Concorde Big Game - Chantilly vs Oakton

Oakton wins 5-1. Oakton played very well and looked more comfortable in a big game with several scouts watching Eric Cantrell for Oakton and Pat Somers for Chantilly. Cantrell was very efficient for Oakton with 1 walk, 3K's and only 5 hits. Somers yielded only 2 earned runs on 5 hits, but defensive lapses hurt.

I thought Oakton lost to Osbourn down in Myrtle beach?

Chantilly's young pitching is excellent as shown by both Somers and Langford in last night's game. Oakton just has more firepower at the plate and a better defense.

Chantilly is loaded with key juniors as is Oakton. Both teams will be two of the top in the region next year when they are all seniors. They will both do well in the tournaments this year.

Cantrell pitched will but didn't have his good stuff. These are the two teams in the second half.

Lake Braddock lost to Osbourn in the Myrtle Bch Hawaiian Tropic tournament. Oakton won the "Let's Play Two" tournament in Manassas.

Most of the kids on both Chantilly and Oakton have played on multiple teams with each other going back to Little League, Babe Ruth, and various travel teams. It's fun to watch these guys grow up as players and people.

Lots more baseball ahead.

The final game between Oakton and Chantilly on Wednesday was an event.

There was a large crowd which included coaches from Alabama, ODU, GMU, VCU and the head coach and asst head coach from UVa. Along with all the local coaches (Robinson, Langley, Lake Braddock, Stone Bridge, etc), made it quite the playoff atmosphere.

Oakton won 7-3 behind Eric Cantrell (8-1). Oakton's catcher Keith Werman went 4 for 4, 2 dbls and Chantilly's catcher Keith Morrisroe went 3 for 4 with 2RBI. The Keith's were hot.

Looks like Chantilly will face Robinson in the semi's after they get by the play-in game winner. Should be a great tournament.

Yes, this was quite a game and looking forward to more. I thought Mark Stier's plays (defense and offense) were impressive as well.

We also got a big kick out of Keith Morrisroe throwing out runners at first, second, and third. We were joking after the game that if a wild pitch/passed ball had gone to the screen and Keith subsequently retrieved the ball and thrown back to the plate to get a runner out, then he would have "thrown for the cycle" -- We didn't have much else to cheer about after the impressive Oakton win. Jokes aside, Keith Morrisroe is a very fine player offensively and defensively, who has gotten limited attention even though he expertly handles the Chantilly pitching. Its nice for him to have a solid game in front of a big audience.

Been doing some travelling so I've been off site for a while.

Looking forward to a tight battle between Oakton and Madison tomorrow. It will go down to the 7th and maybe longer between these two teams, who are reprising their early season 11 innning game. Both teams can hit, run, pitch, and field. Coaching is outstanding on both sides.

Too bad one team will not be able to advance to states.

The Madison/Oakton games are always very good.

Oakton is obviously very talented. They won last year without Curtis Eward, probably their best player. This year they were without the services of Brandon Padula until the playoffs.

The kids on this team can play but the edge to the game last night (and last year in the regionals) was Coach Rowland and Pitching Coach Don Kildoo just knowing the Madison players very well.

Madison has played together both summer and winter for the past 3+ years. Turns out the coaches for the summer Mustangs (all Madison players) were Rowland and Kildoo.

Kildoo knew how to pitch to each kid and Rowland set the defense. Arman Moniri struck out in the first inning for only the 3rd time this year. Madison only had five hits and one run, which I think, is due to Kildoo and his pitch calling. Mark Stier's catch in center in the bottom of the 7th was the result of Rowland's positioning and how he knows Madison likes to go to right field. They knew what buttons to push and the kids came through and executed. Good luck to Oakton the rest of the season.