Finally, a state championship trophy for South Rowan. Raiders win first title in any sport
Nobody ever said it would be easy.
Trying to win the first team state championship in any sport, South Rowan’s baseball team found itself trailing 6-1 in Saturday evening’s decisive Game 3 of the 3A state championship series.
But the Raiders clawed their way back into it, then surged in the fifth inning on route to an 11-6 victory over South Brunswick.
The state championship trophy is the first in the school’s 61-year history.
South Rowan (30-6) actually needed to win twice Saturday, after dropping Game 1 by a 4-3 count Friday night. The Raiders beat the Cougars 4-2 in the first game Saturday, setting up the decisive finale.
South Brunswick (25-5) scored three runs in the first inning of Game 3, with Aubrey Smith hitting a home run and Walker Jenkins and Banks Harman later scoring.
The Cougars made it 5-0 in the second, when Smith scored on a Jenkins double, and Jenkins later came home on an infield grounder.
South Rowan began its comeback in the bottom of the second, scoring on an infield grounder, but the Cougars got a run in the top of the third for a 6-1 lead.
The Raiders tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, with Nathan Chrismon’s bases-loaded single driving in two runs, and runners later scoring on a balk and a bases-loaded walk.
South Rowan blew it open in the bottom of the fifth. The Raiders loaded the bases, and Haiden Leffew scored on a wild pitch for a 7-6 lead. Colton Fisher then laced a two-run single, and two more runs scored on a South Brunswick error.
South Rowan nearly won a baseball championship in 1964, but the Raiders fell in the finals of the Western N.C. High School Athletic Association tournament to East Rowan. That was back when North Carolina had separate organizations for the eastern and western halves of the state.
Game 2
South Rowan rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 4-2 victory over the Cougars.
Cameron Burgess and Jaylend Clemmons each hit RBI singles, but the Raiders escaped further trouble when center-fielder Kane Kepley threw out Burgess at home plate, when Burgess tried to score from second on Luke Dilgard’s single.
South Rowan tied it up in the top of the third. Nathan Chrismon reached on an infield single, then went to third on Ty Hubbard’s double. Haiden Leffew then smashed a double off the outfield wall, scoring two runs.
South Brunswick threatened in the bottom of the third, getting runners on first and third, but third baseman Colton Fisher made a tough play on a slow grounder, getting the final out.
The Raiders pulled in front in the top of the fifth. Kepley doubled to fight field, and Christmon followed with a single. Hubbard then singled to right field, scoring Kepley with what turned out to be the decisive run.
South Rowan escaped big trouble in the bottom of the fifth.
South Brunswick got runners on second and third with one out. Then Chrismon, South Rowan’s shortstop, charged a slow grounder and threw to the plate, where catcher Jacob Ritchie tagged N.C. Gatorade Player of the Year Walter Jenkins, trying to score from third.
Raiders’ pitcher Carson Crainshaw then struck out the next Cougars’ hitter.
South Rowan got its final run in the top of the seventh. Once again, Chrismon had a role in it, delivering his third hit of the game, a single. He stole second, went to third on a sacrifice, then scored on a single by Ritchie.
This story was originally published June 4, 2022 at 7:38 PM.
