dominion district race

Cosby vs. JR winner tomorrow for first place. Loser finishes second.
Midlothian beat Monacan last night 7-4 and is 6-5. A win over Manchester tomorrow would secure third place and a rematch with Manchester in the first round of the district tournament. Midlothian is 5-1 since spring break with their only loss against Cosby. A loss to Manchester coupled with a Bird win over CH would leave Midlothian and Bird 6-6 and I am assuming a coin toss to determine the 3 seed for the district tournament.
Monacan finished the season 5-7 and will be the 5 seed unless CH beats Bird tomorrow leaving them tied with Bird at 5-7.

At the beginning of the season the popular debate was Cosby v. River, I said I would put my $2 bet on Midlo to "show". Now I predict that Midlo will play James River for a third time this year and force River to gamble by saving Kirby for a final with Cosby.

Not really a gamble.

If JR wins tomorrow, they're into the regionals with a home quarterfinal irrespective of the district tourney outcome.

If JR loses tomorrow, then Cosby gets that privilege, and the other regional berth (road game) would go to whoever finishes # 2 in the tourney.

In that scenario, JR, with a bye in the quarterfinals of the district tourney, would only have to win its semifinal against the winner of the 3 v. 6 game to get to regionals, in all likelihood. That means the 3 v. 6 winner has to beat Kirby, and with its # 2 starter to boot. Not very good odds.

The only way that doesn't happen would be if Cosby stumbled in its semifinal against the 4 v. 5 winner. I suppose stranger things have happened, and have happened in the past especially when one team isn't really "up" for the game because they are already assured of advancing. But in that event, JR would enter its semifinal game looking to advance to play a team trying to muster pitching for a 3d do-or-die game in a single week.

So either way, surely you'll see Kirby in JR's first playoff game, in the semifinal round.

Also noted in another thread, Jack Roberts had his first innings on the mound yesterday at Manchester. His return brightens JR's outlook substantially.

In fact it occurred to me that Roberts might well start tomorrow, just to see how far he can go and to see if he can save Kirby's pitch count a bit so that Kirby would be totally fresh again by Tuesday. Then they still have Carrico in relief if needed or if the game gets lopsided in either direction (something I don't envision happening). And it might just throw a wrench into Cosby's preparations a little bit.

But I don't know if Roberts is ready to go with only one day off, even with his having gone only 2 clean innings yesterday. I just don't know anything about his condition, his recovery plan, or any of that. I'm just hoping that yesterday's performance means he's ready to roll and just needs to build up stamina again.

As you will recall, Midlo's #2 was on the mound when they beat River. However, it was Carrico, Rose, then Caples on the mound for JR, not Kirby. I think Districts will be a whole lot more interesting if Cosby wins tomorrow.

Dominion District final standings:
JR 11-1
Cosby 10-2
Midlothian 7-5
Monacan 5-7
Bird 5-7
Manchester 2-10
Clover Hill 2-10

Does anyone know if they use head to head as tiebreaker in the Dominion district? Manchester swept Clover Hill.

head to head is the word on the street - so it's Midlo vs Manchester and Monacan vs Bird.

Midlo is feeling pretty good about themselves lately so I think they will advance past Manchester (whose only 2 district wins cane vs Clover Hill this season).

Harman is tough so if he goes vs Monacan it's looking like JR vs Bird and Midlo vs Cosby in the semis.

But, of course, that's why they play the games - anything can happen.

The smart money has JRHS and Cosby meeting on Thursday in a pride game.

I wouldn't want to be Cosby's next opponent - Gotta think they will be looking to get back on track in demonstrative fashion after that performance yesterday vs the River.

I would like to give a shout out to Midlothian's two starting pitchers. The tandem of Austin Joseph and Rawlings Cumbea pitched I believe all but the final two innings of a 9-3 loss to Cosby and the ninth inning of a 6-5 win over Clover Hill since spring break. Midlothian was 6-1 over that stretch of games and they played a huge roll in the teams success.

That Midlo-Manchester game may be worth taking the time to see. Midlo has been beating a lot of people. Jaxn Lane had several strong starts this year but has had a few rougher outings of late. If he has an A game, and if he could get a little defensive help, it could go to the wire. I have to think Midlo wins this one, but it's not a definite thing.

BTW, anyone got the schedule?

Are all games at one site, or are the first round games at the higher seeds' home fields?

Midlo has been hitting well lately...they played manchester twice in the last few weeks and both times hit Lane pretty hard...I would think manchester would switch to powell for next week.

I'll be interested to see how Bird plays it, go with Harman for best shot at winning 1st game, or try to get by Monacan and save Harman for semi final game and hope of getting at least 2nd place.

Schedule is posted on District website. All games at Cosby. 4 vs.5
at 2:15 and 3 vs.6 at 4:45

IMO, if Bird doesn't pitch Harmon, Monacan will hit Bird's 2/3 pitchers. I saw the Chiefs score a bunch on Dale's staff, which pitched really well during the season. Top of the order is tough.

Bird wiggled out of a potential meltdown and held off Monacan's late rally to win 7-6 in 8 innings.

Manchester threw Freshman Nick Butts against Midlo and he proceeded to shove it for 7 innings and help secure the 5-1 upset.

Tomorrow sees Cosby vs manchester and JRHS vs Bird in the semis

Who pitched for Bird

Harman started and had the game well in hand leaving the game up 6-2.

Monacan rallied to tie it in the 7th and left the bases loaded with 1 out but failed to push the winning run across.

Harman drove in Bird's 7th run in the top of the 8th and the Chiefs went down without much fanfare in the bottom.

dont know how much fire power they have but I'll bet that Manchester team is riding high on a win like that after such a tough season...good for them and Coach Saunders

did midlo throw their best guy or did the save him for....

they threw Austin Joseph who, in all honesty, threw a great game. Manchester dropped down 3 bunts that went poorly played that loaded the bases in the top of the 7th and a timely gapper by one of the mauraucio boys plated 3 - the ensuing overthrow scored the 4th and that was that.

Midlo threw their guy and it just went the other way on them.

Big win for Manchester. With their whole staff left tomorrow who knows.

"baseball doesn't build character, it exposes it" Thanks to Coach Saunders and Coach Toombs for the hugs and kind words after the game.