Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Kings Mountain Herald
Sports
Page 1B
GARY STEWART/HERALD
a 6-0 win over East Rutherford.
Dylan Smith hauls in a pop-up to third in recent KMHS baseball game. Smith
clubbed two home runs Thursday at Forest City to lead the Mountaineers to
Mountaineers beat
BY Shelby; East to hold
onto first place
By GARY STEWART
Sports Editor
Kings Mountain defeated Shelby 8-5
Tuesday and East Rutherford 6-0 Thursday
to go into spring break with a 7-1 confer-
ence record and a two-game lead over
Chase for the regular season crown.
Senior third baseman Dylan Smith had
the best game of his varsity career Thurs-
day at East, slamming two home runs and
driving in five of the six runs. Tyler Ross
hit a solo home run for KM’s final victory
margin.
Jeffry Howell went the distance on the
mound, scattering seven hits and striking
out eight. Drew Reynolds pitched the first
six innings and took the loss for the Cava-
liers.
Smith hit a three-run homer over the left
field fence to put the Mountaineers up 3-0
in the top of the second inning. An East
error and walk preceded the blast.
Ross homered to left with one out in the
fourth to increase the margin to 4-0, and
Smith added his second blast of the game -
and fourth of the season - with Brent Hunt
aboard in the sixth.
Smith was the only KM player with two
hits. Hunt, Ross, Brantley Blalock and
Chris Allen added one apiece.
Howell posted his second complete
game victory of the season over the de-
fending champion Cavaliers. Tyler Byers
and Jordan Mabe had two hits each for
East.
Ross clubbed a three-run double and
Blalock and Cody Austin drove in a run
apiece as the Mountaineers posted their sec-
ond win of the year over Shelby Tuesday
night in Shelby.
Ross, double highlighted a four-run first
inning for the Mountaineers but Shelby bat-
tled back to tie the game at 4-all with three
runs in the first and one in the second.
Chris Allen singled and scored what
turned out to be the winning run on Austin’s
triple to right-center in the top of the fourth.
Austin scored when Blalock reached base
on an error, putting KM up 6-4.
The Mountaineers added their final two
runs in the sixth. Smith singled to right and
his pinch-runner, Kyle Bell, scored when
Brian Brown reached base on an error.
Blalock singled home Brown.
Blalock pitched the first six innings to
get the win. He scattered eight hits and
struck out eight before giving way to How-
ell in the seventh. After a shaky first two in-
‘nings, Blalock retired the Lions in order in
the third through fifth innings.
Austin and Smith led a seven-hit KM
plate attack with two hits each. KJ Dotson
had two hits and two RBIs and Austin Trice
had two hits and one RBI for the Lions.
Childers pitcher of week
Morgan Childers of Kings Mountain and
USC Upstate last week was voted A-Sun
Pitcher of the Week for the second time this
season.
Childers ‘was honored for winning all
four of her games during the week ending
April 5.
Childers leads Upstate with a 19-7 pitch-
ing record, including 18 complete games.
She has a 1.84 ERA and has 226 strikeouts
in 167 innings.
McClain leads offense
Kings Mountain High graduate
LaRonda McClain leads five offensive cat-
egories for the Wingate University softball
team.
McClain leads the team in at-bats (129),
total plate appearances (141), runs (35), hits
(48) and stolen bases (23).
The junior outfielder has a .372 batting
average. Wingate is 10-2 in the SAC and
25-10-1 overall.
KM bounces |
back to beat
Chase 11-7
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Kings Mountain came
back from an early 8-0
deficit to defeat Chase 11-7
in a SWC softball game
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Tuesday afternoon at the
KMMS field.
Lea Zwick hurled the
win and Jessica Burton and
Hayley Hoyle collected
four hits each to lead the
KM offense. Megan Hoyle
went 3-for-4, including a
three-run home run. Tori
Glass was 2-for-5 with two
RBIs.
On Monday, Kings
Mountain defeated Burns
11-2. Shea Cogdell got the
win and Taylor Faris led the
plate attack with 3-for-4 and
three RBIs. Hayley Hoyle
was 2-for-3 with two RBIs,
and Megan Hoyle had a
three-run triple.
GARY STEWART/HERALD
Megan Hoyle hit a 3-run home run to help lead KMHS to victory over
Chase in SWC softball action last week.
day.
KM beats Shelby
in SWC softball
Kings Mountain de-
feated Shelby 12-1 in a
SWC softball game Thurs- today.
