James River 5 Atlee 4 in game one
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We are posting in-game updates over on the AAA board at VirginiaPreps.com. Tom Garrett is at the Diamond sending us constant updates!
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James River did not deserve to win that game. At least not until the very, very end. Atlee was the aggressor in this game for 6 innings and it looked like they had them by the throats. Great comeback I guess but JR had to burn two pitchers to do it. I hope Roberts has his A game back on Wed. or they could be had. I think they get Deep Run, if what I heard about the second game is accurate.
Atlee's pitcher (James Walsh) looked a little nervous in the first inning but despite an error kept it to one run. Atlee got that back when JR misplayed back-to-back bunts and was fortunate to escape with only one run allowed as well. In the third, Kirby got wild and loaded the bases, Atlee's Brent West got a chest high fastball and absolutely murdered it. Grand slam at any HS field in the area, went for a 3-RBI double at the Diamond to make it 4-1 Atlee.
(Aside: JR also lost a run on a deep shot that went for a double with no damage, so I don't know that the Diamond had any net impact on the outcome.)
Kit Scheetz came on and took over the game for JR, going the last 4 1/3 while allowing zero runs. A 2-out error loaded them up for JR in the 4th, and then 2 bases loaded walks let them back into the ball game despite having only 2 hits to that point.
It stayed 4-3 until JR put 4 solid singles up in the 7th to pull it out. Casey Jones led off with a solid line hit, got bunted to 2nd and then stole third to get to where he could score the tying run on an out if need be. Mac Caples hit a hard grounder that would've been enough to score Jones, but with the infield in it got through for a hit. Michael Trentham singled Caples to second, and Jack Roberts' line hit brought Caples in to win it. Scheetz needed only 4 pitches in the bottom of the 7th.
Emanski said Atlee would be tough and indeed they were. Frankly it's a shame to see them eliminated. They played a great game and but for the 3-batter lapse in the 4th and the hits when the very fine pitcher kind of hit the wall in the 7th, they had it.
Atlee's pitcher (James Walsh) looked a little nervous in the first inning but despite an error kept it to one run. Atlee got that back when JR misplayed back-to-back bunts and was fortunate to escape with only one run allowed as well. In the third, Kirby got wild and loaded the bases, Atlee's Brent West got a chest high fastball and absolutely murdered it. Grand slam at any HS field in the area, went for a 3-RBI double at the Diamond to make it 4-1 Atlee.
(Aside: JR also lost a run on a deep shot that went for a double with no damage, so I don't know that the Diamond had any net impact on the outcome.)
Kit Scheetz came on and took over the game for JR, going the last 4 1/3 while allowing zero runs. A 2-out error loaded them up for JR in the 4th, and then 2 bases loaded walks let them back into the ball game despite having only 2 hits to that point.
It stayed 4-3 until JR put 4 solid singles up in the 7th to pull it out. Casey Jones led off with a solid line hit, got bunted to 2nd and then stole third to get to where he could score the tying run on an out if need be. Mac Caples hit a hard grounder that would've been enough to score Jones, but with the infield in it got through for a hit. Michael Trentham singled Caples to second, and Jack Roberts' line hit brought Caples in to win it. Scheetz needed only 4 pitches in the bottom of the 7th.
Emanski said Atlee would be tough and indeed they were. Frankly it's a shame to see them eliminated. They played a great game and but for the 3-batter lapse in the 4th and the hits when the very fine pitcher kind of hit the wall in the 7th, they had it.
I don't know the details of game 2 but I heard Deep Run won. I'll say this, I saw them before the game and they were a loose and happy bunch. If they play that way Wednesday they will beat James River. JR looks really tight right now. Maybe Kirby and Scheetz could pull short stints on Wednesday but they will need a deep start from Roberts to have a chance.
Deep Run 3 Dinwiddie 0. Michael Boyle threw a one-hitter for DR.
2 teams with pitching depth will have that depth tested Wednesday. I hear Brooks is out for the time being and with Boyle having been spent, it'll be interesting to see which of several options DR turns to. You'd think the guy who snuffed Godwin would have earned the nod, right?
Midlo, when it comes to Deep Run on this forum, even though I did see that young man pitch against Godwin, I'm going to opt out of speculating. 
Cosby 5 Lee Davis 2
Godwin up 7-2 on Matoaca, still batting bottom of 6th ... was tied at 2 going into bottom 6. Lees on the mound for Eagles.
Godwin wins 7-2
Deep Run vs. James River
Godwin vs. Cosby
semifinals on Wednesday at The Diamond
Deep Run vs. James River
Godwin vs. Cosby
semifinals on Wednesday at The Diamond
The Godwin-Matoaca matchup was as advertised -- a pitching duel that ultimately got broken open when one team made the costly error.
