Leesville Road High’s Caroline Gentry was named as the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association girls player of the year in ceremonies in Greensboro on Sunday.

The N.C. State recruit was a four-year starter and helped the Pride to a 96-4-6 record and two NCHSAA championships during her career. She was a National Soccer Coaches Association of America all-America pick as a junior.

Gentry has an overall grade point average of 4.0 and scored 100 goals and had 55 assists during her career, including 30 goals and 15 assists this spring.

“She was double and triple teamed this spring, but was able to score consistently,” said Leesville coach Paul Dinkenor. “She opened up everything for her teammates.

“She is a great soccer player and a better person, an excellent role model for younger players. She possesses a fanatical work ethic. I have never ever known her to be anything but positive, motivated and full of energy.”

Home run mark: Pikeville Aycock’s Meredith Burroughs hit two home runs in the deciding game of the NCHSAA 3A softball championship series on Sunday to power the Falcons to the state title. The sophomore left-handed hitter tied the NCHSAA record for home runs in a season with her second home run, her 19th of the year.

Burroughs’ hitting helped Aycock to a 7-2 win over Hickory Foard in the deciding game. Foard won the opener 1-0 in nine innings, but Aycock won the second game 4-3.

South Stanly completed a big weekend when its girls won the 1A softball title with a 9-2 victory over Camden on Sunday. The Bulls dropped the first game in the series 11-4, but forced the third game with a 2-0 victory. Immediately after the game, the club drove to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and watched the South Stanly boys defeat Durham Voyager for the 1A baseball title.

Indian Trail Porter Ridge beat Holly Springs in a pair of 2-0 games to win the 4A softball and Wilson Beddingfield beat Madison 1-0 and 3-2 for the 2A championships.

Voyager belied youth: Durham Voyager Academy coach Pete Shankle told his team that it could still make magic after an opening 13-0 loss to South Stanly in the best-of-three 1A NCHSAA baseball series.

“It was one game,” Shankle said later. “We wanted to focus on playing as well as we could and not trying to replay the first game. I told the guys to go make some magic.”

Voyager, with no juniors or seniors, played hard in the second game, but lost 6-1. The Vikings dropped one fly ball and could have played some other balls to the outfield better.

“There were a few we should have caught,” Shankle said. “Many times you can overcome errors in the infield, but it just seems any time you make a mistake in the outfield you can’t overcome it. I wish we had played better, but I’m proud of what we accomplished. The guys are proud and the school and community are proud. But we want to win the state title, not just play for it.”

Middle Creek won the 4A title with 2-0 and 10-4 wins over Cornelius Hough. Matthews Weddington beat Pikeville Aycock 5-3 and 4-2 in 3A and Whiteville swept Randleman 3-2, 3-1.

All-star soccer: Rosters have been announced for the N.C. Coaches Association all-star girls soccer game. The game will be at 6:30 p.m., on Tuesday, July 17, at UNC-Greensboro. The boys game follows at 8:30 p.m.

The East-West basketball games are Monday, July 16, at Greensboro Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. with the football game on Wednesday, July 18, at 8 p.m. at Greensboro Grimsley High’s Bob Jamieson Stadium.

Among the girls soccer all-stars are Apex’s Katie Thomas, Broughton’s Kristen Cherry and Clay Weaver, Carrboro’s Samantha Burch and Kylie Tawney, Cardinal Gibbons’ Caitlin Donovan and Hannah Holub and East Chapel Hill’s Hanna Gardner.

TSTEVENS: 919-829-8910