The Marvin Ridge Mavericks left crowds stunned on Friday as they defeated the Southern Carolina 3A Conference champion Weddington Warriors 8-0 in round two of the NCHSAA state playoffs.
The performance was reminiscent of years past as Marvin Ridge has won the conference title for the last 11 years, falling short for the first time in school history this year to Weddington after a tightly contested regular season.
The win on Friday came behind an outstanding 6 2/3 inning pitching performance by junior Kyle McKernan allowing no runs and only a handful of hits. Two hits each by seniors Steven Gonzalez, Andrew Kerry and Michael Neal racked up an early lead that the Warriors couldn’t overcome.
The Mavericks defeated the Erwin Warriors 6-3 in round one of the tournament. After the victory over Weddington in round two, Marvin Ridge will face the 26-0 Crest Chargers on Tuesday 5/14 for what is sure to be their toughest contest so far this year. The Chargers have yet to be scored against in the tournament.
Marvin Ridge is the last Tri-W team left to compete in the NCHSAA state playoff tournament. Parkwood was eliminated in round one by the #5 Northern Guilford Nighthawks. Cuthbertson, after a narrow 3-2 victory against Southwestern Randolph, lost in round two 4-1 against the #3 Alexander Central Cougars.
