Eastern Randolph, softball – Pugh was a force in the pitching circle and at the plate for the Wildcats during her senior season.
She posted eight wins to go with two saves as a pitcher. She was credited with 131 strikeouts in 69 innings.
Pugh’s four home runs were second on the team.
Eastern Randolph finished with an 18-6 record. That’s the most wins for the Wildcats since 2019.
The Asheboro ZooKeepers have had mixed results from the mound during their games so far this season. (Photo courtesy of ZooKeepers)
ASHEBORO – The Asheboro ZooKeepers made notable progress last week.
The biggest of those achievements was finally winning a game.
The Coastal Plain League baseball team lost its first six games of the season, which already has been disjointed by playing home games at UNC Greensboro while McCrary Park renovations are ongoing. The plan is to have the ZooKeepers playing in Asheboro by the end of this week.
At least they’ve experienced success.
The ZooKeepers didn’t pick up a victory until their seventh game of the season, defeating the Martinsville Mustangs 9-4 last Tuesday in Greensboro after facing a four-run hole. Tyler McPeak’s three-run home run was an offensive highlight.
Three nights later, they swept a doubleheader from the visiting Florence Flamingos. Shortstop Alex Lodise had a game-winning hit to end Asheboro’s 1-0 victory in the opener of the twinbill.
It was quite an introduction for Lodise, a soon-to-be Florida State player who was making his ZooKeepers debut. Lodise played for North Florida during the 2023 college season, mashed a school freshman-record 16 home runs and was an All-Atlantic Sun selection, but he’s transferring to Florida State.
Pitchers Jacob Dienes and Garrett Kangas combined for the shutout.
In the nightcap, Asheboro won 5-1 behind work on the mound by Jacob Halford and Ethan Snyder.
Pitching became a trouble spot for Asheboro during the weekend. A 13-4 loss Saturday at Florence was followed by Sunday’s 9-5 setback at Holly Springs.
In the Holly Springs game, Dallas Callahan of the ZooKeepers homered but it wasn’t enough to wipe out an 8-0 hole after three innings.
So with a 3-8 record through Sunday, the ZooKeepers were stuck in last place in the West Division. Asheboro’s .234 batting average was tied for the worst mark in the CPL. Monday night’s home game against the High Point-Thomasville HiToms in Greensboro was rained out.
Because of rescheduled games amid the adjustments because of McCrary Park’s status, Asheboro could be playing a total of eight home games in the last 10 days of June.
RANDLEMAN – A four-night stretch full of variety for Randolph County Post 45 also had a certain consistent component.
The American Legion baseball team won each of its games last week. That included stiff non-league tests and its Area 3 Northern Division opener.
Post 45 boosted its record to 11-1 entering this week. Then Monday night’s game at Greensboro was rained out.
The showdown last week came with Rowan County Post 342, with Post 45 winning 4-3 on Friday night at Salisbury. Tanner Marsh provided a home run and a run-scoring double and Pierce Leonard scored two runs. Drew Harmon, Robert Garner and Hunter Atkins combined for the Randolph County pitching.
Rowan County won 19 of its first 22 games, with two of the defeats coming to Randolph County.
Saturday night’s divisional opener resulted in a 10-0 victory against Greensboro Post 53 at Randleman High School. Starting pitcher Drake Purvis threw four no-hit innings with nine strikeouts.
Marsh and Atkins hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning. Atkins finished with three hits.
Earlier in the week, Post 45 came off a five-day layoff and defeated visiting Mocksville-Davie County Post 54 by 8-2, with Marsh tripling and scoring two runs and Tyler Parks driving in two runs. Braxton Walker threw five shutout innings with 11 strikeouts and one walk.
Post 45 went to Buies Creek and topped Wayne County 6-4 with Parks notching three hits and knocking in two runs. Samuel Asbill, Austin Lemons and Marsh did the pitching.
Eastern Randolph Post 81 pitcher Samuel Asbill throws to a Foothills batter last year. This year, Asbill is on the Randolph County Post 45 roster. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
RAMSEUR – There’s no American Legion baseball season for Eastern Randolph Post 81 this year, but planning for the future is being emphasized.
Low player availability surfaced last year. Without a clear remedy for that, organizers opted to focus on younger players who might help revive the program.
“We didn’t want to field a team with 11 guys and then not be able to play some nights,” said Nate Cockman, who was in his first season as head coach of the team last year. “We didn’t want to get a bad rap with that.”
So after a 2022 season that included on-field success but other struggles, Post 81 has taken a pause on the American Legion level.
“We decided we just weren’t going to be able to field a team,” Cockman said. “We didn’t want to be back in that situation again. It’s a tough one to swallow right now, but this is best for the long term.”
