How Cherryville mettle has Ironmen baseball in its first NCHSAA regional final since 2016
CHERRYVILLE — Landon Hahn can’t count how many opportunities he’s had to play at Cherryville’s Fraley Field. However, the Ironmen junior easily verified how many home runs were on his record prior to Friday night’s 1A West semifinal against Uwharrie Charter.
“I’d never hit one,” the leadoff batter said. “I’ve been close, just never been able to get one out.”
After allowing two runs in the first inning to Uwharrie Charter, Hahn stepped in simply wanting to reach base. Instead, his first career home run offered the Ironmen a much-needed spark.
In a game chock full of twists and turns, Cherryville (19-5) prevailed 7-5 victory. With the win, the third-seeded Ironmen advance to the 1A West championship series, playing host to Union Academy in Game 1 Tuesday.
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“We’re playing good baseball, we believe in each other. That comes from a season of playing together, winning and losing, going from liking each other to not liking each other and back to liking each other again,” said Cherryville coach Scott Heavner. “But that adversity from the season has led us here. We’re playing good baseball, and there’s a lot of fight in this group.”
Following a leadoff walk, consecutive doubles by the Eagles in the first allowed them to scratch two runs across. Hahn needed one pitch in the Cherryville half of the first to get one of those back. The Ironmen did their best work with two outs in the game, particularly in the first.
After earning a single earlier in the frame, Will Heavner stole second. He’d advance to third and score on a passed ball, tying the game at 2-all. Three more Ironmen reached in the inning — two by walk, another courtesy of a base hit — two of them scoring on balks, giving Cherryville a 4-2 lead.
Uwharrie Charter threatened again in the third, the team’s first three hitters reaching to load the bases. Starter Kanon Willis allowed one of them to come in by way of a walk, but worked his way out of the jam with a pop out sandwiched between a pair of strikeouts.
“You know, when I saw the bracket I really didn’t want (Uwharrie Charter) on our side,” Scott Heavner said. “I figured they’d go a ways. We aren’t the best team they’ve played all year, and they may not have been the best team we’ve seen either.
“Of our nine losses, five have been in extra innings, one- and two-run games. But that prepared us for games that get really tight; you don’t panic as much. We’ve won close games, we’ve lost close games. But our non-conference schedule, playing in Southern Piedmont 1A/2A prepared us for this.”
An unlucky bounce in the fourth allowed Uwharrie Charter to tie the game at 4-all. That wouldn’t last, however, two errors in the fourth gave Cherryville a 5-4 lead.
The Ironmen tacked on two more in the fifth. And while Uwharrie Charter trimmed the Cherryville lead to 7-5 on a Logan Sawyer base hit in the sixth, reliever Brayden Reynolds worked out of the jam with minimal damage.
Reynolds pitched 3.1 innings, allowing a run on one hit with two strikeouts to earn the win.
“You just got to go out there and execute everything,” he said. “Make sure that (you think) in your head you’re better than them. Have confidence in yourself, you can execute anything.”
Tobias Miller led Cherryville with two hits and a run scored. Hahn, along with Collin Robinson, Will Heavner, Chase Miller, Tripp Creason and Collin Huss also had base hits.
Sawyer, Caleb McDaniel and Grant Little had two hits apiece. They accounted for six of the Eagles’ eight hits in the game.
It is Cherryville’s first regional final appearance since 2016, also the last time it won a state championship.
“It took us a while to get here. We’re believing in each other, and it’s someone different every night,” Scott Heavner said. “That’s when you know your team is starting to hit its stride.”
Baseball
3A West
(1) South Rowan 7, (5) North Lincoln 3: South Rowan scoring six runs in the sixth to earn a spot in the 3A West championship series. North Lincoln’s season ends at 20-6.
(11) East Lincoln 4, (10) St. Stephens 1: Gavin Houser (run, RBI), Trey Spees (run, RBI) and Evan Matile (two RBIs) each had two hits as East Lincoln advanced to the 3A West championship series. Sophomore Carson Dahle went the distance, allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts.
Softball
3A West
(4) Central Davidson 2, (1) East Lincoln 1 (10 innings): Central Davidson scratched a run across in the 10th to earn a spot in the 3A West championship series. Betsy Eatmon and Jaelyn Freeston had two hits apiece for East Lincoln (24-1).
(3) North Buncombe 1, (2) Crest 0 (13 innings)
You can reach Joe Hughes at 704-914-8138, email jhughes@gastongazette.com and follow on Twitter @JoeLHughesII.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: NCHSAA baseball: Cherryville defeats Uwharrie Charter in 3A West semis
