Hawks Fall to East Duplin in Heartbreaking Walk-Off Finish
BEULAVILLE, N.C. — The North Lenoir Hawks traveled to East Duplin on Tuesday for a pivotal conference showdown that ended in dramatic fashion, with the Panthers securing a 9-8 walk-off win.
The Hawks came out strong, scoring two runs in the second inning. In the top of the third, Ethan Smith led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jayden Miller. With one out, East Duplin issued an intentional walk to Garrett Byrd, bringing up Carter Chadwick—who launched his first of two home runs on the night, giving the Hawks an early 5-0 lead.
East Duplin answered in the bottom of the third, putting up three runs to close the gap.
Chadwick continued his stellar night at the plate in the top of the seventh, hitting his second home run and extending North Lenoir’s lead to 8-5. But the Panthers showed patience and poise in their final at-bat. They drew three consecutive walks to load the bases with no outs, then followed with a pair of singles that plated two runs, cutting the lead to 8-7.
Byrd came in from behind the plate to pitch and quickly recorded back-to-back strikeouts. But with two outs, East Duplin delivered the final blow — a two-run double that completed the comeback and handed North Lenoir a crushing 9-8 loss.
Offensively, Chadwick led the way for the Hawks, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs. Byrd went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Blayden Pridgen added a 2-for-4 performance.
On the mound, Wriston Honeycutt got the start, pitching 4.2 innings and allowing five hits, five runs, two walks and three strikeouts. Mason Sasser came on in relief, giving up two hits, four runs and three walks while striking out three in 1.1 innings. Byrd closed out the game with two strikeouts, allowing just one hit.
North Lenoir head coach Cam Sherrer said the message to his team remains steady despite the loss.
“The message is always the same — you have to take it one game at a time. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall our way tonight,” Sherrer said.
“We faced a really good pitcher. I thought we handled him well and did a lot of things right,” he added. “That’s a good team over there, they’re well-coached, and they just found a way.”
The Hawks (11-4 overall, 7-1 conference) now sit just behind rival South Lenoir (8-1) in the conference standings. North Lenoir is scheduled for a rain makeup game at Kinston High on Wednesday before hosting East Duplin in a rematch on Thursday.