Lees' first pitch hit Matoaca's leadoff guy. With one out, Derek Drake got a clean single that was inexplicably ruled an error. Travis Coleman then drilled one off the wall in left and Matoaca had a 2- run lead. They had chances to add more but failed.
In the bottom half, Matoaca's RF ran a bad route to allow a catchable ball to drop, then let it skip by him for what was charitably scored a double. That led to 2 runs. Matoaca had had a chance to blow it open early, instead it was now tied.
From there, Lees and Will Brown locked up in a duel with no runs scoring again until there were 2 on, 2 outs in the 6th. A passed ball got the runners to 2nd and 3rd, but the potential last out was gotten on a routine grounder that was scooped up and then thrown away to let in 2 runs. That was all Godwin would need but now the floodgates were open and Godwin tacked on 3 more. Tyler Huffman had a long double that was the back breaker.
5 unearned runs made the difference. All 7 Godwin runs were preventable with routine defense. But Godwin, like good teams do, took full advantage.
Lees went all 7, so Garrett and Stephens will be fresh for the Cosby game Wednesday. I'm thinking that one could be a dogfight.
Lees' first pitch hit Matoaca's leadoff guy. With one out, Derek Drake got a clean single that was inexplicably ruled an error. Travis Coleman then drilled one off the wall in left and Matoaca had a 2- run lead. They had chances to add more but failed.
In the bottom half, Matoaca's RF ran a bad route to allow a catchable ball to drop, then let it skip by him for what was charitably scored a double. That led to 2 runs. Matoaca had had a chance to blow it open early, instead it was now tied.
From there, Lees and Will Brown locked up in a duel with no runs scoring again until there were 2 on, 2 outs in the 6th. A passed ball got the runners to 2nd and 3rd, but the potential last out was gotten on a routine grounder that was scooped up and then thrown away to let in 2 runs. That was all Godwin would need but now the floodgates were open and Godwin tacked on 3 more. Tyler Huffman had a long double that was the back breaker.
5 unearned runs made the difference. All 7 Godwin runs were preventable with routine defense. But Godwin, like good teams do, took full advantage.
Lees went all 7, so Garrett and Stephens will be fresh for the Cosby game Wednesday. I'm thinking that one could be a dogfight.
By the way, there was over 2,000 in paid attendance at the Diamond today, which is really wonderful. Great crowds for all the games. Some people actually stayed for all 4. Luckily the stands were in shade for the 4th one or we may have burnt some folks to a crisp.
The Diamond is where the Regionals AND States should be held
quote:Originally posted by hsbasballfan:
The Diamond is where the Regionals AND States should be held
Only if they permit folks to sit in the upper deck under the overhangs. It makes no sense to me when it is so hot, that a few more ushers can't be found and permit folks to sit in the shade.
I had a D-1 head coach comment to me today (who left the Diamond to come down to ODU) that it is just too hot to sit at the Diamond all day with the lack of shade.
was hot but no one died and tyhey got through it OK...even the players running around on the field playing in the game.
State champiomship needs to be in Central Virginia..Not offf of 495 near Dulles Airport.
State champiomship needs to be in Central Virginia..Not offf of 495 near Dulles Airport.
although if it returned to the beach that would be a good neutral site since most of the teams in tne finals are typically from tne Central Region and up North
What time are the games on wed?
james river vs. deep run@ 4:00
Cosby vs. Godwin @ 6:30
Cosby vs. Godwin @ 6:30
Sounds like another great day of baseball. Looking forward to it.
I tried to check out the story from the Atlee-JR game yesterday, but my internet must have been too hot too. Anyway, Midlo pretty much summed it up. First inning was strangely similar for both teams. Get runner on (via walk for JR, via single for Atlee), followed by poor sac bunt turned into error on runner at 2B, then get the runner in.
Going into the 7th inning, Atlee's James Walsh had allowed 3 hits and zero earned runs. Unfortunately Atlee mistakes (offensively with poor bunts and a baserunning mistake; defensively giving up the three unearned runs) kept them from putting up any more runs. Then Scheetz came on and I believe all he allowed was a perfectly placed bunt single.
Kirby looked like he had good stuff but Atlee put together good ABs. Other than a couple left on left ABs, Atlee really made Kirby find the strike zone and got themselves in some positive counts where they squared up a couple of pitches. In addition, I believe Kirby walked a couple batters and hit at least three.
It does stink for Atlee to lose in the first round, but that's just luck of the draw to be matched up with the toughest district this year. They played really well though and they do have a good bit of talent back for next year so hopefully we'll see them in the regionals more often going forward.
Going into the 7th inning, Atlee's James Walsh had allowed 3 hits and zero earned runs. Unfortunately Atlee mistakes (offensively with poor bunts and a baserunning mistake; defensively giving up the three unearned runs) kept them from putting up any more runs. Then Scheetz came on and I believe all he allowed was a perfectly placed bunt single.
