By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

RALEIGH — The familiar sports cliche “we don’t rebuild, we just reload” certainly applies to Central Davidson softball these days.

The Spartans, the first team that Starmount will face in the Class 2A championship series Friday evening in Raleigh, graduated a Division I caliber pitcher in Chelsea Leonard after winning its third straight state title last spring.

But one year later, Central Davidson (24-4) finds itself right back in position to win another trophy. And this time, the Spartans have two flame-throwing pitchers helping lead the way.

Central Davidson coach Gene Poindexter hasn’t tipped his hand at which pitcher he will throw in the championship opener against the Rams. But either sophomore Carley Tysinger or junior Emma Comer seem more than capable of carrying the Spartans through the weekend.

Tysinger sports a 13-1 record with a 0.73 ERA and 165 strikeouts over 96.1 innings of work. Comer is 11-3 with a 0.98 ERA in 71.2 innings.

Tysinger struck out 14 and gave up just three hits in a complete-game win over West Stanly in Friday’s sectional round. She also hit a three-run homer in that game that set the tone in the first inning. At the plate, Tysinger carries a .500 average for the season.

But, if there is a team out there capable of taming the Spartan juggernaut, Starmount might fit that bill. The Rams have been one of the hottest hitting teams in the 2A West this spring, putting up 10 or more runs in 18 of their 31 games. That includes an 11-spot in the conference tournament championship game against Forbush a few weeks ago.

Junior catcher Jessica White, who typically bats fifth in the order, is hitting around .500 for the season. She recorded her 38th RBI on Friday night against Forbush, giving her the new single-season record at Starmount.

But the Rams have potency up and down the lineup. Leadoff hitters Josie Matthews and Chelsea Varner are dangerous slap-and-run players. Matthews can bat well from either side of the plate.

Those two are followed by Nichole Hutchens, who got Starmount off to a great start with an RBI single against Forbush on Friday.

The next three represent a murderers’ row of sorts — Ashlee Handy, Jessica White and twin sister Brittany White. Handy homered in the conference tournament finale. Brittany White had the winning hit in a win over North Henderson earlier in the playoffs.

But teams can’t relax even after getting through the top six because the last three who follow — Carla Cave, Becca Aplin and Sydney Caudle — all have had hot bats in stretches this season.

Aplin has benn on fire through much of the post-season. Caudle, a freshman, has recorded some clutch RBI hits all spring. Cave doubled to set up the go-ahead run against Forbush in the sectional finals.

Defensively, Starmount has its own ace pitcher in sophomore Courtney Groce, who is 27-5 with a 2.30 ERA, 144 strikeouts and 49 walks in 155 innings. Her strikeouts-per-game average has gone down some this season, but that’s in large part because the state moved the pitcher’s circle back three feet.

But Groce has remained effective at changing speeds and moving the ball around to keep batters off-balance.

“They’re solid,” Central’s Poindexter told the Lexington Dispatch newspaper earlier this week. “They’ve got the same pitcher they had last year and she was quite effective. They’ve got the same lineup from last year except for one, the first baseman (Jana Matthews), and she was replaced by her sister (Josie).

“They’ll be hungry. They had a tough loss against us last year and they’ve got a year under their belts.”

Central Davidson has knocked Starmount out of the playoffs the past two seasons. But last year’s game may actually give the Rams some confidence heading into the weekend. Going up against Chelsea Leonard, Starmount battled Central to a 0-0 tie through 10 innings before the Spartans finally scored three in the top of the 11th to pull away.

“They are a very good ball team, but without Chelsea Leonard it evens the playing field a little bit,” Starmount coach Heather Courts said. “I’m pretty confident in my girls. I think they (Central Davidson) are going to see a different Starmount team than they saw last year.

“Offensively we are a lot stronger.”

No matter what, the Rams will play two games Friday night at the Walnut Creek complex and must win at least once to stay alive for Saturday’s final rounds.

While Central Davidson and Starmount will battle for the 2A West title, South Lenoir (18-4) and Eastern Randolph (27-2) will play right next to them for the 2A East crown. The winners of the two games will play each other at 7:30 p.m., while the losers will face off in an elimination game at the same time.

The team that loses twice Friday will be done. Another elimination game will be played at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The state championship contest is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

If the undefeated team loses in the 1:30 game, a championship rematch will be played at 4 p.m.

Starmount will make its second trip to Walnut Creek since the state went to fast-pitch in the 1990s. The first time came in 2003, when the Rams still played at the 1A level.

“It’s a bigger stage, and with the kids not ever being there, you worry about them losing their minds a little bit,” Starmount coach Heather Courts said last week. “But we’ve been telling them all year that they should be there.”

In the 2003 championship series, Courts’ team lost its first game to North Moore 4-2, rallied to beat Midway 8-2 in an elimination game and then fell to North Brunswick in the next elimination round.

North Brunswick went on to win the state title, beating North Moore twice on the final day.

“We were actually ahead of North Moore (in the opener) and beating them pretty well,” Courts said. “Next thing I know — they kind of realized where they were — and they just kind of lost it.”

Starmount had similar experiences when playing Forbush in the regular season, falling 3-2 at home and 4-2 on the road. But the Rams kept their composure in post-season meetings with the Falcons, winning 11-4 in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A tournament title game and then 4-2 in last week’s playoffs.

Keeping that kind of poise will be big this weekend for Starmount, Courts said.

“The first two times we played (Forbush) we went back to the old Starmount that was mental and scared of Forbush,” Courts said after last Friday’s triumph in East Bend. “This time and the last time especially it didn’t faze them.

“Maybe people will start fearing the ‘S’ on the chest now.”

NOTEBOOK: Starmount players were scheduled to leave Friday morning for Raleigh ... Weather could be a factor through the weekend. Temperatures are predicted to be in the high 80s Friday and low 90s Saturday, with a 40-50 percent chance of thunderstorms each day, according to weather.com.