CARY – On Friday night, Cary Academy was able to use small-ball, solid defense and strong pitching from Brandon Wilson to defeat Rabun Gap 2-1 in the spring tournament it hosted this weekend. Unfortunately for the Chargers, they couldn’t carry that momentum over to Saturday, as High Point Christian Academy defeated CA 4-0 in five innings.

The tournament’s schedule was abbreviated due to soggy field conditions on Friday morning. Each of the eight participating teams played two games apiece instead of three (except for the teams advancing to the championship) and every game was cut down to five innings.

After defeating Rabun Gap in its Friday night game, CA advanced to play High Point Saturday morning for the right to play in the championship game later that evening.

However, a three-run burst from High Point in the third inning gave it momentum over the Chargers, who struggled to convert base runners into runs.

High Point would go on to lose by one run to the Cannon School in Saturday night’s championship.

“They’re a good hitting team. There’s no doubt about it,” said Cary Academy coach Ray Pope. “We knew it coming in. We had a couple opportunities to score, but couldn’t get runs.”

The Cougars got things started in the top of the third when center fielder and lead-off batter Noah Blackmore smacked a home run. Shortstop Andrew Barnett was walked, then brought home with an RBI single from Connor Scarborough two batters later.

Scarborough was brought home on another RBI single, this time from left fielder Luke Zeute.  Blackmore added the Cougars’ fourth run an inning later, when he was driven home by Barnett’s single.

High Point earned six hits, compared to CA’s two hits, which came from Bradley Roberts and Greg Jokyl. The Chargers only had three hits on Friday against Rabun Gap, but were able to make the most of them.

“The pitching was good and we played some awesome defense,” Pope said. “Small ball was the game for us, moving runners in.”

CA got five solid innings from Wilson on the mound, as the Chargers allowed four hits, but only one was converted to a run.

“(Friday) night, we executed well and did everything right,” Wilson said. “The defense helped behind me. I was pitching well, but they made every routine play that came to them. Overall, we just executed well.”

Saturday, however, the Chargers just couldn’t take advantage of those opportunities. In the fourth inning, for instance, CA had runners on second and third with two outs and couldn’t convert.

“Today, (the difference) was timely hitting,” Wilson said. “We didn’t drive the turn in when we needed to, and (Friday) night, we did.”

Despite the loss, though, the Chargers came away better prepared for the rest of season after facing top-notch competition.

“It turned out really good,” Pope said of the tournament. “That’s the purpose, playing some ball and seeing some people you haven’t seen before.”