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quote:Lynchburg Post 16 off to 2-0 start at state tournament
By: STAFF | The News & Advance
Published: August 01, 2012
One night after defeating two-time defending American Legion Baseball state champion Greenbrier Post 280 in the tournament opener, Lynchburg Post 16 upset this year’s favorite, undefeated Mechanicsville 175, Wednesday night, 10-4 at the Stafford Post 290 Sports Complex in Fredericksburg.
David Goulding, Lynchburg manager Chris Glaize’s top pitcher at Group AA state runner-up Brookville last spring, scattered eight hits over 6 2/3 innings of work, inducing 14 of Mechanicsville’s 20 ground-ball outs.
"He pitched a masterful game and we made no errors behind him," Glaize said. "He hit his spots tonight and mixed in off-speed pitches. We knew this team was a good fastball-hitting team and they look to pull everything so he kept it away and they would roll over [his pitches] and hit weak groundballs."
Evan Mitchell relieved Goulding and got Post 16 out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh before Travis Burnette pitched the last 1 2/3 innings.
Offensively, Lynchburg had 15 hits, including a two-run homer pulled down the left-field line by Dylan Caruso in a three-run bottom of the first and a two-run single by Matt Blanks in a three-run sixth.
Post 16 will face the winner of Wednesday’s late game between Vienna Post 180 and Albemarle Post 74 today at 5 p.m.
"We beat the favorite tonight [but] we’ve got a long way to go," Glaize said, noting a win today would put the team in Friday’s final. "Our kids just like to compete. We’re just happy to be where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of momentum going into [today]."
Lynchburg is making its third straight state tournament appearance after finishing second in Danville in 2010 and third at Liberty University last year.
"Two years ago, we were in this position and couldn’t quite finish it," Glaize said. "Last year we couldn’t finish it and we’re hoping the third time’s the charm."
Lynchburg snaps Post 175's winning streak
By: ERIC KOLENICH | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: August 02, 2012
STAFFORD --
Mechanicsville Post 175's season-long winning streak came to a screeching halt Wednesday as Lynchburg Post 16 knocked around starting pitcher Chris Childress and won 10-4 in the American Legion state tournament.
Post 175 (23-1) will make a quick turnaround and play today at 10 a.m. in an elimination game. Its opponent is Stafford Post 290, the host team.
To claim the tournament title, Post 175 will have to win twice today, twice Friday and once Saturday.
"It's going to be a long haul," Post 175 manager Eddie Gates said.
"We have to come back the hard way. We've got five more games. That makes it tough. But funnier things have happened in state tournaments."
For what may have been the first time all season, Post 175's pitching staff looked less than stellar. Mechanicsville has relied on its arms to keep offenses calm. But Lynchburg was explosive from the first inning on, and Childress never displayed his top form.
A Hanover graduate who was one of three players named Central Region player of the year in the spring, Childress allowed nine runs on 12 hits and seven walks. Bound for Randolph-Macon, Childress pitched himself into jams by walking the leadoff batter three times in six innings.
Often when he got behind in the count, he allowed big hits. Lynchburg posted three-run innings in the first and the sixth. In the first, Dylan Caruso hit a two-run home run to put Lynchburg ahead 3-0. Mechanicsville never held the lead.
In the sixth, Childress allowed three singles and a walk before he was pulled having thrown 109 pitches.
"Chris didn't have his best stuff, but he battled," Gates said. "You can't get behind and then throw those fat pitches to them."
Mechanicsville had fallen behind before. But instead of rallying as it is accustomed to doing, the deficit just got wider and wider. Lynchburg (21-3), which continues in the winners' bracket today at 5 p.m., scored in six innings.
One of the few bright spots in Mechanicsville's night was a solo home run from Conner Hall in the fourth inning. Hall rocketed a 3-1 fastball into the trees beyond left field.
Pitcher David Goulding fooled Mechanicsville for 6 2/3 innings. His velocity tops out around only 82-83 mph, and Post 16's scouting report said Mechanicsville was a good fastball hitting team.
So Goulding went to breaking balls, keeping Post 175 off balance with a sharp cutting slider. He struck out only one and allowed three earned runs on eight hits.
He worked quickly. Sometimes he seemed to never take his right foot off the rubber.
As soon as he got the ball back from the catcher, he was ready to go again.
Lynchburg manager Chris Glaize said Goulding is just one of his many weapons on the mound.