Instead, the Legion post is sponsoring a team in a combined Pony/Colt league. These are players ages 13-16. The Post 81 entry has 16 players in a league based out of Chatham County. Games in the five-team league are held Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays at Chatham Central.
Last year, Post 81 held an 18-9 record in games played, though two of those were overturned based on a player eligibility issue to give it a 16-11 mark (prior to the forfeited Area 3 semifinal series because of a lack of players).
In April, a meeting to assess player interest revealed up to nine players who could be committed to play the full season, with a few others falling into a part-time category.
Generally, Post 81 draws high school players attending Eastern Randolph, Providence Grove and Faith Christian with some assistance from Southern Alamance and Chatham County players. No Alamance County players signed up to play this year.
Complicating matters was that Chatham County Post 93 returned to American Legion baseball to field a team and is based at Jordan-Matthews High School.
The Pony/Colt team, which won four of its first five games, is made up of players who could rise into future Post 81 players. Cockman said participating in the league in Chatham County seemed like a better option than trying to field a Junior American Legion team.
“I didn’t want it to put them in that situation where they wouldn’t have success,” he said. “I want to give our guys a fair opportunity. This is a good way to introduce them.”
Unless there’s widespread interest next year in the upper grades, Post 81 might choose the Junior American Legion route for 2024, Cockman said, calling it “almost a rebuild.”
Cockman is a coach at Southeastern Randolph Middle School in Ramseur.
“We’re trying to start young and work our way back through,” he said. “This is the best situation for now. We have full intention of bringing back Post 81.”
Here’s the Southeastern Randolph Middle School baseball team after winning the county’s tournament title. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
Southeastern Randolph Middle School won the Randolph County Middle School baseball tournament last month.
That made the Wildcats tournament and regular-season champions.
Wheatmore, girls’ soccer
Walls, a forward and midfielder, was one of the seniors on the Warriors’ state runner-up team.
Walls was the fourth-leading scorer on an offensive powerhouse. She cranked out 11 goals and provided five assists. She also occasionally took corner kicks for the Warriors.
Walls was honored by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association with a Sportsmanship Award prior to the Class 2-A title game this month at UNC Greensboro Soccer Stadium.
Walls was part of teams that produced a two-year record of 49-1, a state championship and a state-record 49-game winning streak. She also has been a member of the girls’ basketball team at Wheatmore.
Chad Whitson coached Southwestern Randolph’s softball team to strong seasons. (Randolph Record file photo)
ASHEBORO – Southwestern Randolph softball coach Chad Whitson has resigned after five seasons, the school announced Monday.
The Cougars held a 65-22 record under Whitson’s direction.
Toby Strider, who had been an assistant coach, has been promoted to head coach. Strider also previously coached at the middle school.
The Cougars positioned a 22-2 record this year, going undefeated in Piedmont Athletic Conference play and ranking among the top teams in the state in Class 2-A. Standout pitcher Macie Crutchfield completed her sophomore season.
Infielder Carleigh Whitson, the coach’s daughter, was a senior on this season’s team.
Whitson received conference Coach of the Year honors in 2021 and 2023. The Cougars were league champions or co-champions three times with Whitson as coach.
Pierce Leonard takes a swing for Randolph County Post 45. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
Randolph County Post 45 has been off a strong start to the American Legion baseball season.
The team has a good core of returning players who’ve produced across the first couple of weeks of the season.
Post 45 had a 7-1 record – capped with a 5-4 victory at Davidson County last week – before a five-day break in the schedule. The team is slated to be back in action this week.
The lone loss came by a 3-2 score at Rowan County. Twelve days later, Post 45 avenged the loss with a 10-5 home victory.
Tyler Parks drove in four runs in that triumph, while Ethan Frye and Braylen Hayes homered. Samuel Asbill was the winning pitcher.
Parks, Hayes, Tanner Marsh, Adam Cole, Josh Meadows, Drew Harmon, Connor Adams, Alex Martinez and Robert Garner are returnees from the 2022 team who’ve been key contributors this season.
Hayes homered twice as part of an 8-RBI night and Marsh scored four runs in a home romp past Davidson County. Meadows homered in a game at Mocksville-Davie County.
Cole won’t be with the team much longer as he reports for classes this month at East Carolina, where he’ll join the football program. Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said he welcomed Cole’s participation this spring even though he knew it would be on a short-term basis.
Outfielder Carter Brown, since helping Uwharrie Charter Academy to a Class 1-A state championship, has been produced upon joining Post 45. He drove in three runs in the Rowan County and Davidson County games.
Pitcher Drake Purvis, who was coming off surgery and didn’t pitch until late in the high school season for Randleman, has been a boost to the pitching staff along with high school teammate Austin Lemons.
