Moore County schools saw many of their spring sports teams play the penultimate week of their regular seasons, with conference titles and playoff berths up for grabs.
Baseball
North Moore suffered back-to-back losses in conference games. The Mustangs fell to Bartlett Yancey, 10-3, then lost at Seaforth, 5-1. North Moore enters the final week of the season at 11-6. Their 11 wins are more than the Mustangs have had in four of their last 10 seasons.
With two games to play in the Mid-Carolina Conference, North Moore is in fourth place, with a one-game lead over Chatham Central, their opponent for a home-and-home conference series to close out the regular season schedule.
Pinecrest won three games to extend its winning streak to nine games. They swept a home-and-home series with Hoke County, winning on Senior Night, 9-1, then taking a 15-0 road win over the Bucks. In between, Pinecrest pulled out a 7-6 non-conference win over West Stanly, scoring five late runs to come back for the victory.
The Patriots are 18-3, 8-1 and atop the Sandhills Conference. Their magic number to clinch the regular season conference title is one as they lead Lee County by two games in the standings. Pinecrest closes out the regular season with a home-and-home against Union Pines.
Union Pines continued its late-season run by winning two of three last week. After losing at home to Southern Lee, 14-0, Union Pines rebounded to pound St. Pauls, 16-4, then got revenge against Southern Lee on the road by a 9-4 margin. The Vikings have now won six of their last seven games and stand at 10-9 on the season, 4-5 in the Sandhills.
The Vikings have three games this week and plenty to play for. Two wins would clinch a winning regular season. Union Pines hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2021. Sweeping all three games would produce the most wins in a season since 2018.
Currently fifth in the Sandhills standings, Union Pines could finish as high as second and as low as sixth. A home-and-home this week against Pinecrest and a conference road trip to Richmond will decide it.
Softball
Union Pines won a pair of games to extend its winning streak to four in a row. The Vikings won at Richmond, 5-1, then shut out Hoke, 6-0.
The Vikings are now12-4 on the year and need one win to post their winningest season since 2017. At 8-1 in the Sandhills, Union Pines is in second, a game behind Scotland. The Vikings finish with three conference games, at Southern Lee, at Pinecrest and home against Scotland in what may decide the regular season crown.
North Moore split four league games last week, falling at home to Seaforth, 6-5, then beating Graham, 16-0. The Mustangs then hit the road, beating Chatham Central, 14-8 in extras and losing at Southeast Alamance, 3-2. Tate Allred had a pair of 3-RBI games, Sydney Russell drove in seven in a game, and Ansley Preslar drove in four.
North Moore is now 10-6, reaching double digits in wins for the first time since 2018. The Mustangs will look to clinch the first winning non-COVID shortened season since 2015. At 9-4, North Moore is in third in the Mid-Carolina Conference.
This week, North Moore hosts Chatham Charter in a non-conference game and finishes the league schedule against Chatham Central.
Pinecrest posted its first two wins of the year in a 2-2 week. The Patriots lost at Lee County, 6-1, then broke through with a road win at Montgomery Central, 10-8. After losing, 17-0 to Scotland, Pinecrest got its first home win, 15-11 in extras over Purnell Swett.
The Patriots are now 2-13, 0-10 in the Sandhills. They close with conference games at Hoke County and home against Union Pines.
Girls’ soccer
Girls soccer still has two weeks left in its regular season, so the situation is not as urgent as in other spring sports this week.
Union Pines enters the week atop the Sandhills at 7-1, a half game ahead of Lee County. The Vikings are 10-3-1 overall. They’re on a six match winning streak after winning both contests last week. Union Pines won 7-2 over Hoke County, then blasted Scotland, 10-0 on the road. Taryn Pekala had three goal outings in both games. Grace queen scored two against Scotland and one against Hoke.
This week, Union Pines has three games, two in the Sandhills. League tilts against Richmond and at Hoke are sandwiched around a non-conference game at Cape Fear.
Pinecrest moved back over .500 with two wins last week, 1-0 in overtime at Richmond and 9-0 against Southern Lee. Jadyn Lamielle scored the only goal against Richmond and had three against Southern Lee. The Patriots are now 7-6, 5-2 in the Sandhills.
Pinecrest has three road games this week, home against Lee County and trips to Scotland and Hoke County.
North Moore celebrated its first win of the season, with a 4-1 win at Bartlett Yancey. The Mustangs also lost at Grace Christian, 5-1 and 3-2 at Jordan-Matthews. They are now 1-7-2, 1-3-1 in the Mid-Carolina.
The Mustangs have three league games this week—a home-and-home with Seaforth and a trip to Graham.
Lacrosse
Pinecrest’s boys won all three games last week to extend their winning streak to 14. They’re now 16-2, 9-0 in conference. The Patriots close the regular season with a home game against Jack Britt and a trip to Willow Spring.
The Pinecrest girls won all three games last week and have now run together four victories in a row.
At 12-3-1, 5-2 in conference, the Patriots close the regular season with a game against Jack Britt.
The Union Pines boys won four games last week to improve to 9-6, 8-2 in the league. The Vikings finish the regular season schedule with a trip to Garner.
The Union Pines girls took all three games last week and are now 12-0, 8-0 in conference. They close things out at Middle Creek.