"I don't think this team has an ace," Glaize said. "Just a lot of good pitchers."
ekolenich@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6109 Twitter: @EricKolenichRTD
quote:Post 180 Season Ends with State Tourney Loss
Vienna eliminated after one-run defeat in Virginia American Legion Senior Baseball Tournament
By Nicole Trifone Email the author August 3, 2012
The Vienna Post 180 season came to an end with a 7-6 loss to Mechanicsville Post 175 at the Virginia American Legion Senior Baseball Tournament on Thursday, ranking the squad at fourth in the state.
After ending day one of the double-elimination tournament with a split 1-1 record, Post 180's second loss takes them out of the running for the state title.
Post 180 qualified for the tournament after dominating the District 17 Tournament last week to earn its first district championship since 2007.
Post 180 stayed ahead most of the game Thursday night, but Mechanicsville's RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning proved to the game-winner.
Vienna jumped ahead in the first two innings to take a 6-3 lead. Post 180 scored two runs in the first inning on a RBI groundout from Jack Anzilotti and an RBI single from Tim Davis.
Though Mechanicsville answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, Post 180 pulled ahead with four runs in the second. The first three Post 180 runs of the second were scored on errors; Davis knocked in their last run of the game on an RBI groundout.
Post 180 held onto the lead until the fifth inning when Post 175 scored an unearned run on an RBI single to tie the game at 6-6. Mechanicsville broke the tie with an unearned run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth, which went unanswered.
"We played pretty well for most of the tournament," Coach Frank Werman said. "We just couldn't get our offense going against Albemarle on Wednesday, which put us in the losers' bracket, and that's just a tougher route to a championship."
Over the four games Vienna played in the tournament, they amassed 11 errors while their opponents totaled 16. Though Werman held players accountable for some of the errors, he also blamed the field conditions.
"This was the worst field we played on this year," Werman said of the American Legion Sports Complex in Fredericksburg. "Then add that we had to play after rain delays and at night with the dew, and it was just bad conditions for all teams involved."
Earlier in the day, Post 180 defeated Manassas Post 158 9-3 with RBIs credited to Brandon Chandler (4), Davis (3) and Dennis Cooney (1). Mark Gunst pitched 8 1/3 innings for three strikeouts and nine hits, with two of Manassas' three runs unearned.
Post 180's elimination loss Thursday marked their ninth loss of the 2012 season, tallying 27 wins. Before the start of the state tournament, Vienna had won 12 of their last 13 games.
"I think the competition varied in the tournament, but I do think two teams were probably legitimately better than us: Lynchburg and Mechanicsville," Werman said. "But having said that, we had a chance to beat Mechanicsville. We were in that game, and I think we could have had a shot with Lynchburg, too."
The Vienna pitching staff entered the tournament with a 2.06 ERA, which has since risen to 2.17 — the lowest ERA in Post 180 baseball history, breaking the previous record of 2.29 set in 1983.
But after the squad entered the losers' bracket with their first loss Wednesday night, even Post 180's stellar staff started to seem too thin to make it to the end.
"Truth is if we won last night, I'm not sure how we would have pieced together the pitchers needed to win three straight games to win the championship," Werman said.
Though the season has ended, the squad will meet one last time before the end of the summer for a cookout at American Legion Post 180 in Vienna, at which Henry Brandmark will receive his MVP trophy. Brandmark had the team-high batting average of .374, a .995 fielding percentage as primarily a first baseman, and served as a relief pitcher with a 0.74 ERA in 13 appearances.
"I really enjoyed coaching this team. The pitching all season was awesome, and we were never out of games. Every game we lost we had a shot. They came to play," Werman said. "These kids are just really good kids. The camaraderie was fantastic this year. It was just a blast."
quote:
Mechanicsville Post 175 advances in losers' bracket
Patrick Holler, the youngest player on Mechanicsville Post 175, made his second start of the season.
By: ERIC KOLENICH | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: August 02, 2012
STAFFORD --
Mechanicsville Post 175 staved off elimination — for a few hours — by scoring nine runs in the seventh inning and beating Stafford Post 290 10-4 Thursday in the losers’ bracket of the American Legion state tournament.
Post 175 plays the winner of the Manassas vs. Vienna game tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Entering the bottom of the seventh, Mechanicsville trailed 3-1. Stafford pitcher Hunter Kohn had painted the outside corner of the plate for six innings, scattering seven hits and keeping Mechanicsville off the scoreboard for the first five.
But Kohn exited the game after the sixth, and Stafford had nothing left in the tank after him. Reliever Randy Tydings faced five batters and walked four of them. He was pulled for Andrew Slupek, who didn’t fare any better. Slupek allowed two walks and a pair of 2-RBI doubles to Bryant Lowery and Conner Hall.
Tydings was charged with five runs, Slupek with four.
