Northside falls in extra frames

Published 10:33 pm Friday, May 31, 2024

By Steve Barnes

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The Northside baseball team was one out away from winning the first game of the 1A state championship series over Uwharrie Charter, but the Eagles scored the tying run in the bottom of the seventh and scored in the eighth for a 2-1 victory at Ting Stadium in Holly Springs.

Junior James Sawyer struck out 15 Eagles batters, but gave up four hits in the final two innings to take the pitching loss.

“He was lights out and we could have made a couple of plays behind him that could have changed the ending,” coach Parker Boyd said. “This was everything you could want in a championship game and the ball just didn’t bounce our way at the end.”

Ashton Willard drove in the Panthers run with a one-out single to right field to score Griffin Johnson, who walked to start the inning.

Northside had two runners on in the first and third, then left two more on base after they scored in the fifth and managed five hits on the night, two each from Willard and Sawyer and one from Trenton Allen. Uwharrie Charter had three until the final two innings.

“We have to find ways to score in those situations,” Boyd said. “Leaving runners on is never a good thing and they executed in a big situation and we didn’t. We haven’t lost twice to the same team all year, so I expect us to come back strong tomorrow.”

Senior Brandon Arthur will start game two, which begins at 2 p.m.

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