Kirby looked like he had good stuff but Atlee put together good ABs. Other than a couple left on left ABs, Atlee really made Kirby find the strike zone and got themselves in some positive counts where they squared up a couple of pitches. In addition, I believe Kirby walked a couple batters and hit at least three.
It does stink for Atlee to lose in the first round, but that's just luck of the draw to be matched up with the toughest district this year. They played really well though and they do have a good bit of talent back for next year so hopefully we'll see them in the regionals more often going forward.
My son and I watched the first two games.
One thing I noticed, that even my 14 y/o son commented on.
Who is teaching (or rather NOT teaching) these kids to bunt?
The Atlee / JR game was full of batters who couldn't bunt. And what's with Atlee? Several times I watched one of their hitters obviously taking a pitch, but the batter actually held their hand up to the pitcher? Trying to get a balk maybe?
And while Deep Run may be loose, no one seemed to mention the reason for all their base runners, except for a double smacked late in the game, was due to being hit by pitches.
My son noticed something on the first batter for Deep Run...the batter (RH)got in the box and promptly used his feet to "dig in" but in reality he was simply kicking away the chalk marking the batter's box line at the plate. He then proceeded to park himself ON the plate. Can't believe Dinwiddie's coach didn't address this.
Deep Run must have had 4 or 5 kids hit by pitch. All on the front arm, all parking on the plate.
I didn't get to see the last two games, but I didn't see much offense on any team I did see. I saw 3 maybe 4 solid gap shots, not including the one off the LF wall for Deep Run.
The inability to bunt just seemed really odd. It wasn't just me who noticed it either. Guy I know, who played up to AAA ball years ago, couldn't get over the lack of basic bunting ability.
One thing I noticed, that even my 14 y/o son commented on.
Who is teaching (or rather NOT teaching) these kids to bunt?
The Atlee / JR game was full of batters who couldn't bunt. And what's with Atlee? Several times I watched one of their hitters obviously taking a pitch, but the batter actually held their hand up to the pitcher? Trying to get a balk maybe?
And while Deep Run may be loose, no one seemed to mention the reason for all their base runners, except for a double smacked late in the game, was due to being hit by pitches.
My son noticed something on the first batter for Deep Run...the batter (RH)got in the box and promptly used his feet to "dig in" but in reality he was simply kicking away the chalk marking the batter's box line at the plate. He then proceeded to park himself ON the plate. Can't believe Dinwiddie's coach didn't address this.
Deep Run must have had 4 or 5 kids hit by pitch. All on the front arm, all parking on the plate.
I didn't get to see the last two games, but I didn't see much offense on any team I did see. I saw 3 maybe 4 solid gap shots, not including the one off the LF wall for Deep Run.
The inability to bunt just seemed really odd. It wasn't just me who noticed it either. Guy I know, who played up to AAA ball years ago, couldn't get over the lack of basic bunting ability.
My son asked the exact same question. We were at the 2nd and 3rd games and part of the last and the bunts there weren't any better. I lost count of how many were popped up. The Deep Run batters have always crowded the box.
bunting was bad yesterday in all the games.
two things on hitting....in the first game we counted 4-5 balls that would have left high school fields. its 385 to the gaps at the diamind.
second note is i give the pitchers credit...all were very good yesterday i thought and held the score down. kirby.lees.mcqueen.brown.christopher.deep run guy.atlee guy.thomas were all good.
i dont really think anyone was trying to crowd the plate in order to get hit. in high school you see alot of pitches on the outside part of the plate...dont know if you noticed in the first game but the umpire was giving 6 inches off the plate at times. when batters adjust by moving closer to the plate i also think you see more inside pitches. i do think the expectation of the batters is to get on base..even if that means "wearing" one.
two things on hitting....in the first game we counted 4-5 balls that would have left high school fields. its 385 to the gaps at the diamind.
second note is i give the pitchers credit...all were very good yesterday i thought and held the score down. kirby.lees.mcqueen.brown.christopher.deep run guy.atlee guy.thomas were all good.
i dont really think anyone was trying to crowd the plate in order to get hit. in high school you see alot of pitches on the outside part of the plate...dont know if you noticed in the first game but the umpire was giving 6 inches off the plate at times. when batters adjust by moving closer to the plate i also think you see more inside pitches. i do think the expectation of the batters is to get on base..even if that means "wearing" one.
quote:Originally posted by ctandc:
And what's with Atlee? Several times I watched one of their hitters obviously taking a pitch, but the batter actually held their hand up to the pitcher? Trying to get a balk maybe?
I saw that too....never seen that before and I didn't like it one bit. Had situations been different, maybe one of those guys gets a heater to the ribs.