“I think we were looking for that spark,” Post 175 starting pitcher Patrick Holler said. “When they started walking us, we said ‘Now it’s time to do something and bring them around.’ ”
Mechanicsville, with a strong pitching staff, often is able to outlast its opponent. If it can hang with a run or two, Post 175 usually prevails in the late innings. Despite being down 3-1, coach Eddie Gates said he still felt comfortable.
“I knew sooner or later we’d still get something going,” Gates said.
To survive in the losers’ bracket, a team must reach deep into its well of pitchers. Gates said he will wait to use his ace, James Walsh, as long as he can.
Instead, he went with Holler, the youngest player on the team, to make his second start of the season. A rising junior at Lee-Davis, Holler went seven innings and allowed three earned runs on 11 hits. He struck out six and walked two.
“We had to throw some wrinkles into the pitching staff,” Gates said. “This wrinkle worked.”
quote:
Lynchburg Post 16 advances to Mid-Atlantic Regional
Credit: Photo by Lee Luther Jr./For The News & Advance
Lynchburg Post 16's Logan Collins slides home safely past Albemarle Post 74 catcher Ryan Leake with the tying run off a sacrifice fly by Nygeal Andrews in the eighth inning of Lynchburg's 4-3 come-from-behind victory in the American Legion state tournament championship game Friday afternoon at Stafford.
By: TED ALLEN | The News & Advance
Published: August 03, 2012
STAFFORD — Friday’s American Legion Baseball state championship game at the Stafford Post 290 Sports Complex was error-free. But two balks helped Lynchburg Post 16 tie Albemarle Post 74 twice before a bases-loaded walk in the eighth forced in the go-ahead run in a 4-3 win.
"Mistakes cost them," said Nygeal Andrews, the tournament MVP who tied it at 3-3 in the eighth with his second sacrifice fly and pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save. "It went down to the wire and we had to execute plays and we definitely got it done."
"It was a little scary, a little closer than we wanted it, but we came out on top," added Post 16 starter Chris Adams, who survived a rocky two-run first inning to strike out six before leaving with two outs in the sixth, trailing 2-1.
Lynchburg (23-3) swept through the tournament, going 4-0 to avoid dropping into the losers’ bracket and save its pitching for the final. It won for the first time in three straight state appearances and for the first time since 2005 to earn a trip to the Aug. 9-13 Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Sumter, S.C.
"‘Finally,’ is what I’ve been saying the whole time," Andrews said. "It’s about time. Third time’s the charm."
After averaging close to 15 hits through the first three games, Post 16 managed only seven Friday, all singles and none for RBIs.
"We were all saying, this is not like us," Andrews said. "We stroked the ball all tournament and to come in with just seven and still win it was miraculous."
"This game, we had to take advantage of every little chance we had," added Travis Burnette, who went 3-for-4 and scored three of Lynchburg’s four runs. "Both sides played really hard. We just got a few breaks here and there that let us come through."
Albemarle, a team Lynchburg slaughtered 16-6 in Thursday night’s seven-inning winners’ bracket final, was depleted of pitching after beating tournament favorite Mechanicsville Post 175, 10-4, on Friday morning and was eliminated by Lynchburg for the second state tournament in a row.
"I threw my top three pitchers before today, so we’re just running on fumes," said Post 74 manager Mike Maynard, who had five players off his Group A, Division 2, state title team from William Monroe. "We threw all of our position players today and they did a good job."
Lynchburg manager Chris Glaize, who was hoping not to have to postpone travel plans to Myrtle Beach to play in an "if necessary" game today, had his team guard against overconfidence.
"I don’t know if it’s good to play a team that you just beat by the slaughter rule," Glaize said. "I know they say they’re not thinking about that, but they’re 17, 18 years old and they’re thinking about how easy it is going to be to beat them."
He was impressed by Albemarle’s available staff, starting with Brett Johnson, a JMU recruit who allowed just three hits through 4 2/3 innings of work in only his second start of the year.
"They were out of pitching and they were throwing guys that threw strikes," Glaize said, noting they didn’t walk a batter until walking three in the eighth.
"Today was like Johnny Wholestaff," added Johnson, who had a three-run double in a seven-run fourth inning against Mechanicsville and delivered two RBI singles, the last a bad-hop hit over second baseman Joseph Knight that put Post 74 up 3-2 in the eighth. "I was hitting the black pretty well … My changeup was working and they were just having trouble hitting the low ball."
After managing just one hit through the first three innings, Post 16 finally scored in the fourth. Burnette led off by lining a first-pitch single over the glove of leaping shortstop Lee Carneal. He stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly to center by Andrews and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Matt Blanks, who earned the win despite allowing the go-ahead run in the eighth.
