Southeast Alamance softball caps breakthrough season with regional finals run

Southeast Alamance’s softball program moved from newcomer to contender in just three seasons, and its run to the Class 5-A East Regional finals gave Haw River a new team to measure against the county’s established powers. The Stallions finished 26-3 after being swept by West Carteret, with the Patriots winning the second game 7-1 in Morehead City and closing out a postseason that carried Southeast farther than many young programs ever reach.

The rise was not sudden so much as stacked, year by year. Southeast went 6-12 in 2024, improved to 12-12 in 2025 and then surged through a 23-game winning streak before taking its first loss of 2026. The Stallions won the Mid-Carolina Conference regular-season championship and then kept handling pressure in the playoffs, including county and conference tests against Eastern Alamance and Chatham Central that showed the season was built on more than a hot start.

Coach Tiffany Helton, Southeast’s first softball coach, helped set that trajectory from the beginning. Helton, who played at Southern Alamance, attended Alamance Community College and UNC Greensboro, was hired as the school prepared to open. That kind of program-building showed up this spring in the Stallions’ response to every step up in competition, from the school’s first varsity win, a 10-5 victory over Northwood behind Tatum Shelton’s complete game and eight strikeouts, to a postseason run that turned Southeast into a legitimate regional name.

The senior core gave the team its edge. Brooke Hardister, the senior first baseman, said the chemistry came from being “a bunch of friends” who liked playing together, and that bond carried through a lineup that also featured senior starters Amarie Contreras and Addison Reich. The group’s consistency helped Southeast absorb the weight of being a top seed and still keep winning when the schedule got tighter and the stakes got higher.

West Carteret ultimately ended the run by shutting out Southeast in the opener, 5-0, in Haw River, then finishing the sweep in Morehead City. In the decisive game, the Stallions fell behind 7-0 before scoring in the sixth inning, when Ava Wheeley tripled and scored. West Carteret pitcher Caitlin Dumarce controlled the series, striking out 11 without a walk, but Southeast’s final loss did not erase what the season established: in only three years, the Stallions became one of Alamance County’s most compelling softball programs, with a foundation built to last.