Beddingfield.

Eastern Wayne 8

Southern Wayne 1

Singles -- No. 1 Jared Stone (EW) d. Jonathan Hartley 6-2, 6-0; No. 2 Drew Jackson (EW) d. James Poandl 6-0, 6-0; No. 3 Ben Wines (EW) d. Chris King 6-3, 6-4; No. 4 Christian Phufl (EW) d. John Stedman 6-3, 6-2; No. 5 David Benton (EW) d. Sterling Blackmon 6-0, 6-2; No. 6 Eric Barnes (EW) d. Graham Price 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles -- No. 1 Stone-Jackson (EW) d. Hartley-Blackmon 8-0; No. 2 Stedman-Poandl (SW) d. Wines-Phufl 8-6; No. 3 Benton-Barnes (EW) d. King-Price 8-5.

Soccer

Sodoma records

natural hat trick

PIKEVILLE -- Lizzie Sodoma tallied a natural hat trick and C.B. Aycock upended Wilson Beddingfield 3-1 in the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.

Sodoma scored twice in the opening half and completed the hat trick with a second-half mark. Amanda Schlaeppi assisted on Sodoma's first goal.

Golden Falcon goalie Courtney Sheeks recorded five saves.

C.B. Aycock (4-2-1 overall, 1-0 ECC) is the guest of Kinston on Friday.

Five Warriors

score vs. Saints

Minerva Rodriguez furnished the game-winning goal in the 10th minute and Eastern Wayne shut out Southern Wayne 6-0 in the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams Tuesday.

Natalie Taylor added two goals for the Warriors, who shared the ECC regular-season championship with Wilson Hunt last season. Icela Vasquez, Cade May and Michelle Davis also scored.

Rodriguez assisted on Taylor's second goal.

Keepers Brittany Spence and Danielle Davis combined for the Warriors' third shutout of the season.

Eastern Wayne (3-5 overall, 1-0 ECC) is the guest of Hunt today.

Track

Golden Falcon

girls fare well

PIKEVILLE -- C.B. Aycock prevailed in three relays and claimed five individual events during Monday's non-conference meet against Greene Central at Hardy Talton Stadium.

The Golden Falcons won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays. Crystal Lewis and Chantel Gaines participated on the 1,600 and 3,200 squads along with Cara Sanders, Artice Felder, Jordan Stackle and Megan Hales.

Sanders, Teri Burgois, Brittany Hicks and Teonna Jenkins comprised the winning 800 relay.

Gaines emerged the top 400 runner in 1 minute, 3.6 seconds and finished third in the 200. Hales won the 3,200 in 15 minutes, while Leslie Crawford took the pole vault.

Stackle won the 800 in 3:14 and Lewis seized the 300 hurdles event.