West Johnston’s baseball and softball teams started their respective trips to Knightdale on Monday night with similar goals and similar situations.

A couple of hours later, they rode back to Raleigh Road with matching Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference championships in hand.

The Wildcat baseball team clinched its first ever conference championship with a 5-2 victory over Knightdale, finishing the regular-season 18-5 and after going 12-2 in the GNRC.

Matthew Dupree got the win, while UNC Greensboro Kris Richards worked two-plus innings of relief for the save. “It’s a great feeling to see all of the work this crowd has put in and the work other teams have done laying a foundation for this,” said West baseball coach Mike Jacobs. “This year’s crew has been very consistent. We started off hot, had a few bumps in the road but did what we needed to do in the end.”

West will host its first home baseball playoff game on Friday night. The Wildcats will welcome the No. 5 team from the Tri-Seven Conference, likely Green Hope, Lee County or Johnston County Easter Invitational champion Middle Creek.

The 18 wins are a school record for West Johnston.

“I don’t think we had an easy game on the schedule, which just makes you more proud of what we were able to do,” Jacobs said. “I’m very proud of the kids, the coaching staff and everyone associated with the program. It was a memorable night.”

The playoff pairings will be released today (Wednesday).

“Now, you’re just trying to go 1-0 every round,” said Jacobs, whose team lost to New Bern in the first round of the 4-A playoffs last season. “The playoffs are always tough but we’re focused on keeping this thing going.”

All six Johnston County baseball teams will play in the post-season. North Johnston, Princeton, Clayton, and West will play at home, while South Johnston and Smithfield-Selma will be on the road. The Spartans finished fourth in the GNRC, after falling to Holly Springs 3-0 on Monday night. SSS and the Golden Hawks tied for third but flipped a coin to determine playoff seeding.

Smithfield-Selma will likely play one of the Wilmington schools — Ashley, Laney or New Hanover, while Holly Springs takes on New Bern.

West’s outright quest for the softball title looked like it had slipped away with last Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to Garner, which dropped the Wildcats into a tie for first place.

But the Trojans were upset Monday afternoon by Southeast Raleigh, 1-0, giving West a chance to win the league outright by defeating Knightdale.

The Wildcats went out and did just that on Monday night with a5-0 victory. The league title is West’s second straight.

Kelsey Eddinger homered for the Wildcats in the win, while Jordan Alexander added a triple. Alexis Betancourt got the win, holding the Knights to two hits.

Next up for West and the rest of the GNRC softball squads is the annual conference tournament at Smithfield Community Park this weekend.

Clayton mustered just three hits in its baseball loss to East Wake on Monday night and committed four errors.

The game’s only runs were scored in the seventh inning.

The Comets will host the No. 3 team from the Cap-Seven Conference in a first round game on Friday night.

Clayton put West Johnston’s baseball title celebration on hold with a 7-4 win over the Wildcats last Friday night. West took a quick 4-1 lead after three innings but the Comets pulled even in the top of the fourth. Evan Harbinson singled in two runs after Thatcher Houser came home on a balk. Patrick Reynolds gave Clayton its first lead of the night with a two-out solo home run an inning later.

Houser doubled with two outs in the sixth and scored on Harbinson’s RBI single.

A dropped third strike allowed Jeffrey Joyner to reach and an ensuing over throw at first base allowed Harbinson to score from second base, pushing the lead to 7-4.

Earlier, West Johnston went up 3-1 in the top of the third on RBI singles by Tyler Tant and Richards, then pushed the lead to 4-1 on a delayed double steal (which saw courtesy runner Deonte Anderson score) in the fourth.

Clayton right-hander Ryan Eason struck out the final three West batters in the bottom of the seventh to wrap up a complete-game victory.