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PCA Athletics

It was a full week for the Pungo Christian Academy spring sports teams as the weather allowed them to play all games as scheduled.

Softball: The Lady Raiders extended their undefeated start with home (13-4) and road (13-3) victories over the TEACH homeschool Trailblazers and a 15-5 victory in Ahoskie against Ridgecroft in the Tar Heel Independent Conference opener.
Emma Hanna, EllaKate Hanna and Melanie Rutledge each collected four hits in the first win. EllaKate Hanna and Rutledge nearly hit for the cycle, hitting two home runs, a double and a single apiece while Emma Hanna hit three doubles and a single. Anna Stoop and Lily Keech combined for the pitching victory.
Pungo erupted for 10 runs in the final three innings to win the rematch. The Hanna sisters continued their hitting streak with two singles and a triple each. Keech, Rutledge and Savannah Pence also picked up hits while Stoop struck out five for the pitching win.
Monday at Ridgecroft, PCA started with six runs in the first two innings. The Lady Rams eventually cut the deficit to three into the top of the 6th, but the Lady Raiders scored seven to ice the win. Stoop shut down the Ridgecroft attack in the 6th to give the Raiders their 9th consecutive win dating back to last season. EllaKate Hanna finished with a home run, a single and four RBI while Emma picked up three hits and two RBI. Rutledge knocked in four runs on three hits and Savannah Pence also batted in three runs.

Baseball: The Raiders won two of three games. After a 3-0 home loss to TEACH, PCA routed Crossroads Christian, 17-5 in the rain in Henderson, then blasted Ridgecroft 22-8. TEAH scored an unearned run in the second and PCA’s Jackson Walker had a no-hitter before giving up one (and two runs) in the 7th for the final margin. Parker Byrd had the Raiders only hit.
PCA bounced back with 17 runs in five innings in Henderson Friday. Freshman Luke Alligood earned the pitching win with five strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Evan Woolard led the offense, going 3/4 with three RBI and a double. McKinney Waters and Bo Spencer combined for four hits and three RBI. Parker Byrd also drove in three while Carr Eagles had two RBI.
The hitting continued at Ridgecroft with 14 runs in the first two frames, then eight in the fifth to end the game. Eagles was 4-4 with three RBI, Bo Spencer had two doubles and two RBI, Austin Garrish had two hits and Byrd added a hit and three RBI. Evan Woolard earned the pitching win with five strikeouts in two innings.

Soccer: The girls split two games. Katie Baxter scored her first goal of the year minutes into the first half to put the Raiders up 1 – 0 at Epiphany School in New Bern. Epiphany answered with two goals in the final 15 minutes for a 2 – 1 halftime lead. Baxter evened things with 20 minutes left with another goal just outside the 18. Reagan Walker put the Lady Raiders in front with another goal from distance with just over eight minutes left. The Lady Falcons put several shots on goal before Julia Rouse was called for a questionable hand ball inside the 18. Epiphany scored the PK to tie with just over a minute left in regulation. With just seconds remaining, Epiphany scored yet again to steal a 4-3 victory from the Lady Raiders. Autumn Gibbs had 13 saves in goal in the loss.
PCA opened the home season with a 2-1 victory over Faith Christian of Rocky Mount. Maggie Ballance scored her second career goal 10 minutes into the game. Later, Brooklyn Bowes scored her first goal of the season after receiving a perfect cross from Julia Rouse. The Lady Patriots scored with just 15 minutes left, but PCA held on for a 2 – 1 victory. Autumn Gibbs saved nine of the Patriots 10 shots to help the Lady Raiders earn their first win of the season.

Golf: The Raiders finished fourth in their season-opening conference match at Occano Country Club in Merry Hill. Seniors Drew Van Staalduinen and Maddox Lee shot 54 to lead PCA.

Tennis: PCA traveled to Faith Christian for their second match in program history and lost, 9-0. The Raiders continued to show improvement on the court with Bruce Taylor and Ryan Rouse having several close sets.