NCCSA ROUNDUP: Lady Chargers advance to soccer, softball finals

It won’t be a spring sweep for Wilson Christian Academy. which is hosting Saturday’s North Carolina Christian School Association 2-A championships in baseball, girls soccer and softball, but the Lady Chargers can go 2 for 2.

Wilson Christian, the defending NCCSA 2-A girls soccer champion, slugged Wilmington Christian 6-0 on Friday evening at home in the semifinals while on the softball diamond the Lady Chargers thumped Oak Level Baptist in those semifinals.

The Chargers baseball team won’t join the Lady Chargers on championship Saturday, however, after East No. 1 seed Wilmington Christian rolled to a 10-0 semifinals win Friday after a thunderstorm rolled through Turnage Athletic Complex.

SOCCER

Lady Chargers score late, often

Wilson Christian (12-5-1), the No. 1 seed from the East Region, earned a repeat trip to the NCCSA 2-A final where it will meet Faith Christian of Ramseur, the West’s top seed in a rematch of the 2023 final that the Lady Chargers won 2-0.

They got there by winning a rematch against Wilmington Christian (9-10) that Wilson Christian won by just a goal, 5-4, on its Senior Day on April 30

“I think the biggest difference tonight is we our mindset was much better than the first time around,” Wilson Christian head coach Jordan Strother said. “With states around the corner, we had a mindset of coming out aggressive and and not letting up.”

Still, the Lady Chargers continued their recent habit of taking their time each half to put a ball in the net and then scoring multiple goals. The match was scoreless until the 30th minute when Melanie Raper knocked in a corner kick from Brylan Harris.

Freshman Maddie Reynell then scored the first of her four goals as Wilson Christian doubled its lead with a minute to go before halftime.

Three of Reynell’s goals came on assists by junior Bri Little, who had the favor returned by Reynell on Little’s 67th-minute goal that put the Lady Chargers up 5-0.

Kaylee Radford had the assist on Reynell’s final goal in the 76th minute.

Junior keeper Melia Hughes made 12 saves in the shutout win while senior stopper Chloe Villaverde and senior Gracie Farmer earned praise from Strother for their defensive performance.

As far as the slow-starting offense, Strother said that defense will take care of that.

“It’s not a big concern tomorrow as long as we stand defensively until we can get going,” he said. “From what I remember from last year, they play a very similar from what they did last year. They like to play it out wide and then try to get that cross back into the middle. So we’ve just got to make sure that our defenders don’t chase after the ball to the outside and get caught out of position.”

SOFTBALL

McBryde belts pair in WCA romp

Wilson Christian, the East No. 2 seed, and West No. 1 Oak Level Baptist needed an extra inning to settle the first of Friday’s semifinals but the Lady Chargers made sure it was only one with six runs in the eighth to win 12-6.

It was just the fourth loss in 19 games for Oak Level Baptist, which committed 10 errors in the game.

Wilson Christian will face a familiar finals nemesis in Union Grove Christian of Lexington, the West No. 2 seed that spilled East No. 1 Bethel Christian 14-9 in Friday’s other semifinal at Wilson Christian.

Freshman Katie McBryde blasted a pair of home runs as she went 3 for 3 with four RBIs and four runs scored to lead the WCA offense. Senior Emma Mercer was 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored while seventh grader Cassidy Reynell was 1 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Freshman Allie Miller also doubled and scored three times.

Seventh grader Stevie Cressionne weathered 10 hits by Oak Level Baptist in the pitching circle as she went all eight innings to get the win. Only three of her six runs were earned and she fanned five.

Cressionne also stole a base and went 2 for 5 at the plate.

Haley Inman was 5 for 5 with two doubles and three RBIs to pace Oak Level Baptist.

BASEBALL

C hargers bow to Patriots 10-0

Out of three East Region teams in the NCCSA 2-A baseball final four, only Wilson Christian won’t be playing Saturday as the Chargers, seeded third in the region, lost 10-0 in the semifinals Friday to East No. Wilmington Christian.

The Patriots (17-6), who bludgeoned the Chargers (12-10) by a 19-3 margin in Wilson 10 days earlier, will face East No. 2 Bethel Christian of Kinston in Saturday’s final at Wilson Christian.

Wilmington Christian piled up 14 hits off three Chargers pitchers, including starter Ethan Kriger who got the loss. The Chargers managed seven off hits off the Patriots with eighth grader Mack Wiggins and senior Parker Bunn getting two each. Bunn doubled.

The post NCCSA ROUNDUP: Lady Chargers advance to soccer, softball finals first appeared on Restoration NewsMedia .