Enka’s Courtney Pearson.
BELMONT – Rain or shine, Courtney Pearson and Enka were ready for their fourth-round state playoff game.
And based off of Monday, South Point didn’t stand a chance whenever it faced the Sugar Jets’ ace.
Pearson pitched a two-hit shutout and was one of two players to homer in a 3-0 road win over the top-seeded Red Raiders.
Fifth-seeded Enka (22-3) advances to play No. 10 West Iredell (19-6) in the best-of-three 3-A Western Regional championship series which will begin Wednesday in Candler. This is the fourth consecutive regional appearance for Enka’s seniors.
“(South Point) had a really good pitcher, we just did a good job of staying in there,” Sugar Jets coach Jennifer Kruk said.
“We made some base-running errors or we might have had a few more runs. Courtney was spectacular once again. We pulled up our stats for the playoffs and she has a 0.33 earned-run average so far. That’s incredible.”
Here is the schedule for the regional series:
Game 1 – Wednesday at Enka, 6:30 p.m.
Game 2 – Friday at West Iredell, 6:30 p.m.
Game 3 – Saturday at Enka, 6:30 p.m. (if necessary).
Monday’s fourth-round game at South Point (21-2) was originally scheduled for Friday, but had been postponed twice by wet field conditions.
Addison Harris gave the defending NCHSAA 3-A champions a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the top of the fourth inning. Payton Trantham had an RBI single in the sixth, and Pearson then made it 3-0 in the top of the seventh with a round-tripper.
Harris (seven) and Pearson (six) have combined for 13 of their team’s 27 homers this spring.
“We were ready to play this game Friday and the wait really motivated us,” said Harris, an outfielder who will sign with Mars Hill on Tuesday.
“It’s an honor to be part of a program like Enka softball and incredible for all of us seniors to be in the Final 4 again.”
More on this story to come….
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