Springs sparkles, South Point takes league opener

DALLAS — The defending champions are off to a good start.

Jeffrey Springs pitched his second win and South Point took advantage of six North Gaston errors in a 7-1 win Tuesday in the Big South 3A Conference opener for both teams.

“All these conference games count the same and we definitely wanted to start out right,” South Point coach Jason Lineberger said. “I felt like we worked really hard yesterday in practice and I felt we played about as hard as we could play. That’s what I’m the most proud of.”

South Point (4-1, 1-0) lost only one conference game last year and entered this season as the favorite behind eight returning starters. Among those is Springs, a lefthander who went 8-1 on the mound last season and led the area with 102 strikeouts.

Tuesday was more of the same, as the junior struck out 12 and scattered four hits over six innings. Springs got stronger as the game wore on and struck out the side in his final inning.

“He’s our ace right now and he delivered that kind of performance tonight,” Lineberger said.

Springs also provided one of seven South Point hits, a two-run double in the fourth. Dariel Rogers had two hits and a run to lead the Red Raiders at the plates. Five South Point players had one hit each.

Chris Harkey pitched the final inning, striking out two batters.

The Red Raiders took control with a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by Springs’ two-run double. Derek Treffinger and Rogers also had hits in the key inning, but North Gaston committed three errors, and all four runs were unearned. Spencer Wiles drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly, giving South Point a 5-0 lead.

North Gaston answered in the bottom of the fourth with Justin Parker’s run-scoring double, but that was all the production the Wildcats could muster.

South Point turned in an error-free night, including a first-inning double play.

The Red Raiders step out of league action today for a 5 p.m. game against Clover before continuing Big South play Friday at Hunter Huss.

North Gaston travels to Ashbrook on Friday.

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.