It’s Providence over Ardrey Kell, in a rout, in the SoMECK baseball finals.

Providence High baseball coach Danny Hignight says this is one of his all-time favorite teams.

“It’s a really, really special group of kids,” Hignight said after the Panthers blasted rival Ardrey Kell 13-3 in the SoMECK conference tournament championship game Thursday night. “They trust me and my staff. They work so hard, and they are one of the closets clubs I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot of tight clubs. They make things really easy on me.”

The Panthers certainly didn’t force their coach to sweat too much Thursday.

Providence (23-3) won its fourth straight game. The Panthers, ranked as high as No. 5 in USA Today’s national poll this season, are currently No. 18.

The Panthers jumped on Ardrey Kell with a seven-run second inning that took most of the drama out of one of the season’s most anticipated matchups.

Ardrey Kell, which had its four-game win streak snapped, fell to 19-8.

“We hit it hard,” Hignight said. “Our ‘buy-in’ to our plan was good. Our discipline at the plate was really good. Noah Hall on the mound has been special all year. He’s a potential draft guy, and we were just so disciplined tonight.”

Providence will receive a first-round bye to start the N.C. 4A playoffs Tuesday. The Panthers won’t play again until Friday.

HIgnight isn’t happy about the layoff, but he does think his team has a chance to win its first state championship since 2015.

“You know how I am,” Hignight said. “I never really think about stuff like that. We’re in Winston-Salem (Wednesday) night (to scout) and I saw a No. 4 seed, West Forsyth, bring out a right-hander throwing 92 (miles per hour) and another 6-9 guy throwing 88-89. And that’s the four seed.

“That’s the thing with our sport. It’s one-and-done, and you’re going to get that arm. We’ve had some unbelievable teams that everyone thought, ‘They will just walk to the state title.’ But it’s not that easy. Can we do it? Sure. But 10 other teams can, too. Ardrey Kell can do it. They lost two guys off a (2018) state final team. They’re good, man. But if we play well, play clean, sure, we’ve got a shot.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 11:21 PM.