Weddington Warriors vs Sun Valley Spartans, A Crushing Defeat.

Angelina Popescu and Rylee Kidd

April 2, 2026

At Weddington high school, March 25, 6 pm sharp, Weddington Warriors and Sun Valley Spartans had a heated baseball game against one another. It ended 10-0, with the Sun Valley Spartans winning in a landslide.

Going into the game, the Mighty Warriors and Sun Valley were pretty evenly matched, both having a previous record of 5 games played and 4 losses.

Starting the first inning is Pitcher, Weddington Warrior Player, No. 15, Hudson Ouellette. Sun Valley scored 1 point in the first inning. It only increased from there, and by the 5th or 6th inning had 8 points, and by the 7th they had scored 10 points.

Sun Valley Spartans heckled the Weddington Warriors constantly and showed poor sportsmanship.

Weddington Warrior Baseball team huddled together, score board showing their defeat.

Weddington hadn’t scored by the end, but they had put up a good fight and given it their all.

After the defeat, the Weddington Warriors were crushed physically and emotionally.

We interviewed Paxton Ladner, number 20 on the Varsity Baseball team. We asked him, what do you think the team needs to work on this year?

Teary eyed and defeated, he thought for a moment before responding, his voice cracking. “Team quality at best, and to pick up the game.”

The coach of the varsity baseball team, Thomas Forrest.

We also interviewed Thomas Forrest, Coach of the Weddington Varsity Baseball team. He stated that, “We obviously did really badly, but I think our players are skilled and pretty good.”

Paxton Ladner of the baseball team reiterated Coach Forrest’s words, “I don’t think tonight was a good example of this, but our team really succeeds when it comes to being able to fight, even when things get hard.”

When we asked both what they think they can do to work on, they both said, “Pitching and execution.”

They were up against Connor Salerno, player 21, the pitcher of Sun valley who is one of the top 5 pitchers in the state, and is most likely getting drafted into the MIL in the coming years. Nevertheless, Coach Forrest claims that “It wasn’t our best, and we shouldn’t be losing to teams who aren’t much better than us like this. We just need to work harder, and try more. I’m hoping we can turn this season around.”