Stafford vs. Menchville

I hope they have good luck finding something! A monsoon just passed through some parts of the area that I haven't seen since Hurricane Isabell!

kingjam do you know if ethan carter started? if so how many innings he threw

Carter pitched into the 5th. By his reaction when the Menchville coach pulled him, he thought he had more in the tank.

Well, that would help him to return by Saturday ... if they can get there, which at this point is very much in question.

Hey, if this ends up being played in Richmond, please post that ASAP, I want to be there!!!

Stafford will know in the morning, what the time and place will be. Will post as soon as I hear.

Well, i must say i am somewhat surprised by that score. I think most people on this board had Menchville getting to Saturday without too much resistance from Stafford. Looks like they are in a dogfight...

Carter started the game for Menchville and came out in the middle of the 5th, Chrismon came in relief. Josh Millett started for Stafford with Daniel King coming in the top of the 6th. Game tied 4-4, top of 6th, Menchville up to bat, two runners on, no outs when game was stopped.

I also think that it is a surprise that Stafford scored 4 runs off Carter (the Virginia Gatoraid player of the year). How did Stafford get its 4 runs?

I'm not trying to bash menchville by any means, but I personally feel they are a product of enormous hype. Granted they have some very talented players, but people who had the notion that they were going to skip their way to the championship game need a news-flash. Stafford is a quality team that's not going roll over just because they're going against the Gatorade player of the year. Every team is playing their potential last game and the will to continue on is what will determine success; not awards or the numer of D1 players you have. People should not be surprised at all of stafford wins this game. Every team left in this tourney has seen pitchers that throw high 80's, and from what ive heard about carter he throws in that rage, occasionally a bit faster. That spped won't fool any teams at this point, and runs should be expected.

This is how Stafford got there runs:

Two Menchville errors contributed to a 2-0 Stafford lead in the bottom of the second inning. Kyle Angelet and Patrick Marshall scored runs in the frame.
Stafford added two more runs in the bottom of the third without any help from the Monarchs. Dustin Hunt delivered an RBI single and Marshall connected on an RBI double that scored Hunt.

<<<< How did Stafford get its 4 runs? >>>

Stafford scored based on a combination of things:

Stafford "probably" has at least 5 hits to include a couple of bunts, 1-2 bloopers, 1-2 really solid hits through the infield and a rope to the right center fence for a double. Stafford has hit the ball well.

Bunting as it can do, put pressure on the Menchville defense and created a couple of throwing miscues, which advanced runners and gave Stafford some momentum. Stafford has some speed.

With runners on 1st and 3rd, Menchville went for the runner stealing second, but a miscue on bag coverage (no on took the base) by the Menchville middle infielders caused the throw to go into center field, allowing runs to score and runners to advance.

The umpires strike zone was very tight, but tight both ways.

Carter walked 2-3 and hit a batter. Millet for Stafford also walked about the same number of batters.

Matt Armistead is 2/3 and has hit the ball hard for Menchville (VMI looks to have a good one coming in).

As Kingjam notes: Top of 6th, NO OUTS, Menchville has runners on 2nd & 3rd (First batter HBP, second batter bunt base hit), Stafford's Dan King on the bump.

Should be a great finish!

Please post whenever anyone learns the OFFICIAL word on when/where they will try to finish this game.

Dutchman -
Would you say that Menchville was off? Sounds like their IF gloves were not 100%. I have not seen Menchville, but have heard enough about them.

Ball4:

This was the first time I've seen Menchville play, so I could not comment as to whether they were off or not.

I have seen Ethan Carter pitch on a number of occasions and I do not think he was off. He had some close balls called, but so did Stafford. It was a very tight window.....

Stafford placed some bunts in very nice positions and made it difficult for Menchville to get the lead outs. Because of the placement and the speed that Stafford posses, when Mench checked the lead runners it was too late to get the lead or the batter at first.

I do not recall seeing a lot of errors by the Menchville defense, maybe one throwing error to first and the mental breakdown mentioned above with the middle infield.

