Siler City All-Star first baseman Johnathan Butts sets to throw to the plate after recording the out on Josh Pappas. Butts’ throw to catcher Aubrey Bowers completed a double play to end the inning in 11-12 year old All-Star play at Sanford.

Chesapeake, VA – The Chatham Chix 14 & under All-Star team traveled to Chesapeake, Virginia over the weekend and compiled a perfect 6-0 record to win the East Zone tournament in the Recreation Division of the Pony League Association.

By taking the East Zone title, the Chatham Chix qualify for the upcoming Pony League Nationals of the Recreation Division to be held in Texas.

The Chatham Chix wasted little time in getting the East Zone tournament off on the right foot as the locals began pool play with an 8-0 rout of Little Creek National from Chesapeake, Va.

The locals exploded for five runs in the first as Hannah Carriker, Jessica Cockman, Holly Snipes, Maggie Gaines and Lauren Moore all scored for the Chix.

SANFORD – West Raleigh tallied a run in the bottom of the sixth here on Friday night to eliminate the Siler City All-Stars in a 3-2 heartbreaker in the District IV Little Tar Heel League 12 & under All-Star tournament play at Dalryple Park in Sanford.

It was a game Siler City could have won, and should have won.

Lack of timely hitting, two costly errors, a wild pitch and four walks led to all three of West Raleigh’s runs. Factor in seven stranded base runners by the Siler City bunch and the result was an agonizing loss.

West Raleigh took a quick 1-0 lead in the first after a walk and a SC error led to a run without the aid of a hit.

Siler City struck back in the second when Josh Shelton lined an opposite barrell double down the right-field line to drive in Aubrey Bowers and C.J. Allred.

Leading 2-1, Siler City’s Heath Causey kept WR off the board until the third. After a pair of walks issued by Causey brought on Jonathan Butts in relief, West Raleigh tied the game at 2-2 after Zach Miller singled to load the bases and Charlie Straughn drew a one-out walk.

Siler City got out of the jam when catcher Aubrey Bowers chanced down wild pitches to the backstop and fed Butts with throws to tag out two consecutive WR base runners.

GREENSBORO – It was a lot like David versus Goliath Monday night in the Greensboro Coliseum when the West took on the East in the Oasis All-Star basketball game.

On the West side, there was speed and quickness on a team laden with guards ready to push the tempo up and down the court.

The East squad was built on size and strength, led by a front-line hoping to wear down the will of its opponent.

The game was the classic inside-outside showdown.

Despite an exhausting effort by the West, the East eventually forced its will and size on the smaller opponent, winning 85-74.

The West came in with a plan to push the ball as hard as it could in hopes of tiring out the bigger East team, and it worked for much of the first half.

Chatham Central’s Jason Thompson spear-headed a hard-charging West squad that raced out of the gates with reckless abandon.

All-star games aren’t normally known for defense, but the West simply got after it.

Whether it was tight man-to-man defense or diving for loose balls, the West came out the more hungry team.

"Our coach emphasized a lot in practice that the way we were going to win the game was to pressure the ball," said Thompson. "Everybody knew they (the East) were big, strong players, but for us, we had mostly guards, and we were going to pressure the ball and hopefully tire them out and be able to get points off transition."