Holly Springs tops Cardinal Gibbons in regional finals opener
Noah Rhoades homered and struck out eight as Holly Springs beat Cardinal Gibbons 9-4, moving the Golden Hawks one win from the state-title series.
Holly Springs put itself one win from the NCHSAA state championship series with a 9-4 victory over Cardinal Gibbons in Game 1 of the East Regional Final, turning a tense opening game into a clear statement for a Wake County program chasing its first berth in the final round.
The Golden Hawks, the No. 5 seed in the East, took control behind senior Noah Rhoades, who delivered at the plate and on the mound. Rhoades hit a three-run home run, finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, and worked six strong innings, striking out eight while allowing only two earned runs on three hits. In a best-of-three series, that kind of two-way performance gave Holly Springs immediate leverage against a Cardinal Gibbons team that entered as the No. 3 seed and had won 10 straight.
Holly Springs also got a big night from Hodge Williams, who reached base in all four plate appearances and finished with a home run, a double and four RBI. Sam Saxenmeyer added another key note for the Golden Hawks by scoring his first run of the season, part of an offense that kept pressure on the Crusaders from the start and never let the opener settle into a bullpen game Cardinal Gibbons could control.
The win extended Holly Springs’ streak to nine games and left the Golden Hawks needing only one more victory in the series to clinch a spot in the state championship round. The East Regional Final continued with Game 2 scheduled for May 21, 2026, at Holly Springs High School, where the home crowd had a chance to see the program move from contender to finalist.
For Cardinal Gibbons, the loss was more than a setback. It ended a 10-game winning streak and forced the Crusaders to answer quickly in the rematch if they wanted to keep their season alive. In a bracket where higher seeds host the regional finals in the East, Holly Springs had already seized the advantage that comes with winning the opener at home, and the next game carried the kind of pressure that can define a season in Wake County baseball.
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