The Old North State League opens play on Monday,with four games. The ONSL, a summer collegiate baseball league established two years ago, has eight teams competing in 2020. The Deep River Muddogs will play in Ramseur, just 12 miles from Siler City.
Caleb Staley, a former Chatham Central and current Queens University pitcher, will play for the Muddogs. Tyler Johnson, a former Northwood pitcher and Methodist University commit, will play for the Swepsonville Sweepers.
Sam Murchison, a former Jordan-Matthews pitcher and N.C. Central commit, will play for the Wake Forest Fungo of the Carolina-Virginia Collegiate League. According to its website, the CVCL is in its second week of play.
Two former Northwood cheerleaders have made their college teams, the school announced June 4 on Twitter. Jessica Laign will cheer at Lenoir-Rhyne, and Lizette Gonzalez-Mesa will cheer at Penn State.
In the wake of protests against racial injustice and police brutality, coaches at Northwood are making their voices heard. The Chargers’ boys basketball team shared a black screen on its Twitter account, captioned “Black Lives Matter,” on June 2.
And David Miller, the Northwood baseball coach, shared the following message on his Twitter on June 7: “It’s not enough to consider one’s self not a racist. This breeds apathy. Is our response to child abuse, ‘I am not a child abuser’ or ‘I am anti-child abuse’? We need to be ANTI-RACIST like we are anti-child abuse and anti-bullying. We must listen, empathize and be willing to act.”
Jordan-Matthews spent last month honoring its seniors and the scholarships they earned on Twitter. Here are some of the former athletes mentioned:
• Daniel Santana-Garcia, who played tennis, was awarded the Carolina Covenant Scholarship and will attend UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Harrison Brewer, who also played tennis, will attend the University of Alabama on a Presidential Merit Scholarship and Tutwiler Scholarship.
• Myriah Fox, who was on the cheer team, will attend Florida A&M on an Alpha Kappa Alpha Cotillion Scholarship and a Class of 2013 Scholarship from FAMU.
• Austin Whitehead, who played soccer, ran cross country/track and wrestled, will attend Elon University on an Engineering Scholars scholarship.
• Brayden Teague, who was on the boys basketball team, will attend N.C. State on a U.S. Air Force ROTC Type 7 scholarship and an NRA Youth Education Summit scholarship.
• Majely De Paz Rodriguez, who played girls soccer, will attend UNC-Greensboro. She was named a Dell Scholar and received a Spartan Award from UNC-G.
C N +R Staff Reports