ASHEBORO — Some of Southwestern Randolph’s best offensive work of the season came at an ideal time for the Cougars in the Class 4A East Regional softball finals.
The third-seeded Cougars had a relentless assault on top-seeded Randleman’s pitching to sweep the best-of-3 series and advance to next week’s state championship round.
Southwestern Randolph won 16-1 in Game 1 at Randleman and followed that a night later with Wednesday’s 11-7 home triumph, sending the Cougars to the state finals for the second time in three years.
The Cougars (23-4) meet West Stanly or Foard, which need three games to decide the West Region finals. The state finals will be either May 27-28 or May 29-30 at either UNC Greensboro or Duke.
In the opener of the regional finals, Southwestern Randolph racked up nine first-inning runs, aided by Alyssa Harris’ two-run single. She also smacked a three-run home run.
Chloe Eudy, Bristol Marine, Kami Dunn and Maddie Strider, who drove in three runs, all scored two runs. Katelyn West was the winning pitcher.
In Game 2, the Cougars built an 8-2 lead on their home field and held on. West, the winning pitcher, had a two-run home run among her four hits and knocked in five runs.
Strider scored four runs, Harris drove in three runs, Dunn added two runs batted in and Nauttica Parrish scored twice.
Randleman closed an 8-2 hole to 8-7. Losing pitcher Kinzie Ivey knocked in three runs, Kaylee Phillips had two runs batted in and scored two runs.
The teams split two regular-season meetings, so three of the four losses this year for Randleman (25-4) were administered by Southwestern Randolph.
Special postseason closes for Cougars in baseball
Southwestern Randolph’s baseball team couldn’t generate enough offense in the Class 4A East Region finals.
Top-seeded Bunn defeated the Cougars 4-2 in Game 1 and 9-4 in Game 2 to sweep the best-of-3 series.
In the road loss, Southwestern Randolph was held to two hits, including Logan Weidman’s double. The Cougars scored on runs batted in by Weston Reed and Brady Armfield, who had a sacrifice fly.
Matthew Blankenship took the loss despite throwing a complete game.
At home in the second game Wednesday night, Southwestern Randolph was blanked for the final six innings. Its 4-0 first-inning lead held up until Bunn went ahead in the fifth inning.
Weidman, the starting pitcher, gave up six runs before he was relieved by Lane Poole.
Grant Kirk drove in two runs and Poole and Carson Coltrane each had two hits for the Cougars. Blankenship also knocked in a run.
While compiling its first winning season since 2021, Southwestern Randolph (19-9) hadn’t advanced to a regional final in baseball in at least a quarter-century. Bunn takes a 24-3 record into the state finals against Burns or Lincoln Charter.