"He came up big," Glaize said of Burnette, who later scored on a balk in the sixth and came in with the winning run in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk by Jesse Stinnett on a borderline pitch by Carneal, who was making his first pitching outing. "We wanted some speed on the bases there at the end and they came through. That’s the kids. They’re going to battle. Every at-bat is important to them."
quote:(JR) POST 21 SPLITS 2 STATE GAMES
August 4, 2012
Winchester Star staff report
GLEN ALLEN — Winchester Post 21 lost 2-0 to Richmond Post 137 at the American Legion Junior State Tournament Friday afternoon.
Richmond scored one of its runs on a wild pitch and held off Post 21 the rest of the way. Winchester outhit Richmond 9-4 in the loss.
Winchester pitcher Ryan Hartigan took the loss, allowing two runs (one earned), and four hits through six innings. He struck out seven.
Hartigan went 2 for 2 with a pair of doubles, and Roger Repasky went 1 for 1.
Post 21 defeated Lakeside Post 125 10-9 earlier on Friday. Winchester scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to rally for the victory.
Jarrett Sowder went 2 for 5 (with a double to drive in the go-ahead run) with two RBIs, and Russell Repasky went 3 for 4 with a double and drove in two runs.
Winchester (23-11) faces Big Island Post 217 in an elimination game today a 10 a.m. If Post 21 wins, it advances to face Richmond Post 137 at 12:30.
quote:
Mechanicsville’s Season Comes To End
By Eric Kolenich
Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: August 04, 2012
File photo by Charlie Leffler/The Local
After falling into the loser’s bracket, Mechanicsville Post 175 Coach Eddie Gates gambled with his pitching and ended up never using James Walsh in the state tournament.
STAFFORD—For the past two days, Mechanicsville had its back against the wall. It eked out wins in two elimination games Thursday and returned to the field Friday morning a little more than 12 hours after its second do-or-die victory.
But the magic that carried Post 175 to an undefeated regular season and two come-from-behind triumphs in the losers’ bracket finally ran out. Albemarle Post 74 scored seven runs in the fourth inning on its way to a 10-4 victory, eliminating Mechanicsville in the American Legion state tournament.
“It feels like we didn’t accomplish what we had planned,” relief pitcher Ryan Bettinger said.
Mechanicsville went five games without using its ace, James Walsh. The lefty warmed up late in the game, but never made it to the mound. Manager Eddie Gates said he was holding Walsh in hopes of using him in the next game. But the team never got that far.
“That was our strategy,” Gates said. “We had to have a starter for our game against Lynchburg.”
Instead, Post 175 (25-2) started Chop Pulisic, who normally plays the outfield. He went 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits. He struck out one and walked another.
He felt good about his performance, considering how long it had been since he last pitched. Before this week, Pulisic hadn’t thrown off the mound in a game since his freshman year at Atlee. He graduated this spring and intends to walk on at William and Mary in the fall.
“I felt good for awhile,” Pulisic said. “Then I kind of lost control of everything.”
The fourth inning was Post 175’s demise. In the top half, Mechanicsville broke open a scoreless game by putting four runs on the board. Albemarle (23-6) responded with eight consecutive hits in the bottom half. The first seven came around to score.
Pulisic was pulled in favor of Bettinger, who got 175 out of the inning.
“It happened quick,” Bettinger said of Albemarle’s outburst. “They got a lot of hits together and scored a lot of runs.”
Post 175’s offense lacked hits when it needed them most. It got at least one man on base each inning, but stranded 10 and hit into three double plays. The offense struggled throughout its trip to Stafford, Gates said.
“You have to take opportunities and make something of them,” he added. “The effort was there, things just didn’t work out for us.”
Bettinger, who completed his freshman year in college, has reached the end of his American Legion career.
But a “nucleus” of players is expected back next season, Gates said.
“We could be doing this next year,” he said. “This is probably the best group of kids in my Legion career that I’ve coached.”
Mechanicsville dominated much of the regular season, going seven games without allowing a run to start the season. It became the first District 11 team to finish undefeated, then went on to claim the district tournament title.
Post 175 went 3-2 in the state tournament and found relative success with pitchers who had little recent experience on the mound. Cam Maxey made his second appearance of the season Wednesday, and Patrick Holler made his second start.
“To sit back now and look at it, we had an unbelievable year,” Pulisic said.
Eric Kolenich is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.
000 400 000 — 04 07 2 ... Post 175
000 702 10x — 10 14 0 ... Post 74
Pulisic, Bettinger (4), Ellis (7) and Keeler. Herndon, Rich (5) and Maynard.
W — Herndon. L — Pulisic.
Records: Post 175 25-2; Post 74 23-6
