Triton took a trio of varsity wins over visiting All American 3-A/4-A Conference and Harnett County rival Overhills on Friday, winning in baseball, softball and girls soccer.

Overhills showed improvement from a 12-0 home baseball loss to Triton on Monday, but the Hawks still took the win by a score of 6-3 to improve to 5-0 on the season.

“It’s been a solid start (to the season),” said Triton coach Jacob Willis. “Today, a little bit rough, though. We did have some good pitching performances which kept us in the game. Xander (Johnson) threw it well and made some good adjustments as he went on and then Wyatt Avery went in and pretty much closed the door.”

Junior Xander Johnson, the starting pitcher, took the win on the mound for the Hawks (5-0, 2-0 AAC), giving up two earned runs on four hits and two walks, with three strikeouts. Junior Wyatt Avery pitched four relief innings, yielding no runs on no hits and no walks, with six strikeouts.

Johnson also led Triton at the plate with three hits, including two doubles, and three runs scored.

Ross Stevens had one hit, one RBI and one run scored. Anthony Jones had a double and one RBI. Braxton Davis had one hit and one RBI. Jackson Lanier had one hit. Jalen Evans and Kenneth McKoy scored one run apiece.

Senior Benny Nena had two hits and one RBI and senior Collin Ross had one hit, one RBI and one run scored to lead the Jaguars (0-4, 0-2).

Bryan Gloria had a double and one run scored. Caleb Hamacher scored once.

Overhills jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Triton responded with three runs in the bottom of the first and two in the second.

Overhills scored one more run in the third inning and Triton scored once in the sixth.

Softball rolls as Blackman controls

On the softball field, Triton won 16-0 in four innings against Overhills behind a no-hitter from junior Ava Blackman.

“One of the things we talked about after the game last night was we knew we were going to face slow pitching and I wanted them to be patient,” said Triton softball coach Mark Whitman. “Put the bat on the ball. Not just dribble hits. And we hit the ball hard tonight. Everybody, pretty much, through the lineup swung the bat hard tonight. Not a bad way to end the week and go into the weekend on a positive note.”

Blackman was one walk shy of a perfect game in her first full game as a varsity pitcher for the Hawks (2-3, 2-0). She gave up no runs on no hits and one walk, with four strikeouts.

“It feels good,” Blackman said. “I was a little nervous. I haven’t pitched in a whole game all season. I’m very surprised with myself. The drop ball was working. (Pitching coach) Louie (Slaughter) was happy with that. Overall, it was good. It takes a lot of pressure off of me for the rest of the season knowing that I can do something like that now.”

“Ava did a good job on the mound tonight,” Whitman said. “I was hoping she wasn’t going to walk that one batter, but I wasn’t going to say anything to her.”

Junior Gracie Byrd was 4-for-4, including two doubles, with four RBIs and two runs scored to lead Triton offensively.

“She was kind of in her zone tonight,” Whitman said. “I thought she did a great job.”

Tristan Ennis had three hits and two runs scored. Kimah Warren had two hits, including an inside-the-park home run, three RBIs and two runs scored. Aubree Bass had two hits, including a double, three RBIs and two runs scored. Ashley Pope and Lindsey Knoll had one hit apiece. Stephanie Davis had a double and a run scored. T.K. McLean and Reagan Bradham each had one hit and one run scored. Blackman and Jaliyah McDougald scored two runs apiece. Grace Wilson scored once.

“Everybody got in the game and swung the bat tonight,” Whitman said. “That’s a key to a lot of things, too. It makes it worthwhile when you can get everybody in and they can get a swing.”

Cadenze Hurd was the lone member of the Jaguars (0-5, 0-2) to reach base on a walk.

Triton scored eight runs apiece in the first and third innings.

On the soccer field, Triton got payback for a 2-0 loss at Overhills Monday by winning a 3-0 shutout against the visiting Jaguars.

“It was a completely different game from Monday night,” said Triton soccer coach Brian Foster. “We took it to them aggressively from the get-go. We did not give them time to dwell on the ball to pick out passes like we did Monday night. We played the ball in behind them, ran onto the ball, made great passes and finished, finished, finished.”

Triton improves to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play and Overhills drops to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in conference.

Parker, House pace soccer shutout

Senior Carleigh Parker had two goals and junior Emily Mendez scored once for the Hawks.

“(Parker) set the tone about three hours ago before we even got started,” Foster said. “That’s what she does. She runs this team. I don’t even have to coach them half the time, because that’s her job. She also plays harder than everybody else and inspires them to play the way that they played. That’s why we won tonight, she played hard the entire night.”

Sophomore Emma Stanley provided an assist on all three goals.

“She’s not just speed,” Foster said. “She got onto the ball and laid it off for her teammates.”

Junior Nicole House recorded the shutout in goal for Triton.

“She had some saves, but what the was really doing was taking the ball off their foot on these crosses,” Foster said. “They got in behind us some, especially in the second half. They moved three up front and started really making some offensive moves. And every time she was there to take it off of somebody’s toe before they could shoot the ball. She’s great. She’s been solid back there for years and I’m glad I’ve got her coming back for next year, too.”

Foster also praised the play of his defenders in the contest.

“Gabby Artis was nonstop back there at the back,” Foster said. “Those girls on the back line tonight, we had Haley Core back there, Santiana Almeida, Ashlyn Vincent at sweeper cleaning up everything that got through and Gabby Artis chasing down everything.”

All three of Triton’s goals came in the first half. Neither team scored in the rain-soaked second half.

Triton is at home for a non-conference girls soccer game against Smithfield-Selma (0-3) on Monday. Both Triton and Overhills continue conference play in all three sports on Tuesday when Triton travels to E.E. Smith and Overhills hosts Terry Sanford.