PREPBASEBALL
SATURDAY May 15, 2010
SALISBURY POST
Ronnie Gallagher, Sports Editor, 704-797-4287 rgallagher@salisburypost.com
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www.salisburypost.com
Carson wins 20th behind Park BY MIKE LONDON mlondon@salisburypost.com
WAXHAW — Zack Grkman’s legs, Weston Carson 6 Snow’s hands, M. Ridge 4 Joseph Basinger’s muscles and Ethan Free’s right arm all played key roles. Still, Jesse Park’s right kneecap will be the anatomical part most remembered from Carson’s first-ever playoff victory. Carson outlasted Marvin Ridge 6-4 in eight innings in a first-round 3A thriller with no shortage of drama. “Pitching-wise my guys did all I
could possibly ask,” MR coach Mark Mennitt said. “Hold Carson to two runs in regulation and you should win the game, but they out-executed us and we left too many on base.” The Cougars (20-7) were out-hit 12-8 but drew inspiration from Park, who appeared seriously hurt when MR’s Brian Peart drilled a wicked shot off his right kneecap with the score tied 2-2 in the sixth. The ball was hit so ferociously it ricocheted almost to the right-field fence. “All I remember is shock waves went up and down my leg,” Park said. “Everyone said it made a really bad sound.”
Raiders pick up victory
PARK
SNOW
Park went down, staggered to his feet, went down again, and finally lay prone on the field as Peart raced to second base and coaches rushed from both dugouts to administer aid. Trainer Joe Gragg, Carson’s loudest
fan, was right behind them. Carson coach Chris Cauble feared the worst as he headed to the mound. “As hard as that ball was hit, as far as it traveled after it hit Jesse, I was afraid his knee had imploded,” Cauble said. “Joe did a great job.” After five minutes, Park got gingerly to his feet, and the crowd that had gathered in Waxhaw for the daylight game, applauded. There was louder applause when Park gestured he wanted to try a warmup pitch. There was amazed applause when he said he would stay in, and Carson fans went crazy when he got the last out of the sixth on a flyball.
“Heck, he was throwing harder than before he got hurt,” Cauble said. Park’s knee stiffened up while Carson batted in a scoreless but eventful top of the seventh. It was a half-inning that saw an intense struggle heat up several degrees. There was serious pushing and shoving and jawing around the first-base bag. Cauble turned to sophomore Ethan Free after Park’s day was done. Free held MR in the seventh. The Cougars hit just one ball out of the infield in the eighth but scored four times. Grkman walked, and
See CARSON, 4B
WHERE THERE’S A WILL
BY DAVID SHAW dshaw@salisburypost.com
WEDDINGTON — It was enough to S. Rowan 7 make your Weddington 5 head spin — unless, of course, your name is Thad Chrismon. The South Rowan coach was probably the only one who believed the visiting Raiders had any chance of beating topseeded Weddington in a 3A state playoff opener Friday. “This is a good, confident bunch,” Chrismon said after South scored five times in the first inning and held on for a 7-5 victory. “No disrespect to anybody, but we’re playing good baseball right now. Sometimes when you’re playing good and you take advantage of mistakes, good things happen.” Good things started happening for South (16-9) right from the start. Leadoff batter Maverick Miles homered on Anthony Boone’s first delivery MILES of the game, sending a message even the tone-deaf had to hear. “A lot of people will be surprised when they see (today’s) paper,” Miles said. “Most of them thought we were gonna get our butts whipped. Nobody expected this from us.” Nobody expected the Raiders to score four more runs — the last two on a screaming, two-out double to rightcenter by Jacob Dietz — before the first inning was over. But DIETZ that’s the luxury winning pitcher Preston Penninger strolled to the mound with in the last of the first. “It’s so much easier to pitch when you’ve got a fiverun lead,” he said after hurling a complete game and earing his fourth win. “You can just concentrate on getting people out.” Penninger’s effort was more fridge art than masterpiece, but it was quite effective. He kept Weddington (18-8) guessing by alternating pitch speeds and locations and consistently throwing his fastball, curve and changeup for strikes. “Preston pitched a whale of a game,” Chrismon said. “What he’s learned throughout the season is he’s got to mix it up and he’s got to keep it down. Preston doesn’t have any trouble with walks, but he’s got to move his pitches down, up, around, out, slower and faster. He’s learned that.”
