Pioneers’ game

pushed back to Friday
By Steve Behr

Watauga had to wait one more day to see who it will play in the semifinal round of the Northwestern 4-A Conference baseball tournament at M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls. Heavy rain saw to that.

In the opening round Tuesday, sixth-seeded A.C. Reynolds surprised No. 3-seeded McDowell with a 5-3 victory in Marion. The Rockets will likely take on No. 2-seeded South Caldwell, who takes on Freedom Thursday night.

Watauga, ranked ninth by the IMPACT baseball poll, will get the winner of the Alexander Central-East Burke matchup, pitting the No. 5-seeded Cougars at No. 4-seeded East Burke. Alexander Central had to wait one more day to play East Burke because of rain that fell in Burke County yesterday.

No matter who Watauga plays, the Pioneers know where they stand in the state 4-A playoffs. Watauga will open at home against the No. 5 seeded team from the Southwestern 4-A Conference.

It’s a tough draw for a No. 1 seed since the Southwestern Conference is comprised mostly of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County teams, though Weddington is in Union County. Several of those teams are baseball powers, including league champion Providence, who beat Watauga 6-5 earlier this season.

But Watauga (16-6) is used to playing good baseball teams this year. The Pioneers swept North Davidson and South Caldwell, two traditional 4-A powers.

They also beat South Central and Southwest Guilford at the Easter tournament in Cary, and lost to Mount Tabor and Jamestown Ragsdale. which is ranked third in 3-A.

Watauga coach Pete Hardee said facing good teams helps expose the Pioneers to good pitchers.

“We’ll see good pitching,” Hardee said. “When you get to the state playoffs, you’ll see good pitching. You thing you’ve got a pretty good hitter and he’ll go 0-for-4 because he hasn’t seen very good pitching. It’s nice to see that we can swing the bat against top-notch pitchers.”

Watauga may face a top-notch pitcher Friday should East Burke beat Alexander Central. Cavaliers ace Corey Rhoney may pitch against Alexander Central, but Hardee did not know for sure.

However, the Cavs may need Rhoney to beat Alexander Central. East Burke, A.C. Reynolds and Alexander Central all finished with a 5-7 NWC record, putting them into a fourth-place tie. The NWC gets an automatic berth for its fourth-place team into the state playoffs, so which ever of those teams that goes the farthest in the conference tournament gets that automatic berth into the state playoffs.

Watauga will send Cal Hardee to the mound Friday and Jon Sharpe will pitch Saturday should the Pioneers advance to the finals.