By John Leonard
Four games were played in the playoffs last night, and two teams were eliminated already!
–Waynesboro 6, Charlottesville 3 (Waynesboro wins series, 2-0): The Generals stunned the regular season champs, sending the Charlottesville squad home earlier than expected with a 6-3 win. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Generals got a Brandon Pimentel single, and then Alex Arauz reached on an error, setting the stage for Jackson Ross, who homered on a 3-1 count. Max Weller immediately followed with a solo shot, and that was all the Generals needed to advance to the next round. Elijah McCormack got the win in relief of Deven Judy, while Angelo Cabral was saddled with the loss.
–Staunton 4, Harrisonburg 0 (Staunton wins series, 2-0): At this time of year, pitching is at a premium, and the Staunton squad received an incredible six innings from Reid Celata to push the Turks out of the playoffs. Celata gave up only one hit in his shutout innings, and two relievers, Ty Barker and Jack Masloff, finished things off. On the offensive side, Staunton got home runs from both Ryan McCarty and Joseph Holiga. Celata got the win and Liam McDonnell got the loss. Staunton will host Waynesboro in game one of the South finals tonight.
–Winchester 12, Woodstock 0 (Royals lead series, 1-0): The Royals battered the Bandits with a eight-run fifth inning to run away with game one of their series. Nate Furman, the regular season batting champ, picked up right where he left off with a 3-4 game, including two runs, two RBIs, two walks, and a home run. The Royals also got a home run from local product Hayden Madagan. As impressive as the offense was, the Royals also got a fantastic start from Michael Darrell-Hicks, who fired six shutout, one-hit innings, and then three innings of shutout relief from Adam Miller. The teams play game two in Winchester tonight.
–Strasburg 10, New Market 5 (Express lead series, 1-0): Strasburg jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead after three innings, but a fighting New Market lineup cut it to 6-5 in he sixth. The Express poured on four more, however, to win this one going away. Strasburg got home runs from JJ Sousa and Brayton Brown, and Ryan Galanie tossed in two hits and two runs scored. Rhett Lowder got the win while Valley League Pitcher of the Year Reed Mascolo got the loss (the two are teammates at Wake Forest, by the way). Game two is in New Market tonight.
Monday’s Schedule
-Waynesboro at Staunton, Game one, 7:30
-Woodstock at Winchester, Game two, 7:00
-Strasburg at New Market , Game two, 7:30