Sharks fall in district title game
Stafford earns Legion crown with two wins
By Greg Brill
The Winchester Star
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Purcellville— The Stafford Post 290 Nationals were getting thin on pitching.
Facing the prospect of having to beat the Shenandoah Valley Sharks twice on Tuesday, the Nationals sent Cody Norman out to start for the first time.
Norman threw a no-hitter and Post 290 forced another game for the District 16 championship with an 18-0 spanking of the Sharks.
Still with a chance to regroup, Shenandoah Valley stayed with the Nationals all nine innings in the next game that followed. If only the Sharks could have kept Chris Harpine in the park.
Post 290, the sixth seed, completed a stunning comeback through the loser’s bracket behind Harpine’s two homers and five RBIs in a 5-4 victory at Fireman’s Field.
Stafford won four games over the last two days and its last six after falling 8-1 to the Sharks on Friday. The Nationals used four pitchers in the deciding game.
In the ninth, leading by a run, Stafford sent Harpine out, and the right-hander finished things up for the save.
His left-handed bat was plenty powerful. Three times during the second game, Harpine gave the Nationals the lead with a hit.
Harpine twice went deep off hard-throwing Billy Hayes. Harpine lined a 1-2 pitch over the center-field wall for a 2-1 lead in the second, lifted a long drive to right for another two-run blast with two out in the fourth and singled in Jake Norman with two outs in the sixth to plate the game’s final run.
Shenandoah Valley manager Nick Sborz knows Harpine well. Sborz played with Joe Harpine, Chris’s brother, for two seasons at Shenandoah University.
“We knew he was a good hitter,” Sborz said. “We just missed a couple times on location and he made us pay. Hats off to him.”
Shenandoah Valley left eight runners on base in the one-run loss and stranded a runner at third in both the eighth and ninth innings.
“We ran out of gas,” Sborz said. “It’s a tough one. Offensively, we struggled a little bit.”
Early on, the Sharks moved runners along.
In the first, Keaton Neeb walked, stole second, and hustled around to score on Quinn Courtney’s bouncer up the middle for a 1-0 lead.
Chris Tripp singled leading off the third and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Courtney to tie the game at 2.
Two innings later, Shenandoah Valley had the makings of a big inning. Down 4-2, singles by Alex Palmerton and Neeb and a walk to Courtney loaded the bases with one out. Hunter Leight’s grounder in the hole scored a run and Michael Dillow’s grounder scored Neeb with the tying run.
Stafford, however, escaped further damage when Kyle Herndon hit a soft liner back to the mound, and Courtney was doubled off third.
The tie lasted just a half-inning. Hayes retired the first two Stafford hitters of the sixth on groundouts before Jake Norman and Kyle Boster hit back-to-back singles. Harpine jumped on a second-pitch fastball and singled up the middle to plate Norman with the go-ahead run.
Harpine went 3-for-4 in the championship game and was selected tournament MVP.
The Sharks had their chances late.
In the eighth, Dillow singled under the shortstop’s glove, and pinch-runner Isiah Marsh stole second and reached third on a wild pitch, with one out. However, Herndon hit a foul popout and Collin Ryan flied to right to end the threat.
Down to their last three outs, the Sharks attempted another rally in the ninth. Tripp drew a leadoff walk, but Palmerton’s bunt went too hard and Stafford got the force at second. Hayes dropped a second straight bunt to sacrifice Palmerton to second. Palmerton got to third on a wild pitch before Neeb grounded to third for the final out.
Stafford, which knocked top seed Leesburg out of the tournament on Monday night, came out swinging the bats earlier Tuesday afternoon.
The Nationals put together 18 runs on 18 hits against four Sharks pitchers, and had a 13-run sixth.
The Sharks came a long way during the season as a first-year team playing American Legion ball.
“They really started to gel in the end,” Sborz said. “It was a good group of kids to work with.”
Sborz finished his playing days at SU in 2007 and will get his first high school head coaching job when he takes over the baseball program this fall at Skyline High School.
“It (managing Legion baseball) was a good stepping stone for me,” Sborz said.
Neeb was honored with the Sportsmanship Award by District 16 representatives following the championship game.
Stafford will now move on to the Virginia State American Legion Tournament, which starts Aug. 6 in Stuarts Draft.
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Nationals, Orange reach state playoffs
American Legion district playoffs
Date published: 7/30/2008
BY STEVE FRANZELLO ( The Free Lance Star )
They took different roads to get there, but Post 156 Orange and the Stafford Post 290 Nationals are both headed to the American Legion state playoffs next week.
Orange (18-8) wrapped up a berth Monday night in Charlottesville with a hard-fought 10-8 victory over District 12's top seed, Post 74 Albemarle. The comeback win capped a 4-0 run through the tournament for coach Chris Haney's team.
Meanwhile in Purcellville, the Post 290 Nationals earned their trip the hard way. After a loss in the second round, coach Jerry Gernhard's squad fought its way out of the losers bracket with seven straight wins, including back-to-back victories in the District 16 finals yesterday.
Sparked by tournament Most Valuable Player Chris Harpine's pair of two-run homers, the Nationals (19-7) outlasted Shenandoah Valley 5-4 to claim the district title last night.
Earlier in the day, they set the tone with an 18-0 pounding of Shenandoah. Rising Colonial Forge senior Cody Norman tossed a no-hitter in that game.
"I think people underestimated us some," Gernhard said. "Nobody really knew the kind of pitching depth we had. It's been there all year and now the hitting is clicking."
Harpine's blasts staked Post 290 to an early lead in the decisive second game and then three relievers, including Harpine in the ninth, helped the Nationals hold on for the victory.
Yesterday's wins came after a busy day on Monday, when the Nationals advanced out of the losers bracket with a 13-inning win over Post 158 Manassas and an 8-1 decision over No. 1 seed Post 181 Leesburg.
Another Colonial Forge product, Garrett Marin, provided a big lift in the win over Leesburg with an eight-strikeout complete-game performance on the mound.
"These guys are playing with a passion right now," Gernhard said. "This tournament has helped them learn what playing together is all about."
Orange was seeded fourth in the District 16 tournament, but averaged 11 runs a game during its four-game winning streak, which included victories over Post 320 Spotsylvania, Post 13 Staunton and Albemarle (twice).
Post 156 got solid pitching in those games, including a sparkling relief job by Matt Racer on Monday. Racer held Albemarle scoreless over the last five innings after taking over for starter Evan Price.
Catcher Laz Torres, left-fielder Jeremy Brown and Price helped fuel Post 156's offense, which rallied from a late 8-6 deficit
Reliable pitching was a key weapon for Orange throughout the tournament, but its potent bats, which really came to life during the last four games, are the big reason Post 156 is making its first appearance in the state playoffs.
"We've grown this season and the hitting has really come around," Haney said. "That's what has gotten us this far."
Post 156 and Post 290 will find out who their first-round opponents are today. The double-elimination event starts on Monday in Stuarts Draft.
Steve Franzello: 540/374-5440
Email: sports@freelancestar.com