As for bunting...I do think bunting against the caliber of pitching we saw yesterday is tough. With that said, it is at least partially a problem of lack of practice (both during the high school year and outside of high school). Kids pay for all kinds of hitting lessons and work tirelessly on their swings (as they should) but don't spend a lot of effort on bunts.
I only saw the first game yesterday, but I know there would have been three homeruns (Roberts' double, West's double, and another long fly ball out from James River). I'm thinking there may have been one other that would have been close but I can't remember.
I have seen a few times this year where the batter asks for time and the pitcher stops in the middle of his motion...result when I saw it was the umpire calls a balk.
I was stting with a college coach during that game and the topic came up.
He shared with me the rule actually says no balk should be called in that situation.
I was stting with a college coach during that game and the topic came up.
He shared with me the rule actually says no balk should be called in that situation.
The difference in this case was how the batter supposedly requested time (if that's their argument as to what they were doing).
Normally a batter requests time with his top hand extended toward the umpire (I think its better for guys to verbally request time so they can keep both hands on the bat, but that's a different topic). Anyway, yesterday two Atlee hitters "requested time" by extended their bottom hand toward the pitcher approximately as he came set (not sure of the exact timing). It certainly looks like a cheap attempt to get a balk. Like I said, in a different situation a fastball to the ribs may have fixed the issue.
Normally a batter requests time with his top hand extended toward the umpire (I think its better for guys to verbally request time so they can keep both hands on the bat, but that's a different topic). Anyway, yesterday two Atlee hitters "requested time" by extended their bottom hand toward the pitcher approximately as he came set (not sure of the exact timing). It certainly looks like a cheap attempt to get a balk. Like I said, in a different situation a fastball to the ribs may have fixed the issue.
quote:I'm thinking there may have been one other that would have been close but I can't remember.
Pulisic's double maybe. Depends on where you would play.
quote:It certainly looks like a cheap attempt to get a balk.
That was my thought when I saw it.
The pitcher threw one right over the heart of the plate and got a called strike. This is a situation where anything remotely close should be called a strike.
did anyone else think the shifts/positioning dinwiddie used were a little exagerated? one of the runs driven in in the 7th seemed like a routine ground ball if the ss isn't playing right next to the bag....
quote:Originally posted by Midlo Dad:quote:It certainly looks like a cheap attempt to get a balk.
That was my thought when I saw it.
The pitcher threw one right over the heart of the plate and got a called strike. This is a situation where anything remotely close should be called a strike.
Totally agree. If the hitter was ready to hit (in HUGE situations both times if I recall correctly) then maybe he could have done some damage. I was actually surprised that there wasn't something said by the umpire either to the player or coach after the second time it happened.
And you're right...Pulisic's double was the other potential homerun I was thinking about. I'm not sure it gets out of many parks (and certainly not Atlee where the lines are actually deeper than at The Diamond). Pulisic had a very good game and I thought might get credited with another hit on a shot to first base that was mishandled by Roberts. From where I was sitting the pitcher obscured first base a bit so I didn't get a great look at the play but it looked like Roberts had to go hard to his right and didn't quite get there.
Roberts also made one strong play on a diving stop to prevent a base hit. Earlier in the game Caples made a great diving stop at third base to prevent a double (runner did reach on infield single). I believe that was the runner who got picked at second, so maybe if Caples doesn't make that play then the runner is at third. Who knows, but those were a couple of nice plays by JR.
Once the ball is in play it does not matter what the batter does unless the umpire signals time.
If the pitcher stops delivery it's a balk. If he delivers the ball to the plate it is a pitch like any other. It is inappropriate for umpires to comment on it. If I were either coach and umpires started "coaching" I'd be hot and rightfully so.
Think in terms of telling the catcher..."two more inches outside is OK for a strike" and you get the point. Umpires only call what happens and do not comment on play.
Old school ball would result in the next delivery being snug. Today most coaches would tell pitcher what he should already know...throw the pitch unless the umpire calls time.
If the pitcher stops delivery it's a balk. If he delivers the ball to the plate it is a pitch like any other. It is inappropriate for umpires to comment on it. If I were either coach and umpires started "coaching" I'd be hot and rightfully so.
Think in terms of telling the catcher..."two more inches outside is OK for a strike" and you get the point. Umpires only call what happens and do not comment on play.
Old school ball would result in the next delivery being snug. Today most coaches would tell pitcher what he should already know...throw the pitch unless the umpire calls time.
I disagree. The example you use isn't related to this situation at all. This isn't the umpire coaching or anything remotely similar. This is a sportmanship issue and the umpire should make sure it stops. He doesn't have to issue an official warning, but between innings he needs to speak to the coach and let him know that it's not acceptable.