NCHSAA Class 4-A Softball – Game One: North Davidson Unearned Runs Difference In 3-2 Win

RALEIGH — North Davidson took advantage of four Greenville D.H. Conley errors to score a 3-2 victory on Friday night in the first game of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A softball championship series at Dail Softball Stadium at North Carolina State University.

All of North’s ruins were unearned, as the Knights scored a run in the first with the aid of a couple of errors and then pushed across two in the fifth for a 3-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Casey Stanek, who entered the game batting .488, accounted for one of the sixth inning tallies.

But Conley cut the margin to 3-2 with a pair of runs in its half of the sixth, the big blow a run-scoring triple by Makenna Matthijs.

Erica Mock had two hits in three trips for North while Breanna Hardee was two for three for Conley.

Aptly named Blakely Thrower was the winning pitcher, fanning eight, while Rachel Weidner took the loss despite an 11-strikeout performance.

D.H. Conley is in the finals for the third time in the last five years and has previous crowns in 2011 and ’13. The Vikings slipped to 25-3 overall while North Davidson, back in the championships for the first time since 2011, is now 26-5.

Game two in the best of three series is set for Saturday at 2 pm, with a third game if necessary later on Saturday.

NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
STATE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Dail Softball Stadium, N.C. State
Class 4-A: Game One

                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E 
North Davidson  1 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 5 1
D.H. Conley     0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 5 4

WP — Blakely Thrower
LP — Rachel Weidner