One of the better high school pitched games that you'll see, just to bad that it was backed up with poor defense.
Falcons Top Judges in 9
By Greg Brill
The Winchester Star
Just one strike away.
When the Handley High School baseball team loses to Fauquier, it stings a little something extra.
Tuesday night’s 2-1 setback to the Falcons in nine innings possibly cost the Judges the Northwestern District’s regular season title.
The district-leading Falcons scored the tying run on a dropped, two-out throw in the seventh inning then got the go-ahead run in the ninth on a suicide squeeze.
Fauquier (9-5, 8-1 district) won its sixth straight and swept the season series from Handley (10-2, 7-2 district).
That means should the teams finished tied at the end of the season, the Falcons hold the tie-breaker for the district’s automatic Region II berth.
“It was an amazing game,” said Fauquier junior second baseman Philip Ethier, who knocked in Dan Zyla with his bunt in the ninth. “I’m looking forward to playing them again in the postseason. They’re a great team.”
Even with extra innings, the game took only one hour and 46 minutes to play.
In a game with only three runs, it’s easy to figure pitching had something to do with the low score.
It did. Fauquier sophomore Mike Manfro and Handley senior Patrick Wingfield put on a classic duel.
Wingfield no-hit the famously strong hitting Falcons until Manfro singled with one out in the seventh. Manfro held the Judges hitless until Tyler Carroll’s infield hit with two outs in the sixth.
Handley coach Eddie Simmons lifted Wingfield before the start of the ninth. In his eight innings, Wingfield (112 pitches) allowed only two hits and an unearned run. The University of Virginia signee walked two and struck out four in the no-decision.
“He’s not really happy for me taking him out, I can tell you that,” Simmons said. “He threw 112 pitches, which is higher than we like to let our kids go.
“The kid’s got a scholarship to U.Va., and one game is not worth hurting him.”
Manfro allowed two runners to reach with one out in the Handley eighth, but a double play ended the threat.
Fauquier built off its defensive gem by taking advantage of another Handley breakdown in the field.
In the ninth, Zyla drew a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch from Judges reliever Josh Verts (4-2). Manfro then dropped a bunt and Verts threw high to first for Handley’s sixth error of the game, moving Zyla to third and Manfro took second.
The runners then held on Blake Hill’s ground out, but the Falcons wasted no time with Ethier at the plate.
With Zyla charging hard, Either tapped a curveball from Verts to get the RBI.
“It (the off-speed pitch) worried me when I saw it leave his hand,” Ethier said. “I just caught the top half of the ball and it went down.”
“We knew if Hill didn’t drive (Zyla) in someway, we were going to squeeze,” Fauquier first-year coach Paul Koch said. “You have to there.”
From there, it was up to Manfro (5-0) to finish things.
The Judges’ Justin Kitts, who reached on a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch with two outs. But Manfro finished his complete game by getting Bobby Amos to fly to deep center for the final out.
Manfro, who did not face Handley in Fauquier’s 4-2 home win over the Judges on April 6, allowed two hits, walked five, struck out seven, and allowed an unearned run in making 114 pitches.
“Manfro’s been awesome, basically his last four outings,” Koch said. “Just dominant.
“He’s challenging guys. I think he believes in what we’re telling him to do and he just does it.”
Handley got its only run in the sixth to move ahead 1-0. Wingfield reached on a two-out error and scored when Carroll’s single in the hole trickled off Fauquier shortstop Matt Steele’s glove.
Verts had a single in the ninth, but that was it for Handley.
“He was just getting us out with his fastball,” Wingfield said. “Every pitch seemed like we were under it. It was an off-night for us.”
All the way around. Wingfield (1-0, two saves) was on the verge of a 1-0 win with two outs in the seventh. With a runner on second, Ethier hit a grounder to short.
But Verts’ throw to first was dropped by Brian Ganey, and courtesy runner Derek Goff scored to make it 1-1.
“That’s two years in a row that we’ve had them down to their last strike,” Simmons said.