The starter for Stafford, Millet, can locate and has a nice breaking pitch, but he doesn't throw 85+. Stafford relies on ground balls and fly outs. Millet did a GREAT job keeping his team in the game...

Seeing Menchville ranked Number 1 in the nation, I really expected to see them seriously mashing. The only person I saw that consistently hit the ball hard was Armistead. They did not hit like I thought they would for as high as they've been ranked this year.... They swung at some bad pitches... , so they probably didn't hit up to their potential? , but again I've never seen them before....

It was obvious to me Stafford was not at all intimidated by Menchville, they've faced some strong pitching this year in the Commonwealth as well. I think being ranked Number 1 in the Country might be a disadvatage, it's a real motivator for your opposition and everyone EXPECTS you to win.

When they return, Menchville's in a very good position with NO OUTS and runners on first and second. Both teams will bring back ACE'S so it should be a fantastic finish...

Still up in the air!

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/highschool/

Latest (from digital sports) is that the semis have been moved to Saturday and the 'ship to Sunday, still at Westfield:

Saturday:
Menchville/Stafford vs. West Springfield 3pm
Cox vs. Hanover 7pm

Sunday:
Championship game at 3pm

Breaking News: Friday and Saturday AAA games moved

Here is the "official" info straight from the VHSL:

Updated AAA Schedule

So we know that Stafford v. Menchville won't be played today. They hope for tomorrow.

But tomorrow is supposed to be a washout. VHSL moved the final 4 back to Sat/Sun because of that, but at that time, VHSL was expecting the Stafford-Menchville game to get finished today.

So what happens if they CAN'T finish Stafford-Menchville on Friday as hoped?

In the meantime, all the other teams' top pitchers are getting more rest since their Tuesday outings. It'll be interesting to see who uses their Tuesday starters again on Saturday (?), and who goes ahead and lets them get another day's rest in hopes they are still alive on Sunday.

Wow that's a great point. I think the delay will help Cox and Hanover it should be a pitchers duel.

I don't think the delay in finishing the Menchville/Stafford game will affect the outcome of the tournament much as long as they don't go a lot of extra innings. It's not like the Menchville team is not resting their ace as they won't have played since Tuesday night. I understand they have three Division 1 pitchers so they should still be in the drivers seat. If the weather is bad through Friday night, they can finish the semifinal game Saturday morning if need be.

Carter could rest from Wed., when he threw 5 innings I think, until Sunday if they get that far. That's 3 days off, which is the usual for a state finalist team. But the other teams could give their # 1's 4 days of rest, unless they bring them back for the semis.

You know the saying, you can't win the championship game unless you're IN the championship game.

Just saw on the VHSL AAA Bracket that they moved the Saturday semi games back to 5:00 & 7:30 p.m. The Sunday final is also moved back to 4:00 this is to allow for field prep. The Saturday games have been switched to have Cox/Hanover game first and WS/Stafford or Menchville game second.

At this point it would make sense to have Menchville and Stafford play it off at 3:00 Saturday up at Westfield.

What do you guys think of the argument that this is why the state playoffs should be held at a more central location in the state? Right now it doesn't happen in AAA (Westfield HS) or AA/A (Radford University). Although it does make a little more sense in A and possibly AA becuase of the number of schools in those divisions in Southwest VA.

However in AAA, having the playoffs in Chantilly basically ensures a minimum of a 3 hour ride for the Eastern region champ (and closer to a 4 hour ride should the Eastern champ come from VA Beach rather than Newport News). In addition, the Northwest Region champ could face a 4+ hour ride should a team such as Halifax or GW-Danville make it that far. Of course, the Northweat Region is fairly unusual anyway because it's kind of a catch all region for any schools that don't fit neatly into the Central or Northern Regions.

On the other hand, it would be just as easy to say that this is simply a fluke of nature that there is this much rain. There is no perfect solution I suppose, but I would support a more centralized location (especially since I live in central VA- so what if I'm a little selfish )

I'd go for that Emanski. It's not like the Diamond is used for anything anymore except for VCU (professional surface). And they are done by now anyway.

