Wolves extend, Lady Mustangs win

Lady Mustangs pitcher Nicole Hall picked up the victory for her team Tuesday night. Hall has been a stellar pitcher for East Lincoln recently winning two games in the Easter Softball Tournament. She is 3-1 in her last four starts. Jenny Walling / LTN Photo

The East Lincoln Lady Mustangs built some momentum by winning the Lincoln County Easter Round Robin Softball Tournament.
Tuesday that momentum was carried over in thrilling fashion with a 6-5 victory over Forestview.
Nicole Shoemaker won the game for the Lady Mustangs in the seventh inning with a double to break a 5-5 tie.
Shoemaker, a Queens University signee, had a big night for East going 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Senior Brooke Michael led the Lady Mustangs going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs.
Other hitters that stood out was Stephanie Horne who doubled, walked twice and scored three runs. Kristin Taffi continued her hot hitting with two doubles and a RBI.
The winning pitcher for East Lincoln was Nicole Hall who struck out two batters.
The Lady Mustangs’ record is 10-7 overall and 6-3 in the Big South 3A Conference.

Wednesday
East vs. Lincolnton
Baseball
On the strength of Dustin Weaver’s right arm, Lincolnton defeated East Lincoln 8-2 on Wednesday in a make-up game.
Weaver pitched a complete game for Lincolnton and only allowed four hits. He also kept the Mustang hitters at bay striking out seven.
The Wolves were ahead 3-2 through five innings of play, but busted out with five runs in the seventh inning.
Leading hitters for the Wolves were: Justin Keever who went 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored, Brian Ebert who went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Evan Wise and Jeffery Hurt who both went 2-for-3 with one RBI each. Wise also scored two runs. Bradley Dalrymple went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
The Wolves raise their overall record to 12-7 on the season.

Thursday
Lincolnton vs. Bunker Hill
The Wolves extended their winning streak to five games beating the Bears of Bunker Hill 5-1 Thursday night.
Lincolnton got a solid pitching performance from Justin Keever who pitched a complete game, striking out seven and allowing five hits.
Lincolnton catcher Evan Wise believed Keever’s win had much to do with the effectiveness of his curveball.
“He was throwing an exceptional curveball. He has been throwing a slider, but tonight even in the later innings he was throwing stuff and was still effective,” he said.
Wise led the Wolves at the plate going 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Other leading hitters for Lincolnton were: Brian Ebert who went 2-for-4 with one RBI, Justin Green who went 1-for-2 and Bradley Dalrymple who went 1-for-3 with one RBI.
Wise and his teammates hope to carry the positivity and wins over as the season progresses.
“We’re 5-0 in our last five and that will help carry us throughout the remainder of the season and conference tournament. We’re just going to ride it as far as we can and not look back,” he said.
The Wolves raise their record to 13-7 overall and 7-3 in the Midwest 2A Conference.

Lincolnton tennis
The Lincolnton Wolves tennis team showed they can rebound from a tough loss on Thursday shutting out Bandys 9-0.
Wolves head coach Chris Hoffman was pleased with his whole team.
“Everybody played well in both our singles and doubles lineup. We bounced back with a shut-out,” he said.
Wolves No. 1 seed John James defeated Daniel Brown 6-1, 6-3. While teammate Devin High defeated Curtis Edwards 6-2, 6-1.
Wolves No. 3 seed Jason Martin defeated Stephen Williams 6-1, 6-0. Lee Campbell shutout Mitch Ray 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4.
At No. 5 Lincolnton’s Andrew Mauney defeated Ceasar Hernandez 6-0, 6-4. Wolves No. 6 seed Adil Huselja defeated Matthew Furmaek 6-1, 6-0.
Doubles’ play was just as strong as singles for the Wolves. James/High defeated Brown/Williams 8-2. Mauney/Huselja defeated Ray/Hernandez 8-4. Wilson/Jarrett defeated Furmaek/Loprest 8-6 to complete the impressive performance for the Wolves.
Lincolnton’s record improves to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the Midwest 2A Conference.

by John Mark Brooks