Cherryville baseball rolls into NCHSAA 2A final, tough end for KM softball
One Foothills area team earned its spot in an NCHSAA state championship series, while another suffered a heartbreaking end to a stellar 2026 campaign.
It’s been a few years, but Cherryville baseball is back in a familiar position. The Ironmen will once again play for an NCHSAA state title after completing a sweep of the 2A West regional championship series with a 12-6 win over Cornerstone Charter on Wednesday, May 20. Twenty-four hours earlier, Cherryville took a 5-2 victory over the Cardinals.
NC BASEBALL REGIONALS: NCHSAA baseball regionals are underway. Follow here for scores, schedules NC SOFTBALL REGIONALS: NCHSAA softball regionals are underway. Here's your schedule, scores PLAYOFFS' TOP PERFORMERS: Burns baseball freshman leads Gastonia, Shelby top performers Cherryville will vie for its 12th total state championship, including eight under the NCHSAA banner (1980, 1982, 1992-93, 1998, 2001, 2008, 2016).
It also earned three others in 1917, 1960 and 1962. Cherryville will take on 2A East champion Rosewood in next week’s NCHSAA 2A state championship series, which will be played in Burlington or Holly Springs. The Ironmen are making their first NCHSAA state final appearance since 2022, when they fell to Perquimans in three games.
Cherryville slugger Brock Bumgardner provided a virtuoso performance at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two home runs, a double and seven RBIs. His first-inning blast got things started for the Ironmen, with a two-run shot an inning later helping them open up a 6-0 lead. After Cornerstone Charter closed the Cherryville lead to 9-5, Bumgardner’s bases-clearing double gave the Ironmen much-needed breathing room.