Great Bridge 3, Freeman 0

I heard the game was sold out and some of the Great Bridge parents were turned away. Is that true?

there were about 200 of us scattered around the outfield fences watching it "knothole gang" style.  I saw a number of Wildcat shirts out there with me so I would assume a number of them were in fact parents.

 

They could have let all of us in to sit on the hill in the outfield since nothing got hit anywhere near there anyway - would have been a fantastic vantage point

Good effort by Freeman, but nobody was beating Jones tonight.

 

Only one of the four regional champions won tonight.

 

Here's the full report on Freeman / GB, link to highlights, etc: http://virginiapreps.rivals.co...tent.asp?CID=1512348

The Game:  Tom, nice write-up.  No need to add to that.

 

The Field:  First time I am seeing the DRF HS field and I was surprised.  315 down the lf line, 450 to cf and 365 to rf.  Throw in 4 light standards and a flagpole IN the outfield with padding around their poles so outfielders don't get hurt and an incline of 6-8 feet up to the base of the fence where a warning track should be and you have one "interesting" field.  I've not seen one like that before but it begs the question why the fence can't be moved in so the lights are not in the playing field. 

 

The Venue...I realize the home team has the option to host the event, but there just was not enough seating.  Game was sold out well prior to the start and yes Will, parents of Great Bridge players were denied entrance to the game because they "sold out of tickets".  Only after the GB school administrators who were on-site intervened were they able to get "just the parents admission".  All other late comers had to find an outfield fence to look through.  Very disappointed in the venue staff who refused to admit parents who drove 2 1/2 hours to see their kids play and who refused upon being asked to get the tournment coordinator by answering "I can't leave my post to get him".   Venue staff was just not ready or capable of handling a sell-out.  What did they think would happen?  A huge shout out to many DSF team parents/moms who witnessed this and came over to 1) apologize for how this was handled and 2) offer free concessions as a way of smoothing this over.  No need for them to do this but it was a class move by the home team parents.  I would strongly suggest hosting an event like this at a much larger facility.

 

The trivia: GB vs. LB - Isn't this a match-up of the past 2 state champions?  I mean no disrespect to Hanover or Oakton, but this has to be considered the premier semi-final due to the recent success of these two programs.

I had one of the "cheap seats" in the outfield.  Great view.  Someone came over and said that any Great Bridge parent now had permission to get in.  I heard several say "no thank you" since it was standing room only 4 deep on each side of the concession stand.  But, they were eventually offered entry.

 

There were probably 90-100 of us out there in the right side outfield, plus more down the 3rd base outfield, others lined up (rather, lying down) looking under the fence, and several in the trees.  There was a mi$$ed opportunity tonight. 

 

Several years ago when James River hosted this event, bleachers were brought in.  Why not tonight?

Freeman is a really nice place to watch a game, but they also have a facility that makes it more or less impossible to add extra seating.  It was possible before they re-did the stadium a few years ago.  A place like Godwin, Tucker, or Hanover works better (structurally) because there is room down both foul lines.  The newer stadiums that have been built or renovated in the last 10-15 years (like Matoaca or Freeman) don't have room down the foul lines.  This is usually a non-issue, but, for a game like this one, it becomes a problem.

 

But this is a major outlier - I went to their game with Godwin a few weeks ago that was for the Colonial regular-season crown, and I showed up about an hour before first pitch.  That was a big game, but the place was a ghost town.  They weren't even cooking food yet, or taking tickets.  By the time the game got going, of course, it was a decent crowd.  Maybe 150 people, swelling to 250 once other Freeman teams finished up their games and began coming over.

 

Tonight, I showed up an hour early and couldn't even get a seat in the press box (I wound up standing outside the box and shooting from there).

 

It is definitely an unusual field that has been made moreso by the redesign.

I got there about 6:40 and the place was already packed, in fact I was worried that they had changed the starting time on me.  I got in at that point and found a seat in the stands.  So anyone who got shut out really left it to the last minute to come.

 

I do think they could've put stands in that out-of-play area down the LF line.  There's a gate there that would've afforded access for bringing them in.  Probably a cost decision.  There were some stands brought in next to the visitors' dugout that aren't usually there, so maybe they just got surprised by the turnout.

 

In any event, The game only lasted 1:30+ and I spent the first 55 minutes of it trying to deal with the sun, which blinded those of us on the first base side until it finally fell behind the school beyond LF.  So those who sat behind the OF fences, you might be glad you did.

 

As to why they don't put up a fence inside the outer fence, Freeman is a relatively old facility and it just doesn't have the acreage that the newer schools do.  They hold PE classes out there in the OF all day every day.  They can't put up an inner fence because it would interfere with the PE classes.

BTW for those who saw DSF for the first time, go back and look at that VirginiaPreps clip of the Caples HR one more time.  It'll give you more of an idea of what a shot that was.

A scout told me Connor was 90-92 with 94's sprinkled in. He was still above 90 in the last inning. Aside grime the velocity, his ball sinks and runs.

He's been a pleasure to coach.