Six games were played last night- let’s take a look:

Results

  • Purcellville 14, Winchester 13: game time was noon, and these two battled it out for almost four hours. Cannons are 17-21, while the Royals had another game:
  • Front Royal 10, Winchester 6: Big, big win for the Cardinals as they draw closer to Winchester. Royals are 14-24, Front Royal is 14-26.
  • Woodstock 7, Charlottesville 0: Bandits draw closer to a division title with the shutout. Woodstock is 23-15; Charlottesville falls to 24-15.
  • Strasburg 4, New Market 2: Express is 22-18, New Market falls to 19-21.
  • Covington 8, Waynesboro 3: Jacks are 19-21; Gens fall to 24-15.
  • Harrisonburg 3, Staunton 1: Turks take over first place in the South with the win; they are now 25-14, while Staunton falls to 15-26.

Hitter of the Day

Two hitters had outstanding days:

  • Tomas Sanchez, Woodstock, from Texas Wesleyan, had his third multi-home run game last night! He went 3-4, with three runs, a double, two home runs, a stolen base, and three RBIs to almost single-handedly defeat Charlottesville. Sanchez is now hitting .250/.310/.538 in 104 at-bats this summer, with two doubles, two triples, eight home runs, and 23 RBIs. He is tied for the league lead in home runs (with Joe Delossantos).
  • Leighton Banjoff, Winchester, from Nebraska, was fantastic in the Royals’ doubleheader. Combined, he went 7-10, with five runs, three doubles, and five RBIs. Banjoff has multiple hits in five straight games, going 13-22 in that stretch, with four doubles, two home runs, 13 RBIs, and 10 runs. He went from .305/.391/.379 after the first game against Covington on July 16 (which is just fine, of course), to .359/.429/.504 now. He’s added five doubles, three triples, two home runs, and seven stolen bases to that slash line in 117 total summer at-bats.

Others of Note

  • Ryne Guida, Purcellville: 3-5, two runs, three RBIs, walk, stolen base (He leads the league in batting average now at .393!)
  • Cullen Horowicz, Purcellville: 4-6, run, two RBIs, two doubles
  • Carson Bell, Purcellville: 1-3, run, RBI, three walks, stolen base
  • Brendan Roney, Purcellville: 0-2, run, RBI, four walks
  • Brady Drawbaugh, Purcellville: 3-5, two runs, RBI, walk
  • Wyatt Miles, Purcellville: 3-5, two runs, three RBIs, double, HBP
  • Blake Vineyard, Winchester: 3-5, two runs, two RBIs, double (Game 1)
  • Daniel Barcena, Winchester: 2-3, three runs, walk, double, two stolen bases (Game 1)
  • Dean Bittner, Winchester: 2-4, two runs, three RBIs, stolen base (Game 1)
  • Broedy Poppell, Front Royal: 3-6, run, two RBIs, double
  • Trent Jeffcoat, Front Royal: 2-4, two runs, walk, stolen base
  • Connor Frost, Front Royal: 1-2, two runs, three walks, stolen base
  • John Maldonado, Winchester: 3-4, walk (Game 2)
  • Armando Albert, Strasburg: 2-3, run, RBI, two walks, two stolen bases
  • Michael Piulats, Covington: 2-5, four RBIs, double
  • Michael Pavelchak, Covington: 2-3, two runs, walk
  • Carlos Pineyro, Covington: 2-5, run, three RBIs, triple
  • Joseph Sullivan, Waynesboro: 3-5, run
  • Matt Ruiz, Waynesboro: 2-3, two runs, RBI, walk, double
  • Tanner Garrison, Waynesboro: 3-4, two RBIs, double
  • Joe Delossantos, Staunton: 0-1, run, three walks

Pitcher of the Day

The pitcher of the day is Harrisonburg’s Jackson Dennies, from Notre Dame, who fired five shutout innings against Staunton while allowing only two hits and one walk, along with nine strikeouts. That line equals a game score of 71- the highest of the day! This was Dennies’s fourth game since arriving from the College World Series; he’s 0-1, 3.55 in 12 2/3 innings, with 14 strikeouts.

Others of Note

  • Andrew Washington, Purcellville: 3 2/3 innings, one hit, one run, one walk, seven K’s, win
  • Will Ricketts, Winchester: Two innings, no hits, no runs, one walk, one K
  • Christian Gordon, Woodstock: Five innings, two hits, no runs, one walk, six K’s, win (GS: 68)
  • Aaron Olech, New Market: 4 2/3 innings, four hits, one run, one walk, six K’s
  • Will Droll, Strasburg: Four innings, two hits, one unearned run, two walks, three K’s, win
  • Kyle Demi, Strasburg: Three innings, two hits, no runs, one walk, three K’s
  • Garrett Bonnett, Covington: Two innings, no hits, no runs, one walk, two K’s
  • Will McCausland, Staunton: Five innings, two hits, no runs, two walks, six K’s (GS: 67)
  • Michael Rosario, Harrisonburg: Two innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, three K’s, win

Tonight’s Games

  • Winchester (Lyons, TBD) at Woodstock (Wilkinson, Snyder), DH, 4 PM
  • Strasburg (Wakeman) at Front Royal (Schultz), 7 PM
  • New Market (Moore) at Purcellville (Caple), 7 PM
  • Charlottesville (Armstrong) at Covington (Potter), 7 PM
  • Waynesboro (Rossow) at Harrisonburg (Armstrong), 7:30 PM

Playoff Update

The playoffs will begin immediately after the regular season, which is slated to end on Sunday, July 24 (also known as “tomorrow.”) The top four from each Division advance, with first place playing fourth, and second place playing third, etc. All series are best of three.

North

  1. Woodstock: 23-15, four games remaining, has clinched a top two playoff spot
  2. Strasburg: 22-18, two games remaining, has clinched a top two playoff spot
  3. New Market: 19-21, two games remaining, has clinched a playoff spot- either #3 or #4
  4. Purcellville: 17-21, with four games remaining. Just one game behind NM for #3, three games ahead of Winchester for final playoff spot. Hasn’t clinched yet.
  5. Winchester: 14-24, four games remaining, three games out of the playoffs, and one game ahead of Front Royal.
  6. Front Royal: 14-26, two games left. Technically eliminated, but there may be an announcement made later today or early tomorrow, and the Cardinals are just one game behind Winchester. (That’s all I can say at this point.)

South

Huge game in Harrisonburg tonight!

  1. Harrisonburg: 25-14, three games left: Waynesboro, @ Purcellville DH

2. Waynesboro: 24-15, three games left: @ Harrisonburg, @ Charlottesville, Charlottesville

Charlottesville: 24-15, three games left: @ Covington, Waynesboro, @ Waynesboro

4. Covington: 19-21, two games left, clinched the fourth seed in the South.

5. Staunton: 15-26, one game left. Eliminated from playoff contention.

Tie-Breakers

  • If two or more teams are tied for first place they will be designated co-champions of the Division
  • For seeding, head-to-head record will be used first, then head-to-head against the top team in the Division, and so on.