Baseball, softball titles on the line for Hickory, St. Stephens, Maiden, Bandys as regular season winds down (2023)

Mark ParkerRecord Sports Correspondent

Easter break is over and athletes are returning to the biggest week yet with eight matchups in the area that feature first-place versus second-place teams. With time running out for the regular season, the time has come for squads to make a statement.

BASEBALL

Northwestern 3A/4A

Alexander Central leads the pack at 6-0 in the conference, just ahead of Watauga, at 5-1. Winners of 11 in a row, the Cougars (15-4) will make their way to Boone on Tuesday with a chance to move two games ahead of the Pioneers with three games to play. A win by the Cougars would seize the tiebreaker.

However, if Watauga wins and forges a tie, Hibriten (3-3) becomes an important part of the conference race. Hibriten hosts Watauga on Friday and goes to Alexander Central next Monday. Alexander Central also has a tough game at home this Friday against South Caldwell.

If there is a tie, the team with the best finish in the conference tournament would take the league’s 4A bid for the state tournament.

Hibriten is well ahead of the 3A group of teams and can clinch that No. 1 bid with a win at home Tuesday against Ashe County.

Western Foothills 3A

This has been a nutty league much of the season, but for now, Hickory (7-1) and St. Stephens (6-2) are at the top the league. These two teams will play each other Friday at St. Stephens. Hickory has the clearest path with a win, but there are a lot of other moving parts in this league and some questions for both of the crosstown rivals.

Hickory allowed 22 runs over the first 14 games, with excellent pitching. The team suddenly has concerns after giving up 24 runs in the last two games of the Catawba County Easter Baseball Classic last week. In the same tournament, the Indians had a surprising loss to Newton-Conover, before bouncing back to defeat Hickory in the third-place game.

Sitting ahead for the Red Tornadoes on Tuesday is a road game at defending champion North Lincoln (5-3), which can keep a toe in the championship race with a victory over Hickory. St. Stephens will host North Iredell (4-4), which defeated East Lincoln (3-4) and Foard (5-3).

Speaking of Foard, the Tigers led the WFAC after defeating Hickory. The team then lost three of five overall. If the Tigers right the ship against the bottom two teams of the league this week (West Iredell and Statesville), they could control their own destiny. They'll have games against North Lincoln, Hickory and St. Stephens over the next two weeks.

Catawba Valley 2A

With four games to play in the league, Maiden (9-1) hosts Bandys (8-2) for a chance to take a big step toward the conference title. A win for Maiden puts the Blue Devils within a win or a Bandys loss in the final three games to clinch the league’s No. 1 bid in the state tournament.

A win for Bandys gets the Trojans even in the standings. Following Tuesday’s game, both the Trojans and Blue Devils have their final three games against teams in the lower half of the conference. There's a good chance the conference tournament will be the determining factor for the No. 1 bid. That's important because the winner is looking at a top 10 seed. The runner-up is facing a seed in the mid-20s out of 32 teams.

Western Highlands 1A/2A

Draughn and Madison lead the league at 7-1 with Mountain Heritage behind at 5-1.

This league plays a two-game series in a given week with a bye week built in, due to an odd number of teams (7) in the league. Both Draughn and Madison — which split their season series — still have their byes to come.

All three teams play squads at the bottom of the league this week. If the leaders keep winning, the league championship comes down to these matchups: next week Mountain Heritage faces Madison, while Draughn is on its bye. The final week has the Wildcats taking on Mountain Heritage, while Madison is off.

SOFTBALL

Northwestern 3A/4A

This league is about state contenders Alexander Central (6-0 NWC) and South Caldwell (5-1) with the rest playing for third. These two will play each other on Friday at Alexander Central with the Cougars having a chance to wrap up the league title with a victory. The Cougars won the first game between these two at South Caldwell.

If South Caldwell wins, the league’s No. 1 4A bid likely will come down to the conference tournament championship. The league’s No. 1 seed will likely mean the difference between a top-four seed in the state playoffs for the winner and a 10th seed for the runner-up.

Ashe County (3-3) will have a chance to claim the 3A bid with a win at home on Tuesday against Hibriten (1-5).

Western Foothills 3A

Fred T. Foard enters the week in first place at 7-1, one-half game ahead of East Lincoln, which is at 6-1. The Mustangs will make up the missing game as part of a doubleheader on Tuesday against winless Statesville, and then take on sixth-place West Iredell (3-5) on Friday. The Tigers play the same teams in reverse order on Tuesday and Friday.

Should the Mustangs and Tigers stick to their winning ways, Foard will host East Lincoln a week from Tuesday for control of first place.

North Lincoln (6-2) is in third and still in the conference title picture. The Knights will host seventh-place Hickory on Tuesday, but then have a tougher task on Friday at North Iredell. If North Lincoln gets through the week unbeaten, the Knights still have a chance at the league title. They still have both Foard and East Lincoln on the schedule in the coming weeks.

