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Bruins, lightning strike on diamond
Unpredictable springtime weather seems to be the only outside force capable of affecting the Lake Braddock baseball team this season.Not that the Bruins could really devise a game plan to stop it.
Lake Braddock (22-3) has destroyed nearly every obstacle in its way en route to yet another Northern Region title, which was keyed by senior Shane Halley's wind-blown, three-run double in the fifth inning of a 9-6 win over Chantilly last Friday at Yorktown High School.
Four days later in the Virginia AAA state tournament, Lake Braddock once again found itself at Mother Nature's mercy as thunder, lightning and pouring rain altered Tuesday's first-round matchup against Eastern Region runner-up Indian River (18-8).
The two teams took a 20-minute break following the third inning, but after what was at one point a 61-minute rain delay, the game was suspended with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Bruins ahead, 6-3. Play resumed -- at the same spot in the game -- Wednesday afternoon at Lake Braddock Secondary School but ended after The Times went to press.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning during the region title game, Halley worked Chantilly pitcher Chris Yates to a full count. Knowing exactly what pitch he'd like to hit, Halley lunged and swung anxiously at something hardly resembling that previous thought.
When his skyward shot sailed out toward second base, a “[ticked] off” Halley dropped his head and sprinted at full speed toward second -- self-punishment for a miserable at-bat. Halley's teammates followed suit, practicing the “two-out, run-on-contact mantra” that's taught to youngsters only after the importance of sunflower seeds.
“Chris made a good pitch. I just missed my pitch,” said Halley, who finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. “I just got real lucky, that's all I can say.”
With Halley and Co. hustling around the bases, the soaring baseball echoed their every move, darting with the wind and forcing Chantilly second baseman Roger Strittmatter to make an awkward, last-ditch turn back toward his left.
The baseball descended back down to Earth and with it brought three pivotal runs that provided the winning margin for Lake Braddock's sixth region title.
“[The popup] was so high and the wind was blowing,” said Lake Braddock coach Jody Rutherford, whose team has won 19 straight contests. “With the wind blowing out a little bit, it just looked like it started to move.
“I give our guys credit, we had a guy that scored from first base on that ball. That tells you how hard they were hustling and how high that popup was.”
Weather wasn't the only parallel to be drawn from this bizarre play. That all three baserunners sprinted around the bases encapsulates how Lake Braddock plays the game.
“Guys take walks, they battle with two strikes, they hustle out [balls hit in the infield] and they just find a way to get on,” Rutherford added. “That really keeps the rally going, and then you come up with the big hit and that equals the big inning.”
The Bruins drew eight walks against Chantilly and had drawn five more on Tuesday before the game was suspended.
And the big hit?
That was supplied by senior first baseman Joe Buckley, whose first-inning grand slam sailed over the left field fence and put the Bruins ahead early, 4-0. Senior second baseman Ryan Buckrop added a two-run single in the third inning, but senior David Clary's three-run homer brought the Braves to within three, 6-3.
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