The varsity baseball team defeated Fort Bragg 10-4 in the first round of NCS on Wednesday March 22, and defeated St. Helena 4-3 in the second round on Saturday, March 25. The team will play in the third round of NCS on Tuesday against Justin Sienna.

In the first game, senior Cooper Wetherbee pitched, allowing for a strong defense, junior Spencer Gutterman said. The score was tied at 1-1 for a few innings.

By the 6th inning, the score was at 4-3 Fort Bragg, but Piedmont scored seven runs with Gutterman and senior Matt Horst both hitting home runs and sophomore Tristan Gardner hitting a triple.

“It went over the field and hit a tree in Wildwood playground. We all went crazy,” English teacher Janet Labberton said, referring to Horst’s home run.

“At the bottom of the sixth inning, our own Spencer Gutterman smashed one out of the field. It was so great,” Labberton said.

In the last inning, senior Garret Hodos shut out the other team and senior Evans Hauser hit a double play that helped keep Piedmont ahead.

“This game showed our perseverance and ability to fight through adversity because by the fifth inning, we were still down by two innings. But we fought hard and we had a great comeback,” junior Ryan Nakamura said.

In the second round of NCS, senior Brendan O’Conner pitched the entire game.

In the first inning, St. Helena scored three runs, but in the second inning, Horst scored a double and Gutterman scored a single, bringing the score up to 3-2, St. Helena. In the third inning, senior Ryan Sullivan scored a single.

In the bottom of the fifth inning Gutterman hit another single with 2 outs and the bases loaded to put us ahead 4-3.

Many people went down to the field to watch both NCS games.

“People were coming down from the neighborhood are because of all the cheering and that’s what Piedmont is all about,” Labberton said.

The team will play Justin Sienna for the third round of NCS on Tuesday.