I would agree that the first game (Qtr Finals) should be Centralized, but the semis and finals be in rotating College locations throughout the state each year. This way you would only have to deal with 4 team's agendas instead of 8. You would also give each region a chance to have championship in their backyard every 4 years.
We were just notified to hang by phone and they would let us know when and where we are to finish our game!!!!!

As reported by Daily Press (Newport News):

Menchville/Stafford will resume at 1:00 Saturday in Chantilly. With the other games at 5:00 and 7:30.


Looks like we will be playing somewhat of a double header. Wish us luck! Go Menchville!

Newport News also said the game would be tonight at 9:00 pm, so until the coaches know, I wouldn't rely on that paper.

quote:

Originally posted by kingjam:
I would agree that the first game (Qtr Finals) should be Centralized, but the semis and finals be in rotating College locations throughout the state each year. This way you would only have to deal with 4 team's agendas instead of 8. You would also give each region a chance to have championship in their backyard every 4 years.
We were just notified to hang by phone and they would let us know when and where we are to finish our game!!!!!

I actually like the region champs hosting their respective quarterfinal games, but I think it would be a good idea to centralize the semis and championship. But I don't think The Diamond would be the ideal location. First, I think the field dimensions are too large and there would rarely be homers hit out of there. Also, I think the facility is too large as well and would feel empty with only a few thousand fans at most (kinda like an R-Braves game the last few years they were here!).

Although I guess if you were going to go the route of rotating among regions, you could use Harbor Park (Eastern), The Diamond (Central), and P-Nats park in Woodbridge (Northern). Again the weird one would be the Northwest region, but I guess you could go with Davenport Field at UVA or even Salem Avalanche park? Neither of those really seems ideal though.

What's "central" is in they eye of the beholder.

Central to the population? That might mean Richmond area, in the elbow of the urban crescent.

Central geographically, however, would mean some place like Lynchburg or Roanoke. That's about halfway from Va. Beach to Lee County, after all.

Woodbridge is in the NW region, not the Northern region. And us NR folks would be just fine with having a "centralized" location if we could do that for every sport -- that would save us a lot of trouble having our football teams head to Charlottesville or Blacksburg every year...

BTW, Midlo is correct -- what's "central" to some is not very central to others; somebody's gonna have to ride a few hours every time...

Well speaking specifically about AAA, Richmond is about as central as it gets since the furthest team west is Patrick Henry in Roanoke or Franklin County. According to Google Maps, Franklin Co. is 3.5 hours from Richmond, with both Roanoke and Danville being about 3 hours away. Other than those three schools, I believe every school would basically be within 2.5 hours of Richmond (assuming we're talking about charter buses and not school buses).

As far as A and AA, Radford is probably about as good as they can do.

Lynchburg would be a good idea. Aren't some state tourneys already held at Libery U? That's a nice ballpark. The revamped city stadium is a nice minor league basebalpark also, but it would have to be schduled around the Hillcats.

THIS JUST IN:

Stafford vs Menchville at Westfield High School 1pm Saturday June 6 (resume game in 6th inning)

Winner plays WS at 4:00 pm in Semi's

I think Lynchburg's a great idea -- you're right, grasscutter, the City Stadium is a great venue. Plus, nobody would have to travel up or down I-95 on a Friday or Saturday in June, which can make any two-hour drive into a six-hour one without even trying...

Menchville 6 Stafford 4

What a game, What a Season for Stafford!!!

Good Luck to the final 4

What a week both teams have had with the rain delays, the anticipation of finishing this game!
How anticlimatic! Congrats to Menchville but I'm disappointed to see Stafford out.
Good luck to the seniors who helped lead the team this far and will see the rest of the players next year!
Good job guys!

Stafford High School:

Thank you for representing not just Stafford County, but Virginia baseball in such a class way. You showed great respect for the game in the way each of you played.