Apex was up 2-1 over Holly Springs after three innings in the NCHSAA playoffs' first round game, when the Cougars got a second wind like they had never felt before this season.
Apex scored eight runs in the fourth inning. For a team known more for its defense and pitching, it comes as little surprise that the Cougars (15-7) scored more runs in that one inning than they had in 18 games this season. As a result, Apex went on to win 12-1 in six innings and it will be Apex and not Holly Springs that moves on to the next round to face PAC-Six champ Riverside (18-3).
The Golden Hawks ended their season 19-6 after finishing second in the Greater Neuse River Conference (Dave Malenick will have the story from this game).
In a much more exciting fashion, another Tri-Eight team upset a GNRC team on the road on Friday.
Fuquay-Varina, the fifth seed coming out of the Tri-Eight, needed extra innings to pull out a 4-3 nail-biter over GNRC champion Smithfield-Selma (15-8) on Friday. The Bengals (12-13) will now play Sanderson (14-10) in the next round of the playoffs.
The only other Tri-Eight team left is Green Hope (20-5), who will host Broughton in the next round.
