Hardiman wins tourney

Scott Hardiman's never been to North Dakota.

Not yet anyway, but his ticket is punched.

Hibriten's freshman standout wrestler won the Tarheel State Freestyle Classic this past weekend at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke. The win - his second in as many freestyle club tournaments - qualified him for the 2008 Cadet and Junior National Championships in Fargo July 18-26.

Hardiman could have qualified for nationals in another qualifying tournament later on the calendar, but thanks to his triumph in the 125-pound class Saturday, he's qualified.

“I just wanted to win this one and not worry about the other one,” Hardiman said Monday.

Hardiman, who wrestles for World Class Wrestling Club in Hudson, pinned Alleghany's Cody Smith in 59 seconds in the finals. He defeated Jeff Meredith of Christiansburg (Va.) by technical fall in the first round and pinned Christian Decker of the Top Dawg club team in the semifinals.

Hardiman, who won the 1-A/2-A Midwest Regional title at 119 pounds during the high school season, is in his first year of freestyle wrestling. He finished second in the event's Greco-Roman competition.

Baseball

Warriors shutout

The West Caldwell baseball team fell behind 2-0 in the first inning and never recovered Monday, losing 4-0 at Maiden.

With the loss, the Warriors are 5-10 overall and 2-8 in the Catawba Valley Athletic Conference.

Maiden put two runs on the board with two hits, a fielder's choice and a West Caldwell error in the bottom of the first. Then the Blue Devils, who beat West Caldwell 8-4 March 5, added a run in the fourth and another in the fifth against pitcher Jake Benfield, who fell to 2-2 on the season.

Benfield went six innings and allowed nine hits. Two of the runs scored against him were earned.

The Warriors, who had won four of six games, had three errors. Scotty Brown and Evan Swanson hit doubles for West Caldwell. Today, West Caldwell returns to Catawba County to play Bandys.

Soccer

Gragg, Warriors win

West Caldwell's Kasey Gragg scored a hat-trick Monday - in the first half.

The Warrior soccer player finished the match with four goals to her name. She led West Caldwell to a 5-1 win over Bunker Hill.

The Bears struck first Monday, but Gragg soon tied the score at 1-1. Then she added two more goals to give the Warriors a 3-1 advantage at the intermission.

Gragg scored the first goal of the second half before West Caldwell's Ashley Hahn closed out the night's scoring with eight minutes left.

The Warriors return to action today at Maiden.

Softball

Panthers fall in five

The Hibriten softball team met up with one of the top teams in the CVAC Monday and lost 14-0 at home to Foard in five innings.

The Panthers had just four hits. Krista Sumpter was 2-for-2 at the plate. Emily Mills and Sarah Bentley had the other Panther hits.

But Hibriten struggled in the field and against Tiger pitcher Mariah Chalk (six strikeouts). Ashlyn Pope pitched four innings for the Panthers, striking out six and allowing eight hits.

The Panthers return to the field today Wednesday at Patton.