Sherando junior starting pitcher Reid Entsminger threw nine scoreless innings in the Warriors’ 1-0 win over Loudoun Valley in 13 innings in the Region II baseball quarterfinals. (Photo by Ginger Perry/The Winchester Star)

STEPHENS CITY — With a new scoreboard in place, Sherando athletic director Jason Barbe was eager to put up some runs.

After about five innings of scoreless baseball between the Warriors and Loudoun Valley during Tuesday night’s Region II quarterfinal, Barbe, filling in as the scoreboard operator in the press box, announced to no one in particular, “It sure would be nice to put up a run.”

Barbe had to wait a little longer than he expected, but once that one run shined its light on the board, it belonged to Sherando.

In a supreme battle of wills, Sherando outlasted Loudoun Valley 1-0, winning on junior catcher Chase Smallwood’s walk-off homer leading off the bottom of the 13th inning to end the three hour and seven minute game and leave the Warriors (21-1) one win away from earning the program’s first trip to the Group AA state tournament since 2004.

Facing Loudoun Valley left-handed reliever Max Hughes, Smallwood buried a no-doubt shot high over the left-field fence off a 3-1 pitch to send his teammates rushing out of their dugout to greet him at home plate.

“The whole time I had people saying, ‘Finish it right here,’ and I was trying to have confidence in myself,” said Smallwood, who had flied out three times and been 0 for 4 to that point. “And I was telling people, ‘I am going to finish it, right here.’”

Not a bad finish for a Sherando team that did not even have a base runner until Jacob Carney tripled with two outs in the 10th. Loudoun Valley starter Danny White, a first-team all-Dulles District selection, pitched nine perfect innings, and Hughes, who came on to start the 10th, retired the first two he faced before Carney lined his hit into the right-center gap and slid head first into third.

Smallwood left him aboard with a fly out to left, but he would get another chance three innings later and made the most of it.

Of course, this was all about Sherando digging as deep as it ever has to win a game that seemed like it wouldn’t end, especially one with its season on the line. The Warriors, who fell 2-1 at home last season in the quarterfinal round to Monticello, were trying to avoid heartbreak for a second straight season and the team, to be able to move on and advance, had to use both Reid Entsminger and John Bentley to pitch.

The duo, a combined 14-0 coming in, did not cave whenever Loudoun Valley (15-9) got runners aboard. The Vikings stranded 14 in their loss, including leaving a runner at third base in the fourth, seventh, and 11th innings.

The Northwestern District Player of the Year, Entsminger (nine innings, five hits allowed, four walks, one hit batter, and eight strikeouts) had trouble locating his off-speed pitches consistently until the sixth. But once he did, Entsminger got into a groove, striking out the side in order in the eighth and finishing up his 130-pitch stint by starting a rundown that caught Danny Pugh in a steal attempt to end the ninth.

Entsminger started the fourth, sixth, and seventh innings with a walk each time, but the Vikings came up empty in each inning.

“They say leadoff walks kill you,” said Smallwood, who had a brilliant game behind the plate and even threw out a runner at second backing up an overthrow at first in the fifth. “And when Reid had those three leadoff walks in a row and we got out of the jam each time, I knew this game was ours to be won.”

After that, Bentley (8-0) came in and kept the Vikings off the board. Bentley first struck out Brandon Grayson on a well-placed curve ball to end the 10th and strand two runners. He also stranded two in the 11th by getting a pair of fielder’s choice ground outs. The 12th saw Bentley pitch perfect (striking out two) and the 13th provided two more runners stranded for Loudoun Valley, with Bentley getting Pugh on a called strike three for his sixth strikeout in relief.

When it came around to bat in the 13th, the Warriors had produced just three base runners. But one swing from Smallwood’s bat finally ended it and made the Warriors feel like they had just been on a full season of “Survivor.”

“We knew they were a good team and we knew it would be a dog fight,” said Bentley, who like Entsminger (7-0), was a first-team all-Northwestern District pick this season. “We knew we’d get a run sooner or later, we just didn’t know when or how. But we knew we’d get one.

“What better way to get one than with a walk-off home run, you know?”

Bentley, who gave up just three hits and two walks in relief, was not sure he would be called on to pitch, but he took the challenge and ran with it.

“I always feel comfortable with my defense [which had just one error] working behind me,” Bentley said. “Reid had a heck of a game and you really couldn’t ask much more from him, and it was a good hard-fought game right there.”

The Warriors often got under pitches and popped up against White. At other times, they hit balls on a rope, right to fielders. Still, at other times Grayson would make a sensational play or two while playing second for the Vikings to inspire his team. White recorded just three strikeouts over his nine innings while needing only 78 pitches to retire 27 in a row. Hughes was doing just fine too, until the Warriors got Smallwood in a position to win the game with his bat.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys for hanging in there and doing what we needed to do to stay in the game and win the game,” Sherando coach Pepper Martin said. “Both teams played real well and neither team deserved to lose. This might be one of the most amazing games I’ve coached in my entire (21 seasons) career.

“We played really good defense and our pitching staff stepped up. We had to essentially burn our top two pitchers, but that’s why we have a pitching staff. Chase stepped up there in a clutch situation and he made a nice adjustment. I’m taking no credit. He made an adjustment while he was in his at bat [in the 13th] and it paid off for him.”

The Warriors had just three hits. Besides Smallwood’s second homer of the season and a triple from Carney, Bentley singled and stole a base before he was left stranded in the 11th. Jeb Brown also drew a walk that same inning to represent the only other base runner for Sherando.

White’s two hits, which included a first-inning double, led Loudoun Valley at the plate.