STANLY COUNTY — As the 2021 high school baseball season moves forward, two Stanly County teams are sitting at the top of their respective conferences with undefeated records against their conference opponents.
The West Stanly Colts (7-1, 6-0) currently have a one-game lead over Mount Pleasant (7-1, 5-1) for the lead of the Rocky River 2A Conference, while the North Stanly Comets (4-2, 4-0) are tied with Uwharrie Charter Academy (7-1, 4-0) for the lead of the Yadkin Valley 1A Conference.
The Colts, who have notched six wins in a row, are scheduled to travel to Anson (3-5, 3-3) on Thursday night for their next conference matchup. West Stanly’s only loss of the season came in a nonconference home loss against the South Stanly Bulls (5-3, 2-3 YVC) on April 30.
The Colts have been dominant this season, scoring 68 runs while allowing only 17. In four of their six conference matchups, the Colts have held opponents to one or no runs.
After an upcoming two-game series with Anson, West Stanly will hold a two-game series against Mount Pleasant, possibly for the lead of the RRC heading into the conference tournament June 10.
Meanwhile, North Stanly is looking to continue its strong start versus YVC opponents with a road trip to Chatham Central (6-2, 4-1) on Thursday before facing Uwharrie Charter Academy on Friday.
The Comets began their year with two road losses to RRC challengers — West Stanly and Mount Pleasant — before settling into YVC play with victories over North Rowan (0-6, 0-5) and Gray Stone Day (1-5, 1-5), where they outscored those teams by a combined 38-0.
As a whole, North Stanly has scored 65 runs during the season while allowing only 18.
Junior Luke Shaver leads the Comets at the plate with a team-high .500 batting average and nine hits. Freshman Chance Blake has made an impact in his first season with a .412 batting average and seven hits. Junior Nic Melton also has seven hits this year.
The Comets are collectively batting .341 with 56 hits and 49 RBIs.
The bulk of the team’s pitching duties have been handed to freshman Cole Smith, who has a 2-1 record and 3.00 ERA in four starts. Smith has recorded 34 strikeouts while allowing 14 hits and eight earned runs.
A two-game series against South Stanly, followed by home matchups with Gray Stone Day and Pine Lake Preparatory (8-0, 8-0 PAC 7 Conference), will round out the rest of the Comets’ regular season heading into mid-June.