Sports

RED OAK -- Recent poor weather has brought with it some winds of change in the Big East Conference girls soccer standings.
That's because the Northern Nash Lady Knights, with their rebuilding work apparently complete, have started to breeze past their league foes -- even perennial powerhouse Southern Nash.

BUNN -- It took just 21 hours for the rematch of the 'Game of the Year' in the Big East Conference to be played -- and that brought a few key intangibles into play.
With rain in the forecast for last Thursday, Round Two of the Bunn-Northern Nash baseball showdown was moved up one day -- and the first game of the series had been staged Tuesday, with host Northern Nash rallying from a huge deficit to force extra innings before finally earning the tough victory in the bottom of the 11th stanza of action.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The North Carolina Wesleyan University baseball program welcomed back the 1989 & 1999 National Championship teams back to Bauer Field for the 25 and 35-year reunions on April 5.
Led by Head Coach Mike Fox, the 1989 Battling Bishop baseball squad brought home NCWU's first National Championship when Wesleyan defeated California State-Stanislaus by an 8-7 score on June 4, 1989 at Muzzy Field in Bristol, Connecticut.

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- The first Big East Conference boys golf match after Spring Break culminated in the same result as all of the previous ones this spring -- with the Roanoke Rapids Yellow Jackets taking first place in the overall team standings.
Roanoke Rapids, also the defending league champion, saw its margin of victory drop, but the Yellow Jackets still got the job done by finishing with 347 team strokes to take the 18-hole competition last Wednesday at The River Golf Course near Bunn.

ZEBULON - The Carolina Mudcats (4-1) saw three leads disappear throughout last Wednesday night's contest at Five County Stadium, but a big Cooper Pratt two-run single in the eighth gave the Mudcats just enough of a cushion to hand the Down East Wood Ducks (4-1) their first loss of 2024 by a final score of 7-6.
Despite the several surges from Down East, Carolina never trailed in the ballgame.
The Mudcats took a 1-0 lead on a Kay-Lan Nicasia sacrifice fly in the second that was quickly erased by an Echedry Vargas RBI double in the top half of the third.