Late hitting delivers G1 win for Southern Lee baseball in 6A finals

BURLINGTON, N.C. — Southern Lee junior Drew Patton broke the game wide open when he smacked a hard-hit groundball past the infield in the bottom of the sixth.

The two RBI single ended a long silence in Friday's Game 1 matchup with South Caldwell in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 6A baseball state championship series. Patton's rallying hit was followed by a passed ball that let another run in and a sacrifice fly that scored a fourth. With that, the Cavaliers led 6-2 and it was theirs to lose. The run continued as Southern Lee went on to defeat South Caldwell in Game 1 of the championship series, 7-2, Friday night at Burlington Athletic Stadium.

"We just didn't quit," Southern Lee head coach Tommy Harrington said. "We kept fighting. Gave up two runs early in the first inning, pitcher settled in --- he's our guy --- and he settled in and put up a lot of zeros from from there on out. And then um we had a big inning right there at the end."

Southern Lee required three games to move past (12) Southern Alamance in the 6A East Regional Final. The Cavaliers won Game 1, 7-5, but lost Game 2 handily — 12-2. Southern Lee returned the favor by closing the series with a convincing 13-3 win.

This is the first-ever state championship appearance by the Cavaliers.

Entering 2026, the Spartans have two championships — 1982 and 2007 — which was also their last state championship appearance. They also appeared in the title bout in 2006, so this is their fourth run to the final series.

To reach the state final, (6) South Caldwell swept top-seeded Alexander Central in the 6A West Regional Final with 5-2 and 5-3 wins.

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It was the Spartans that got things going early. A leadoff single by Chase Cardwell opened the door and a well-hit RBI double straight down the left line by senior J.P. Smith scored the first run.

South Caldwell added to its first inning totals when senior Luke Church smacked a single into the gap between third and short to score Smith. That made it 2-0, a lead that held until the bottom of the third.

But before the Cavaliers could offer their rebuttal, sophomore pitcher Ben Harrington had to escape a funk in the top of the third.

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Harrington walked the first two batters, prompting a mound visit by the Cavaliers. Obviously the message resonated, because the pitcher went on to sit down the next three batters to lift his game total to five strikeouts.

Harrington’s rally seemed to inject life into Southern Lee’s offense. Junior Luke Waters brought in the team’s first run with an RBI single. Then, a sacrifice fly by Gavin Shaffer scored Parker Bloedorn to tie the game, 2-2, heading into the fourth.

The sophomore pitcher began to lose the zone in the fifth, walking a pair during a rough stretch. But once again, Harrington found a way to get out of it. He struck out the final batter of the frame and kept the Spartans at bay.

"That's Ben Harrington," Coach Harrington said. "I'm going to say it: he's just a tough competitor. He had a few innings where he led off the innings with a with a walk [but] battled through it,"

South Caldwell closed the fifth by pairing a double play with a ground out. By that point, senior pitcher Nate Hall had been consistent. He only had one strikeout, but similarly only one walk through five.

The zeros continued across the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. Although, SCHS put two in position thanks to a single from Hall late in the frame. However, the runners were stranded by a ground out.

"Heading into the sixth inning, we just wanted one run," Coach Harrington said. "I mean, that's kind of where we were at. We just knew that they wanted one run, we wanted one run."

The long silence was finally broken in the bottom of the sixth by Southern Lee. The first three batters reached: two singles and one hit by. Then Patton's double did the damage to put the Cavs up 4-2. The ensuing plays of the sixth continued to build upon that lead until SLHS establihsed a 7-2 lead entering the final inning. Harrington eventually ended the game with his eighth strikeout.

Ultimately, the Cavs got more than the one run they wanted. And even more than that, they got the win.

"We've just got to keep doing Cavaliier baseball," Coach Harrington said when asked what his team needs to take home the championship Saturday. "And that's kind of been our theme all year."

Game 2 will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Burlington. If needed, Game 3 will occur that same day.

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