High School Roundup: North Duplin softball team earns seventh straight victory

After falling to Wayne Christian on March 12 in their only loss of the season, the Rebels have had nothing but success on the softball field, winning seven straight games including a 17-7 victory over Wayne Christian in their rematch on April 11.

Wayne Christian got off to a strong start in the game against North Duplin by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. After North Duplin scored a single run in the bottom of the first inning, Wayne Christian then scored two more runs to take a 4-1 lead in the game. North Duplin didn’t back down from the challenge though, and they scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning and two more in the bottom of the third to take a 9-4 lead.

The Eagles answered back once again with three runs in the top of the fifth inning, but North Duplin put the game away for good with seven runs in the bottom of the same inning to take a 16-7 lead. The Rebels would also add one more in the sixth inning as they went on to win by a final score of 17-7.

With the win, the Rebels improved to 9-1 overall this season while Wayne Christian fell to 9-3 overall with the loss.

Union

The Union Spartans are another team that is playing some of their best softball late into the season, and with their 12-1 defeat of the Lakewood Leopards on April 11, they have won five of their last six games.

With the win, Union also improved to 7-3 overall this season and 3-2 in North Carolina High School Athletic Association Carolina 1A Conference play. Lakewood fell to 1-12 overall and 0-5 in conference play with the loss.

East Duplin

After a strong start to the season, the Panthers have hit a bit of a rough patch recently as they lost their fourth game in-a-row when they were defeated 9-3 by the Richlands Wildcats on April 10.

Richlands got off to a strong start in the game when they scored four runs in the second inning. East Duplin rallied back though to cut the Wildcats lead to just 5-3 with a run in the second inning and two runs in the fourth inning. Richlands put the game away for good by scoring four runs in the sixth inning to take a 9-3 lead which would also be the game’s final score.

East Duplin fell to 7-8 overall with the loss, and Richlands improved to 10-6 overall with the win.

Richlands

After defeating East Duplin on April 10, the Wildcats picked up another victory just two days later when they defeated the White Oak Vikings 15-0.

Richlands got off to a strong start in the game scoring six runs in the first innings. The Wildcats then scored another run in the second inning and eight in the third before the game was called after just three innings due to mercy rule.

The win was the Wildcats fourth in-a-row, and they improved to 11-6 overall this season and 2-2 in NCHSAA Coastal 3A Conference play. The Vikings fell to 4-9 overall and 1-3 in conference play with the loss.

James Kenan

The James Kenan softball’s team struggles continued on April 10 as they were defeated 13-0 by Pender.

The loss was the Tigers third in-a-row, and in all three of those games, they failed to score a single run. With the loss, the Tigers also fell to 5-7 overall this season while Pender improved to 8-3 overall with the win.

Wallace-Rose Hill

Just like the baseball team, the Bulldogs softball team also lost to the South Lenoir on April 9 when they were unable to match the offensive fire power of the Blue Devils falling 7-2.

South Lenoir jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the game scoring two runs in the first inning and one run each in the third and fourth innings. Wallace-Rose Hill then cut the Blue Devils lead to two with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, but South Lenoir quickly regained control of the game scoring one run in the bottom of the inning and two runs in the sixth to win 7-2.

The loss was Wallace-Rose Hill’s second in-a-row, and after a 10-2 start to the season, they have now fallen to 10-4. They also fell to 4-3 in NCHSAA 2A Conference play with the loss. With the win, South Lenoir improved to 8-5 overall and 6-1 in conference play.

Harrells Christian Academy

The Harrells Christian Academy Crusaders came through in clutch time with a 9-8 victory over Faith Christian 10-inning nailbiter on April 9.

Harrells Christian got off to a great start in the game when they scored two runs in the first inning, one run in the second inning, and three runs in the third inning to take a 6-0 lead. Faith Christian came roaring back though with an 8-run fourth inning. The Harrells Christian batters came through when it mattered though, and they scored two runs in the seventh to send the game to extra inning before winning it with a run in the 10th.

With the win, Harrells Christian improved to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association Carolina Independent Conference Standings. Faith Christian fell to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play with the loss.

BASEBALL

North Duplin

After a tough 3-1 loss to Rosewood on April 10, the North Duplin Rebels rebounded with a dominant 13-0 win over Neuse Charter just one day later.

North Duplin was able to come away with the dominant victory thanks to a dominant third inning in which they scored eight runs to increase their lead from 4-0 to 12-0. They went on to score another run in the fourth inning with the game being stopped after the fifth due to the 10-run mercy rule.

With the win, the Rebels improved to 9-6 overall this season and 5-1 in North Carolin High School Athletic Association Carolina 1A Conference play. Neuse Charter fell to 2-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play with the loss.

James Kenan

The James Tigers also played on April 10 in a game that, while on the scoreboard would appear to be a lopsided 8-2 loss for the Tigers against the Pender Patriots, was actually much closer than the scoreboard showed.

The Tigers struck first in the game when they scored a single run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, and they increased their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning. Their lead didn’t last though, as in the bottom of the inning, Pender scored two runs to tie the game.

The game continued to remain a tie until the bottom of the sixth inning when Pender had the most dominant inning of the night for any team scoring six runs to take a 8-2 lead which would also be the game’s final score.

The loss was the third in a row for the Tigers, and they fell to 3-9 overall, while the Patriots improved to 5-8 overall with the win.

Wallace-Rose Hill

The Wallace-Rose Hill Bulldogs also came up short in their last game when they fell 12-2 to the South Lenoir Blue Devils on April 9.

Just like the Bulldogs battle against Pender, Wallace-Rose Hill’s game against South Lenoir was one that was closer than the final score on scoreboard may have suggested as through three innings, the Bulldogs trailed just 3-2 before giving up two runs in the fourth inning and seven runs in the sixth inning for a total of nine unanswered runs.

With the loss, Wallace-Rose Hill fell to 8-6 overall and 3-4 in NCHSAA East Central 2A Conference play. South Lenoir improved to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play with the win.

Union

The Union Spartans lost their ninth game in a-row when they fell 13-2 to the Lakewood Leopards on April 11.

Lakewood dominated the game from start to finish as they scored six runs in the first inning and three runs in the second and third innings with Union scoring just one run in the second inning during that stretch to fall behind 12-1 before eventually losing 13-2.

With the loss, Union fell to 0-9 overall and 0-6 in NCHSAA Carolina 1A Conference play while Lakewood improved to 5-9 overall and 2-3 in conference play with the win.