Other Post 45 newcomers include former Randleman standout Hunter Atkins plus Ethan Frye and Pierce Leonard from Eastern Randolph’s team.
Because of delayed completion of renovations at McCrary Park in Asheboro, Post 45 has played home games at Randleman High School. The team has practiced at McCrary Park and should be playing games there by the end of next week. Last Wednesday’s home game against Mooresville was cancelled because of weather-related concerns.
Members of the Asheboro ZooKeepers hang out at the dugout at UNCG. (Photo courtesy of ZooKeepers)
GREENSBORO – College baseball players arrived to play a summer season in Asheboro.
So far, they’ve played only elsewhere.
That’s just part of the rough opening stretch of the season for the Asheboro ZooKeepers.
“It’s a little strange,” said third baseman Tanner Thomas, who plays collegiately for Longwood. “We’re very thankful that we have a place like this to play.”
He was referring to UNC Greensboro Baseball Stadium.
With a renovation project behind schedule at McCrary Park, the ZooKeepers have mostly played road games in the Coastal Plain League. They could be using the UNCG facility for select home games through June 21.
So the ZooKeepers played their ”home” opener Friday night at UNCG. The 3-0 loss to the Forest City Owls dropped Asheboro’s record to 0-5. In a rematch the next night at Forest City, the Owls won 6-5.
“We’re keeping a positive attitude,” ZooKeepers catcher Dallas Callahan, who played the 2021 summer season in Asheboro and is a UNCG product. “We’re piecing it together.”
That’s the message from first-year coach Korey Dunbar.
“We’ve got a young group of guys,” he said. “We’re going to continue to get better as we go once we start to figure things out.”
Since the start of the season, some players have trickled in. For instance, Jake Holland, a catcher from New Mexico (and transfer who also played for Georgia Tech), was on hand for his first game Friday night.
Dunbar didn’t have pitching coach Josh Pike available until late in the week because of his commitments as a graduate assistant at North Carolina State.
Asheboro received a solid outing from starting pitcher Jacob Dienes, an N.C. State lefty. And by the ninth inning, the ZooKeepers had two runners on base when the game ended on Luke Holland’s lineout to second base.
“We’re not playing our best baseball and we’re in ball games,” Dunbar said. “We’ve got to do some work. I’m positive with these guys.”
Another scoring chance fizzled in the fourth after Dylan Driver’s lead-off double.
Thomas said he’s excited about playing the summer in the CPL after appearing in 44 games as a freshman for Longwood.
“We’re working every day and we’re constantly getting better,” Thomas said. “Little things here and there that aren’t falling our way. Everybody is trying to get kick-started.”
For Callahan, who played this year as a UNCG senior, he figured his playing days on campus had been completed.
“You play your last game here (for UNCG) and think you’re done here,” Callahan said. “And you’re back.”
About 100 spectators attended the ZooKeepers’ first game in Greensboro.
ZooKeepers general manager Melissa Godwin, who’s in her first season, is wife to UNCG coach Billy Godwin. She said she views the relocation of games as a short-term glitch.
“It’s a blessing to be able to use UNCG,” she said. “It definitely has been an operational challenge.”
Dunbar praised Melissa Godwin’s efforts to pull things together the past few weeks. The ZooKeepers have been able to use McCrary Park for practices while renovations continue on off-field fan areas.
“She’s making it a good experience and that’s what we want for the guys,” Dunbar said. “It’s going to pay off.”
Honored in the spring were, front row, left to right: Sarah Hildreth (Asheboro), Mackenzie Gee (Eastern Randolph), Emma Mazzarone (Providence Grove), Madison Ray (Southwestern Randolph), Autumn Gentry (Trinity), Kennedy Strickland (Wheatmore). Back row: Hakemme Butler (Asheboro), Kahlin Graham (Eastern Randolph), Zander Cheek (Providence Grove), Landon McGee (Randleman), Caleb McNeill (Southwestern Randolph), Cooper Pollock (Trinity) and Randy Spencer (Wheatmore). Not pictured: Elizabeth York (Randleman).
SOPHIA – Senior athletes from area schools were honored by the Randolph Sports Council during banquets at Snyder Farms Restaurant during the school year.
Three times during the year, two seniors from seven schools were recipients of sportsmanship awards, which were accompanied by $500 scholarships. Recipients were selected by each school’s scholarship committee.
Guest speakers during this school year were Matt Ridge, Davidson-Davie Community College athletics director and men’s basketball coach, in the fall; Rusty LaRue, chief operations officer of Dairi-O Restaurants and former football and basketball standout at Wake Forest (before an NBA career), in the winter; and Heather Macy, assistant athletics director and women’s basketball coach at Greensboro College, in the spring.
