NL defeats SL on Senior Night in baseball, soccer
North Lenoir’s Peyton Howard struck out 10 in his final regular-season home start Tuesday against South Lenoir. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News
LA GRANGE — Senior Night started slowly for the North Lenoir baseball team but ended with a bang.
The Hawks had difficulty creating some breathing room against rival South Lenoir before blowing the game open with a six-run sixth inning, rolling to a mercy-rule shortened 10-0 victory.
NL (16-5, 8-3 Eastern Carolina 2A Conference) is currently tied for second place with West Craven in the league standings.
The Hawks finish at last-place Kinston, while the Eagles must tangle with first place Washington in the regular-season finales.
“I thought overall we played very well,” NL coach Jackson Massey said. “We hit the ball hard early but didn’t put many runs on the board. Those hard-hit balls started finding some holes eventually.”
The Hawks collected nine hits, two each by Brendon Grant and Jayden Gatling.
Grant tripled in the first but was left stranded, and then brought home the game’s first run with a third-inning ground-rule double.
Malik Dixon also doubled in a run in the fifth, drew two walks, and scored twice.
It was more than enough offense for NL senior starter Peyton Howard, who fanned 10, walked one, and allowed just three hits.
“Peyton pitched like the ace of our staff,” Massey said. “He threw all of his pitches for strikes and was able to do what he wanted out there. It was a dominant performance.”
SL’s biggest threat came in the opening frame when Jensen Barwick led off the game with a single and eventually reached third before Howard struck out a pair of hitters to end the inning.
Devils starter Jon Howard kept his team in the game for five innings. The freshman gave up four earned runs before the Hawks exploded against the SL bullpen.
“Our record might not show it (5-12, 2-10) and the scoreboard tonight doesn’t show it, but the kids on this team have done everything right,” SL coach David Combs said. “They’ve played hard no matter the score, they’ve listened to the coaches, and, above all, they’re just a great group of young men. Win or lose, they have been an absolute joy to coach.”
Seniors playing their final regular-season home game for North Lenoir were Gatling, Dixon, Howard, Grant, Luke Suggs, Garrett Brock, Ethan May, and Jordan Moore.
In soccer, six North Lenoir senior soccer players walked off their home pitch in style for the final time on Tuesday.
With senior Cailyn Kennedy tallying the match’s lone goal, the Hawks shocked rival South Lenoir 1-0. NL (3-10-1, 3-5 Eastern Carolina 2A Conference) has won three of four since starting the season 0-9-1.
“We’ve gotten better every game,” NL coach Anthony Kennedy said. “We didn’t have a lot of experience at the start of the season, but we’ve worked hard, and more importantly, we didn’t give up. A Senior Night victory over our county rival is a nice way to end our home season.”
The Hawks were outshot 14-7, but survived thanks to Cailyn Kennedy’s goal at the 14:13 mark of the second half and a yeoman effort from goalie Melanie Gallardo, who turned away chance after chance by the Blue Devils (9-5, 5-3), who have locked up second place in the league standings.
“Like the rest of the team, Melanie has greatly improved as the season went along,” Coach Kennedy said. “Tonight, she was lights out.”
The win was the first shutout of the season for Gallardo and the Hawks.
SL coach David Whaley was left wondering what might have been.
“We controlled play for most of the game, but we didn’t get any bounces our way and just couldn’t get one in the net,” Whaley said. “Give North Lenoir credit. They battled and they outhustled us when it mattered most.”
North Lenoir finishes with road contests at Southside and Kinston, while South Lenoir has finished its regular season and will await the NCHSAA playoffs with the pairings to be announced this weekend.
“We’ll put this one behind us and play wherever and whenever the NCHSAA decides,” Whaley said. “We’ll be ready.”
Seniors playing their final home match for the Hawks were Kennedy, Hallie Dilday, Adriana Gaona, Emmy Garcia, Naomy Lee-Valdez, and Leah Rigsby.
