Raleigh Charter girls soccer coach John Kinney hopes he gets more than half of his players at practice this week as the team prepares for the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A championship this weekend.

"Our girls have so many irons in the fire that it is hard for them to get to everything," said John Kinney, an architectural consultant who is the school's volunteer coach.

"Our game at Dixon [a 3-0 state semifinal win] was the first playoff game where we had our entire starting lineup."

Raleigh Charter is a public high school housed in a building that used to be a mill near downtown Raleigh. The school has no athletic facilities of its own and girls soccer players pay $75 to be a part of the team. The players also set the practice times, dodging end-of-year testing and activities.

A half to two-thirds of the squad is expected at most workouts, but no one is complaining -- at least the team practices on a field with soccer goals, something it didn't have last year.

The team has practiced this season at Halifax Park, which has a couple of goals loaned by Peace College. Raleigh Charter home games are played when and where a field is available.

"We really don't get into worrying a lot about those kinds of details," Kinney said. "We play on a field somewhere at sometime against another team."

But don't think athletics is a haphazard affair at the school.

"These children are committed and they work as hard as any players I have ever seen," said Kinney, who once changed professions so he could have more time to coach in youth soccer leagues. "Our players want to be at practice, just have a lot of things going on in their lives."

Raleigh Charter has found that success brings misunderstanding. The program has been accused of recruiting athletes.

It is a public school whose students are chosen by lottery from applicants. Siblings get preferential treatment, but athletic prowess doesn't help when names are pulled from a bowl.

This year, about 580 students applied for 135 spots.

It is an unlikely process -- play-to-pay, random drawing, no facility -- in which to build a state championship team, but on Friday or Saturday, somewhere at SAS Soccer Park, Raleigh Charter will play Winston-Salem McGuinness in the state final.

That's about all the details this team needs.

THIRD TRY IN FOURTH ROUND: Middle Creek and Leesville Road both might be capable of winning the 4-A baseball championship.

But first, one has to defeat the other in tonight's fourth-round game. The teams play at 7 at Middle Creek. The teams have advanced because they have made big plays, gotten great pitching and timely hits.

"This is one of those games that ought to be a lot of fun," Leesville coach Chad Smothers said. "We have emerged as the two best teams in this part of the 4-A bracket, and we are excited to be playing each other."

The teams split games during the regular season. Leesville pounded Middle Creek 9-1 in a game in which the Mustangs made five errors. Middle Creek's Michael Frongello, who may pitch tonight, came back to shut out the Pride 1-0.

"This is a case where players are playing their best in the clutch," Smothers said. "Tyler Wood and Quincy Latimore are leading Middle Creek, and Stephen Harrold really is coming through for us."

Smothers said Harrold pitched his best game of the season in Friday's 3-1 win over Durham Jordan.

CEDAR RIDGE HITS: Cedar Ridge carries a .300 team batting average into today's 2-A baseball game against North Lenoir. The Wolves have 11 players hitting above .300, including catcher Matt Watkins.

Jake Dailey has a 10-1 pitching record and Wesley Mister is 6-3, including three losses to South Granville.