7-14-21 roundup: Legion baseball and softball, Pro football and baseball
By Richard Walker
Cherryville American Legion Post 100 started its N.C. Area IV semifinal series in impressive fashion with a 10-2 win over Mint Hill Post 555 at Independence High School.
Cherryville (15-5) got six-hit, one-run, four-strikeout pitching from starter and winner Zach Wilson and Zane Brockman had two of Post 100’s 11 hits.
Game Two of the series is 7 p.m. Thursday at Fraley Field in Cherryville.
Queen City edged Rutherford County 3-2 in the opener of the other semifinals on Wednesday.
Junior Legion baseball
The Area IV tournament began Monday. Here are the results and upcoming schedule:
(Pod A)
Monday’s games
Cherryville 14, Caldwell County 7
Burns 3, South Caldwell 1
Tuesday’s games
Burns 8, Cherryville 7 (8 innings)
South Caldwell 5, Caldwell County 1 (Caldwell County eliminated)
Wednesday’s game
Cherryville 4, South Caldwell 1
Friday’s game
Burns at Cherryville
Saturday’s game
If Cherryville wins on Friday
(Pod B)
Monday’s games
East Rutherford 13, Cramer 1
R-S Central 6, Matthews 4
Tuesday’s games
East Rutherford 10, R-S Central 5
Matthews 14, Cramer 4 (Cramer eliminated)
Wednesday’s game
Matthews 2, R-S Central 1
Thursday’s game
Matthews at East Rutherford
Friday’s game
If Matthews wins on Thursday
Legion softball
Crest High School will be the site of the N.C. American Legion state softball championship tournament from Aug. 2-4.
The tournament field will be five teams, including host Shelby Post 82. Shelby, coached by Thomas Pruett, went 8-4 in the Area IV Western Division to share the regular season title with Rutherford County Post 423.
Pro football
Carolina Panthers fans can enjoy a night of football, fireworks and fun at the team’s annual Fan Fest presented by Daimler Trucks North America at Bank of America Stadium on Friday, Aug. 6.
Tickets to Fan Fest are $5 and go on sale beginning Tuesday, July 20 at 10 a.m. on Panthers.com and Ticketmaster.
Gates will open at 5:30 p.m., with on-field entertainment beginning at 6 p.m. and a practice begins at 7:30 p.m. with a fireworks/laser show to cap the night at 9:15 p.m.
Pro basketball
The Charlotte Hornets had pre-NBA Draft workouts with the following candidates on Wednesday: Vrenz Bleijenbergh of Antwerp (Belgium), Feron Hunt of SMU, D.J. Stewart of Mississippi State, Ethan Thompson of Oregon State, Romeo Weems of DePaul and Marcus Zegarowski of Creighton.
Pro baseball
The Gastonia Honey Hunters fell to 18-23 after a 12-1 Atlantic League of Professional Baseball loss at High Point.
Gastonia concludes its four-game series at High Point on Thursday.