See SOUTH, 4B
JON C. LAKEY/SALISBURY POST
East Rowan’s Will Johnson retired 10 of the 11 Concord batters he faced on Friday night and improved to 4-0 on the season.
Johnson’s the man Reliever helps No. 1 seed East Rowan advance BY BRET STRELOW bstrelow@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan setup man E. Rowan 5 Will Johnson enConcord 0 tered earlier than normal, and the first batter he faced ripped a line drive back to the mound. Johnson caught the ball and calmly threw to first to double-up a Concord baserunner. The remainder of Johnson’s relief appearance was routine compared to the start. Preston Troutman and Johnson
combined for a two-hit shutout as East posted a 5-0 victory against the Spiders in the first round of the 3A playoffs at Staton Field on Friday. Troutman’s fifth walk prompted a pitching change with two on and one away in the fourth inning of a 2-0 game. Johnson (4-0) retired 10 of the 11 hitters he encountered. “That’s the most he’s thrown in a game, but he’s been lights-out all year,” East coach Brian Hightower said. “We just rolled him out. They were going to have to prove to me that they could hit him before I was going to take him out. We had two guys ready to go and they’ve been
doing the job, but there’s no sense in the playoffs in taking him out if they aren’t hitting him.” Troutman made only his fourth start of the season because ace Thomas Allen (8-1) has a forearm strain. Troutman walked Dylan Pack to open the game and hit Eric Brenk in the helmet with a one-out pitch. Cleanup hitter Corey Smith had a 3-1 count before popping out to shortstop Avery Rogers, who collided with left fielder Jamey Blalock.
See EAST, 4B
JON C. LAKEY/SALISBURY POST
Will Sapp, who had two hits and scored two runs, lays down a bunt.
Scrappy Hornets fall to West Stanly BY PAUL HERSHEY sports@salisburypost.com
OAKBORO — Salisbury coach Scott Maddox adW. Stanly 6 mits he didn’t know Salisbury 4 what to expect from his young team all season. That certainly held true as the Hornets played at West Stanly in the first round of the 2A playoffs Friday night. Despite suffering a season-ending 6-4 setback to the Rocky River Conference champions, Maddox had no complaints with Salisbury's effort or performance. “I told them before the game ‘If you’ll just come out and compete and
give yourself a chance to win’ and we did that,” Maddox said. “I’m proud of them. We didn't lose it, they won it.” John Knox led off the game with a home run on the first KNOX pitch, but otherwise the Hornets (14-11) were battling from behind. West Stanly (22-6) scored in each of the first three innings to lead 4-2. Salisbury tied it with runs in the fourth and fifth, but the Colts went right back ahead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Knox, who reached base and scored in each of his first three times
at bat, came up as the tying run in the seventh. Brian Bauk drew a leadoff walk against West Stanly starter Zach Martin. With Knox up next, West Stanly coach David Lee pulled Martin in favor of Zach Huneycutt, another Colts’ starter who is 5-1 on the season. “I thought giving the top of their order with Knox, who’s a very dangerous hitter, a different look might be to our advantage,” Lee said. “We kind of go against the “book” a lot but that might have made the best sense because they’d seen (Martin) three times." Knox worked a 3-2 count, but Huneycutt struck him out swinging with a fastball. "They threw a guy in that looked
like he was throwing 90 mph compared to the guy they had," Maddox said. “It takes a pretty good hitter to adjust to that. John is a good hitter, but the guy hit his spots. You just tip your hat to that guy." Philip Tonseth then lined out and Kyle Wolfe popped out, ending the Hornets’ bid to repeat their playoff upset of West Stanly four years ago. Knox's leadoff homer was the first of four home runs in the game as rather routine flyballs turned into quick runs in West Stanly's small park. Kevin Van Asch answered Knox with a solo shot in the first and Zach Honeycutt (not to be confused with
See SALISBURY, 4B