Around the area:

Watauga residents bring home awards

FAYETTEVILLE - Five Watauga County residents competed, four who won first place, in the North Carolina Racquetball Association State Singles Championship Tournament on March 27-30.

Paul Moore, Ron Forster, E.C. Newman, Eric Whitworth, and Richard Forbes all participated in the event.

Moore won the men’s 25-over open singles championship, while Forster won the 45-older title. Whitworth captured the men’s under-24 championship and Newman, 68, made it to the semifinals of the 35-older division before suffering a tough tiebreaker loss. Forbes was second in the men’s 55-older ‘B’ division singles championship.

Forbes, Newman and Moore also competed in the Southeastern Regional Racquetball Championship tournament in Atlanta on April 17-19. Forbes won he gold medal in the men’s 55-over ‘B’ division, while Moore won the silver medal in the men’s Elite division. Newman won the silver medal in the men’s over ‘C’ division.

The NCRA State Singles Championship Tournament is limited to racquetball players from the state of North Carolina. There were over 100 participants from across the state vying for the coveted win and year long bragging rites of being state champ in their respective division.

Crawdads beat BlueClaws 6-1
HICKORY — Martin Perez allowed one run on two hits in 51/3 innings to pace the Hickory Crawdads to a 6-1 win against the Lakewood BlueClaws before 752 fans at L.P. Frans Stadium Sunday afternoon, after a 20-minute delay before the game due to rain.

Hickory’s Matt West went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs to help lead the offense.

The Crawdads (12-12) got on the board first with a run in the second and third innings, taking an early 2-0 lead.