Prep notebook: Millbrook baseball heads to Five County Stadium

Millbrook High opens a best-of-3 state 4A baseball championship series against Charlotte Providence on Friday at the Carolina Mudcats’ Five County Stadium at 8 p.m.

Millbrook (20-10) reached the title match by defeating Fuquay-Varina in the second and third games of a best-of-3 series, 8-0 and 2-1. The Wildcats dropped the first game, 6-5, in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Eastern Regional final series.

Senior Alex Royalty leads the Wildcats with a 9-2 pitching record and a 2.28 ERA. He has 104 strikeouts in 611/3 innings. Junior Reid Herring (6-5, 2.73) has thrown 561/3 innings.

Providence topped Butler in two straight games, 8-4 and 5-0, in the Western final.

South Granville in Raleigh: The NCHSAA kept the South Granville baseball and softball teams in the same general location for their 2A championship series.

The Granville boys will play Randleman at N.C. State’s Doak Field. Games are scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and if necessary on Saturday at 5 p.m., or 8 p.m.

The Vikings girls are scheduled to play at the Wolfpack’s softball complex on Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday at 11. A third game, if needed, may have a time conflict with baseball with a 5 p.m., start.

All-state soccer: Wakefield midfielder Kat McDonald, a Duke recruit, was named the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association’s player of the year and to the all-state team.

Jordan freshman Brianna Pinto, who was selected as the Gatorade North Carolina player of the year, also is on the squad as are defender Rachael Everhart and keeper Celeste Barnhard, who helped Panther Creek High to the NCHSAA 4A girls’ soccer championship.

Joining them are Millbrook defender Alex Asher, Broughton keeper Allie Cutler, Fuquay-Varina forward Megan Greene, Cary forward Kyra Kandel, Sanderson defender Carley Maierhofer, and Broughton forward Emma Willard.

The 3A club includes Corinth Holders’ Bella Iorio, Cardinal Gibbons’ Marissa Kowalski, Northwood’s Jamie Palermo, and Chapel Hill’s Mia Spencer.

NCHSAA 2A champion Carrboro leads the 2A club with Miah Araba and Natasha Turner. Durham School of the Arts’ Kendall Conder also is on the team.

Raleigh Charter, which won the 1A title, placed Grace Nipp and Abby Rhodes. Franklin Academy’s Amelia Huffman and Woods Charter’s Isabel Pearce also have spots.

The coaches’ private school all-state team includes Durham Academy’s Kendall Bushick and Cary Academy’s Jessica McCoppin, Remi Swartz and Abby Staker.

Miles picks UNC: Manny Liles, the son of LSU football coach Les Miles, announced this week that he will attend the University of North Carolina.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound quarterback is expected to be a walk-on at UNC. He also is a talented baseball player.

He helped lead University Lab in Baton Rouge, La., to a 15-0 season and a state championship.

“It felt right when I went there, and their coaches were great,” Miles told Mitch Stephens of MaxPreps. “So when I came back, I just thought it would be a great place for me. They run similar things that our high school did, and I felt like I fit that system right, so might as well stay in it for a couple more years.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2015 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: Millbrook baseball heads to Five County Stadium."