Catawba Valley 2A

Like their baseball classmates, Maiden (10-0) and Bandys (9-1) pulled away from the rest of the pack in the league. Maiden will look for the season sweep when it hosts the Trojans on Tuesday.

A win by Maiden will put the Blue Devils within one win, or a Bandys loss, of clinching the league’s No. 1 bid for the state tournament. A win by the Trojans likely sets up a co-championship for the regular season with the top bid coming down to the conference tournament.

Maiden enters the week ranked fifth in the West Region in the latest Max Preps RPI rankings. Bandys is sixth. However, the runner-up likely gets a seed no higher than 12th in the state playoffs.

Mountain Foothills 7 2A

When Patton scored nine runs in the bottom of the seventh to stun R-S Central 14-13, it put the Panthers within striking distance of first place.

Although they are in fifth at 3-3, the Panthers are only a game out of first in the loss column, and they’ll get a shot at the first-place East Rutherford (5-2) in a two-game series starting at home on Tuesday. The Cavaliers host the rematch on Friday.

Other key two-game series this week include Chase (4-2) against last-place Hendersonville, and R-S Central (4-3) against Brevard (4-3).

TENNIS DUAL SEASON CONCLUDES

The regular season in dual team competition wraps up this week, with most of the area conferences on the verge of determining its representatives to the state dual tournament.

The lone conference championship to be decided is in the Northwestern 3A/4A, which has South Caldwell (7-1) and Watauga (6-1) competing for the 4A bid. The two teams split their regular season duals, leaving a key match for both against Hibriten (5-2) that could determine the title.

Watauga hosts the Panthers on Monday, with Hibriten hoping to avenge a 5-4 defeat on its home court. The Panthers then close out the regular season on Thursday by hosting South Caldwell.

In case of a tie, the tiebreaker for the 4A representative will be set at next week’s conference tournament. Hibriten has clinched the league’s 3A bid.

Hickory (5-0) has wrapped up the Western Foothills 3A top bid and can close out the outright championship with a win over Fred T. Foard on Tuesday. The second bid will come down to either St. Stephens or East Lincoln. The Indians were scheduled to host East Lincoln on April 6 before rain washed out that dual. The rescheduled dual has not been announced.

Bandys (5-0) is on the verge of clinching the Catawba Valley championship, as the Trojans lead Maiden (4-1) by one game and hold the tiebreaker due to a win over the Blue Devils. Bandys can clinch the league’s No. 1 bid into the 2A state tournament with a win at home over winless West Caldwell or at Bunker Hill on Thursday.

The Blue Devils lead both West Lincoln (3-2) and Bunker Hill (3-2) by one game for the second bid. Having defeated both already, Maiden can clinch the second spot with either a win over Lincolnton on Tuesday or at Newton-Conover on Thursday.

LACROSSE

Based on what has been published by the NCHSAA, there is uncertainty as to the size of the brackets in the state playoffs and the number of berths available from each conference. The playoffs begin May 2. Here is what is known:

The state playoffs for the boys are split into a bracket for the 4A teams, with the remaining clubs grouped into a 1A/2A/3A bracket. With the rules set that each classification is represented, TC Roberson (10-0) already has claimed the 4A bid out of the Northwestern/The Mountain/Western Foothills/Mountain Foothills Conference. The Rams can wrap up the outright championship by defeating second-place Hickory (6-2) on Tuesday.

Among the teams 1A/2A/3A bracket, Hickory leads North Lincoln (5-3) by one match with four to play, with those two teams already splitting their games. If Hickory defeats TC Roberson on Tuesday, the Red Tornadoes would be on the way to claiming the top 1A/2A/3A should they win out. If the two teams finish in a tie, a playoff game appears likely to determine the top bid.

The girls state tournament is one bracket for all four classifications. From the area league here, the top spot looks to be between TC Roberson (9-1) and Asheville (8-1). Hickory sits behind at 5-2 with still a chance to nose into that top spot. The Red Tornadoes host Roberson on Tuesday. A win by Hickory means the team would likely have a shot for at least a co-title when Hickory goes to Asheville a week from Thursday.

GIRLS SOCCER

While not as deep into the season as the other sports, there are some matches on top that have consequence for league titles.

The top match for the week comes up Tuesday, when Newton-Conover (5-1) hosts Maiden (4-0-1) with first place on the line in the CVAC at the halfway point of the league schedule. Lurking just behind is Bandys (3-1-1). All three teams will have rematches with the fellow contenders in the second half.

At the halfway point in the Western Foothills, East Lincoln (6-0-1) leads the pack with Hickory (6-1) and St. Stephens (5-1-1) is just off the pace. The Indians will host Hickory on Friday with the winner emerging as the top challenger to the Mustangs at the top of the league.

It’s still early in the Northwestern 3A/4A, but last year’s co-champions, Watauga (3-0) and Hibriten (2-0) have emerged at the top of the league again. Hibriten will host the Pioneers for the first of two matches on Friday.