Sports

STANHOPE -- The Southern Nash softball team built on its perfect 2025 campaign last Friday night, improving to 9-0 on the year and 4-0 in league play with a 10-0 run-rule victory over the Northern Nash Lady Knights.
Not only did the victory mark the ninth-straight win for the Ladybirds, it was the team's seventh shutout in a row, with Southern last surrendering a run on Feb. 27 in a 2-1 win at West Johnston.

NASH COUNTY -- 'We've Only Just Begun' crooned 'The Carpenter's back in the 1970s.
But 50 years later, those words could easily apply to the Northern Nash High School boys basketball program, which is in the midst of a decade-long run of dominance in the Big East Conference and beyond.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Without Faile, she'll be remembered as one of the best girls soccer players to ever grace the silver and maroon at Nash Central High School.
But Kaylee Faile hopes to have a few more tricks up her scoring sleeve as she heads toward the homestretch of her career with the Lady Bulldogs.
The skilled Faile is part of a small-but-skilled senior class that is leading Central through one of its best seasons in recent memory.
Heading into Tuesday's showdown against backyard rival Northern Nash, the Lady Bulldogs are a strong 5-0 to start the campaign.

NASH COUNTY -- Nash Central, Northern Nash and Southern Nash went a combined 34-36 on the girls basketball hardwood this past season -- but don't be deceived by that statistic.
Each school appears to be on an upward trajectory heading into next year -- the first under the updated realignment by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

NASH COUNTY -- A pair of Nash County rivals met on the baseball diamond tlast week, with Southern Nash sweeping a two-game set over Northern Nash, taking the opener 8-6 and following it up the next day with a 6-2 victory. Not only did the Firebirds collect a pair of crucial Big East Conference wins, but Southern rallied from behind in both games as well, erasing a 3-0 Knights' lead in the opener and bouncing back from a 1-0 deficit in the finale.

NASH COUNTY -- No outcome was going to be 100 percent perfect, but Nash County's stars are aligned in the best possible position for the next four years following the latest realignment by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
The days of Nash Central being in the same conference with county brethren Rocky Mount, Southern Nash and Northern Nash are over -- at least for the next four years.

ROCKY MOUNT -- As the sports participation landscape continues to evolve (or devolve if you ask some people), it's getting more difficult by the day to find a student-athlete who puts his or her team ahead of personal accomplishments.
But Nash Central's Allie O'Leary is one of those old-school performers, and her talent, extra effort and attitude have been rewarded with a chance to compete on the collegiate level.

ROCKY MOUNT -- In a recent rarity, the race for the Big East Conference boys golf team champion could very well go down to the final match of the campaign.
That's because Roanoke Rapids has been the start-to-finish leader in the Big East over the past few seasons -- which made the schedule less and less meaningful as the spring progressed.
But that has changed in 2025 as the Yellow Jackets are in rebuilding mode, while Northern Nash and Franklinton are placed well to fill the title void.