BURLINGTON, NC - When Game 2 of the 2026 6A State Championship Series slipped through their fingers with an 8-7 walk off win for their opponents to even the series, the Southern Lee Cavaliers had about three hours to regroup before a winner-take-all Game 3 at Burlington Athletic Stadium late Saturday night.
Numerous questions filled the minds of coaches and fans alike, chief among them - who would be the starting pitcher for this decisive game? With a 120-pitch limit for the weekend series and his complete game, 116 pitch performance in Game 1, Cavalier ace Ben Harrington was essentially eliminated. Mitchel Bryant had pitched into the fifth in Game 2, keeping the Cavs in the game until they could build a 7-4 lead in the fifth - so he had used 92 of his 120 pitches.
With senior Christian Cox unavailable for Game 3, Cavs Head Coach Tommy Harrington turned to junior Rylan Stephens who had only pitched in six games for the Cavs this year. In fact, Stephens had only thrown more than three innings for the team once this season - his lone victory on the mound against Jordan-Matthews on April 8th where he went 6 innings and struck out 14 in a dominant 10-0 win for Southern.
“We talked to the kids the other day about the State Championship being a three game series. We told them someone in this dugout is going to have to step their game up and Rylan Stephens was that guy tonight,” said Tommy Harrington. “To come out here and throw a two-hitter and only give up two runs, which were both complements of some errors we had. What a performance! One for the record books.”
Stephens struck out the first two batters he faced before South Caldwell’s Kori McCall reached on an error off a hard hit ball in the top of the first. Then Spartans catcher JP Smith battled to draw a full count walk and put two on with two out.
The Spartans tried to generate some offense with a double steal attempt, and when the throw to third trying to pick off the lead runner and end the threat sailed down the third baseline, McCall plated the game’s first run. As the Cavs scrambled to get the ball back into the infield and nab Smith at third, the throw sailed wide of third base and kicked hard to the right of catcher Luke Waters all the way to the backstop. That gave Smith a chance to scamper home and handed the Spartans a 2-0 lead.
“I think the season we’ve had, the tough games we’ve played all year, it prepared us,” said Tommy Harrington. “Our kids didn’t panic. They just kept fighting.”
Stephens said his mission was clear heading out on the mound, “Throw strikes, get them out, and let my team work,” he explained. “I trusted the bats behind me and I had all the confidence in the world that I was the best pitcher on the field tonight and that I was going to be the best all night.”
The Cavs responded to their early hole right away grabbing the lead 3-2 when Gavin Shaffer tripled to put the first two runs on the board and then swiped home when the ball got away from the Spartans on a wild pitch. Shaffer was 3 for 3 in the final game of the season,
Southern batters battled all game, grinding out at bats and keeping the pressure on the Spartans. Cavs drew eight walks in five innings and amassed eight hits to keep the
bases full most of the night.
The game’s final blow came in the bottom of the fifth inning with an 11-2 lead when Max Andrew Searcy decided to attempt a steal of home while Shaffer who had just drawn a walk sauntered down to first and South Caldwell lobbed the ball back to the pitcher.
“I was watching them the whole time. He was lobbing the ball back to the pitcher who was standing behind the mound. They weren’t paying much attention,” said Searcy with a sly grin. “I didn’t say anything to Coach. I had to make it happen. I was ready to put them away. Ready to become a State Champion. So I took what they gave us, slid into home and here we are - State Champions.”
As the dust cleared at home plate, chaos erupted out of the Southern Lee dugout along the third baseline and teammates swarmed Searcy at the plate. A pair of Cavs chased Coach Harrington, dousing him with the proverbial water cooler bath on the third baseline before the team dogpiled one another in celebration behind the mound.
Coach Harrington beamed with pride, “It’s been like that the whole season. The boys have put in a lot of hard work.Working through the fall - working with snow on the ground - kids never missing practice. All the hard work showed. It was just a total team effort. Everyone on this team contributed to this championship.”