By: Dan Sousa
Sterling (May 24, 2007) – No lead was safe in Tuesday’s AA Dulles District semifinals and no ending too wild as Heritage and Potomac Falls escaped to Thursday’s 7 p.m. championship game.
And it may not have been pretty, but it was immensely entertaining doubleheader as Heritage defeated Broad Run 6-5 in extra innings and Potomac Falls nicked upset-minded Freedom 11-10 on Patrick Nightengale’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning.
In the opener, the fifth-seeded Pride lost a one-run lead to regular-season champion Broad Run in the bottom of the seventh, went back ahead by three in the ninth, only to have the Spartans come back again, but this time the game-tying runner was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a passed ball to end the game.
Senior Andrew Crane was key in the Pride’s win as he came into the game with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh after the Spartans had tied it 3-3 on Stephen Hershey’s RBI grounder. Broad Run needed only a hard hit someplace needed to win the affair but Crane got the next batters on strikeouts.
“That was the biggest situation I’ve ever been in,” said Crane.
Broad Run starter Cole Shain allowed three runs but all three were unearned. The Pride had runners at the corner with two out in the top of the seventh with hot-hitting catcher Joe Laura at the plate, but a botched double steal ended the inning.
Heritage reliever Jacob Martinez, who came in after John Rogerson had pitched five solid innings, got the first out in the bottom of the seventh but Kurt Reitzel and Tommy Meier collected back-to-back hits and Hershey’s grounder to second tied the game with pinch runner Billy Rocca scoring. Crane then entered as Chris Jessop was intentionally walked to load the bases and he ended things.
In the top eigth inning, Broad Run reliever Trey Brocke ran into trouble with Martinez and Rogerson reaching on singles but Brocke stranded the runners. Crane gave up a one-out double to Patrick Murphy in the bottom of the eighth but he retired the next two hitters on strikeouts.
The Pride broke through for three runs off of Brocke in the ninth with leadoff hitter Grant Groves starting the rally with a double that one-hopped over the center field fence. Brenton Peters then reached on an perfect bunt single and Joe Donofrio reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Austin Weaver, who had an RBI ******* squeeze in the first inning, followed with a two-run single to right field to make it 5-3 and Laura’s fly ball brought in Donofrio to make it 6-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Hershey doubled to right-center with one out and after a walk to Jessop, he scored on Vince Johnson’s RBI single to left. Ryan Diviney then grounded out to second base for the second out but Jessop scored on the play to make it 6-5. With Shain at the plate, a pitch bounded away from Laura and Johnson tried to score. Laura scambled for the ball and got it to Crane covering just in time for the final out.
“I had to bust it to get to home,” said Crane. “It was definitely close. It was a bang, bang play.
The Pride made it to the title game in 2006 as the No. 2 seed, only to fall to lower-seeded Park View and that denied the team a trip to regionals.
“This is our senior year and want to go to regionals. It would be the first time in school history,” said Weaver. “We definitely thought we deserved to go last year.”
Heritage coach Ryan Price, a former Potomac Falls player and coach, will now get to try and defeat the Panthers in the title game.
“We have had an up and down season,” said Price. “Our seniors have a chip on their shoulders about last season.”
Broad Run will play in next week’s regional tournament after taking the Dulles regular-season crown.
“This time of year you have to play your “A” game or you are done,” said Broad Run coach Pat Cassidy.
Groves, Peters, Donofrio, Weaver, Laura, Martinez and Rogerson all had multiple hit games for Heritage which collected 15 hits. Murhpy and Hershey each had two hits for BR.
In the second game, Freedom was looking to play the spoiler again after knocking off No. 2 Park View in the quarterfinals. The Eagles gave up 16 walks or hit batters in the game … only to find themselves five outs away from another upset, leading 10-8 in the bottom of the sixth inning and with ace Kyle Howard on the mound.
The Panthers, the hottest Dulles team in the second half, got a single from Chad McMichael and he moved to second on a walk, stokle third and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-9. After two more walks loaded the bases, lead off hitter Greg Woodlief, hit an RBI groundout to second to tie the game. Howard struk out the next batter to keep it tied.
Jacob Kline, the fourth Panther pitcher on the night who had come in the sixth inning to limit Freedom to just one insurance run as they increased their lead to 10-8, retired the side in order in the top of the seventh and Howard, who had pitched a complete game victory in the finals, walked the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh inning before Trevor Moore relieved. Kline sacrificed the runners over and after an intentional walk, Nightengale ended it with an RBI single.
The Panthers played the game without senior leader Cory Flickinger, who was home sick with a high fever, but PF was still able to post a big 8-2 lead after sending 14 batters to the plate in the fourth inning. In that 8-run outburst, the Panthers took advantage of five walks, a hit batter, two errors and a wild pitch. Woodlief had a key two-run double and Kline had a two-run single during the marathon at-bat.
Not to be out-done, the Eagles sent 11 hitters to the plate in the top of the fifth and scored seven runs to retake the lead 9-8. In that big inning, Freedom took advantage of six walks and sophomore Kyle Groome had a clutch three-run triple with two outs to score the final three runs.
Freedom had taken a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on RBI hits by Justin Anderson and Mike Diaddigo.
“They have improved to much. Our hats are off to those guys,” Potomac Falls coach Joe Terango said about Freedom which won just two regular-season district game, both over Briar Woods.
Freedom coach Chris Bourassa was proud of the way his team battled.
“Our kids came right back after falling behind 8-2. They battled. The real difference is that they were playing confidence,” said Bourassa. “We improved tremendously this season in all aspects of the game. Hopefully we raised the bar a little bit for next season.”
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