Mountaineers will face
Bunker Hill and Freedom
Several players had big
days at the plate for the Thornburg
Mountaineers. Megan ole
Hoyle was 4-for-6 with two hitting over
RBIs and Kelisha Goodson +300 at Catawba
was 4-for-5 with two RBIs.
Haley Hoyle was 3-for-5
with three RBIs and Emily
Gates was 3-for-4.
Lea Zwick was the win-
ning pitcher.
The Mountaineers com-
pleted pre-Easter play with
a 4-3 conference and 5-5
overall mark. The Moun-
taineers were scheduled to
play West Lincoln and
South Caldwell in the open-
ing round of the South
Caldwell Spring Break
Tournament yesterday. The
Kings Mountain High
graduate Brittany Thorn-
burg continues to be one of
the leading hitters for the
Catawba Lady Indians.
Thornburg is hitting .321
with 11 doubles and 24 runs
batted in.
Kings Mountain gradu-
ate Kristyn Funderburke
‘has a .295 batting average
with five doubles and five
RBIs.
The Indians are 7-5 in
the SAC and 20-16 overall.
GARY STEWART/ HERALD
Brooke Hayes played outstanding defense as
Kings Mountain High scored two shutout wins
last week.
Kickers enter break at 11-1
The KMHS soccer team
defeated R-S Central and
Porter Ridge last week to enter
spring break with a 4-0 confer-
ence and 11-1 overall record.
The Lady Mountaineers
defeated R-S Central 3-0
Wednesday for their sixth
shutout of the year, and ex-
tended that shutout string to
seven Thursday night with a 3-
0 win over perennial state
power Porter Ridge in Monroe.
The Mountaineers scored
very early in the RS match as
Ashley Witherspoon blasted a
left footer past a diving RS
keeper just 2 and a half min-
utes into the opening period.
Megan Loftin slid a perfectly
placed diagonal pass to the
streaking Witherspoon.
The Mountaineers got sev-
eral other good runs down the
field but the Hilltopper defense
stood tall.
“RS really played a tough
man to man defense and then
they dropped a couple of de-
feners on us to clog up the
penalty area,” noted Coach
Dan Potter.
Ramey Kems scored the
second goal at the 14 minute
mark as Meagan Reynolds
hooked her up with a nicely
played cross. ;
The KM defense stood tall
all evening as the hosts rarely
pressured the Mountaineer
goalkeeper. Heather Stevens
recorded five saves on the
night as the Mountaineers pep-
pered the Hilltopper goal with
over 30 shots. ;
In the second half, Sarah
Mauney crossed a perfectly
placed ball to the far post
where Kerns drilled a header
for the final 3-0 margin.
“Tonight was a bit frustrat-
ing for our players as they were
continually attacking and had
several good chances to score
but were just a bit off on their
finishing,” Potter said. “It was
nice to see every player con-
tribute to the victory as all of
the players played 30 minutes
of action.”
Thursday, the Moun-
taineers gained revenge for one
of their two losses from last
season. Porter Ridge came out
flat and the Mountaineers con-
trolled much of the early pos-
session.
At the 14 minute mark,
‘Ashley Witherspoon took a
shot off the goal post from
Ramey Kerns and hammered
back the rebound for a 1-0 ad-
vantage. Prior to the shot, Mea-
gan Reynolds beat two
defenders down the left flank
and placed a nice cross to
Kerns.
The match continued along
the same pattern with KM con-
trolling possession about two
to one.
“Megan Loftin did a fantas-
tic job along with Chelsea
Champion in controlling the
midfield for us,” Potter said.
“Brooke Hayes, Mallory
Mansfield, Jordan Doty and
Alex Edwards would solidify
the defense and once again
help protect our goal real
well.”
The Mountaineers went up
2-0 just three and one half min-
utes into the second period.
Champion made an outstand-
ing ball up to Reynolds, who
beat two defenders and drilled
the ball in the net.
Kerns got a couple of good
crosses and hit a great direct
from 40 yards that just missed.
With 16 minutes left, Reynolds
got an insurance goal as she
took a great pass from Wither-
spoon to go in all alone on a
break away. The host keeper
made a supper effort and
nearly stopped the ball, but it
barely trickled into the net.
The match was far from
over as each team got a couple
of late looks. 'KM keeper
Heather Stevens came up big
as she deflected a corner kick
and then was cleared out of
danger by Doty.
“This match presented our
girls with some good chal-
lenges and they met those chal-
lenges,” Potter said.
The 10th ranked Moun-
taineers return to action Mon-
day, April 20 at Burns.