Three of Northwood’s athletic teams suffered a loss in the second round of the 3A NCHSA playoffs May 16. The baseball, softball and girls’ soccer teams ended their seasons.
Baseball found some success winning in round one of the playoffs against Southern Lee 1-0, but lost to the one seed Terry Sanford 3-0 in round 2.
“We were right on pace with our preseason expectations, we knew we were going to improve on last year because it was a rebuilding season,” senior Peyton Walker said. “This year we were just really excited that we got our first playoff win in a few seasons.”
Girls’ soccer also pulled off a first round playoff victory, beating Asheboro, 2-0 but like baseball, they went on to lose in the second round. Fike topped the Lady Chargers 4-0 in their contest.
“I expected us to be good this year, but towards the end of the season we got a lot better,” senior Jamie Palermo said. “ We started playing for the team rather than playing for ourselves and we really came together. That last game was probably one of the best games we ever played together. It was rough, but we played our hearts out.”
Preserving the trend of second round playoff losses, softball saw their temporary success come to an end as well, losing to Topsail 7-1. They did however beat Southern Guilford in the first round of the playoffs 4-0.
“Before the season started, the team’s goal was to go as far as we could into the playoffs,” sophomore Carson Shaner said. “We had a rough start, but we pulled it together and had a good overall season. [The last game] was close till the very end; they seemed to kind of have a home field advantage with the umpires, but we fought till the very end even though we lost.”
– By John Dunning
