|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
'Grinding out' a title
The Lake Braddock baseball team has played and won nearly every imaginable type of game this season.There's been the blowouts, which can be summed up with a 23-0 win at Hayfield on April 15.
There's been the close games, a category highlighted by the team's 4-2 home win over West Springfield on April 23.
The Bruins have also been forced to play the bulk of their games without ace pitcher Shane Halley, whose availability had been spotty in the beginning of the season due to tingling in his forearm.
Monday night's Patriot District title game against West Springfield wasn't particularly close, but it wasn't a blowout either. And it definitely involved an uplifting contribution from the hard-throwing Halley.
Top-seeded Lake Braddock capitalized on 13 walks issued by West Springfield's pitching staff, as 11 of those walks scored in a 12-8 win for the Bruins. The district title was Lake Braddock's first since 2004, and coach Jody Rutherford's team extended its winning streak to 15 games.
"I really thought we grinded out at-bats [Monday]," said Rutherford, whose team improved to 18-3 and will host McLean on Friday in the first round of the Northern Region tournament. "I don't know how many times we went to two strikes, and we ended up battling our way back, drawing a walk or getting a base hit."
Although he struggled with his control early, Halley's mere presence on the mound served as comfort food for the Bruins. Halley, who'll play baseball at the University of Virginia next spring, made it through three innings and allowed five runs -- a pitching line that won't leave too many jaws on the floor -- and was pulled from his fourth appearance of the year after walking West Springfield's Bobby Wahl to start the fourth inning.
Halley needed 31 pitches to escape the first, but still had enough zip on his fastball and break on his curveball to record a pair of strikeouts in each of the first two frames.
"We're starting to get bits and pieces of [Halley] back," said Rutherford. "It just makes us that much better."
West Springfield touched up Halley for three runs in the first, as junior shortstop Bryn Renner and senior third baseman Ryan Sullivan each recorded run-scoring singles.
Lake Braddock struck back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Senior left fielder Shannon Mark laced an RBI-single to right, and senior catcher Steven Lindemuth's groundout scored Mark from third.
The Bruins added six more runs on five hits through the next two innings, but the Spartans made it an 8-6 game after rallying for three runs in the top of the fourth.
In a pivotal bottom half of the fourth inning, Lake Braddock shortstop Ryan Lindemuth turned on a 2-1 fastball which was on the inside part of the plate, crushing a two-run double down the left field line to extend the Bruins' lead, 10-6.
"It was a big hit because you need insurance runs in these close games," said Lindemuth, who finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. “The pitcher had just gone away with a couple pitches, so I felt like he might come inside. I just got the bat on the ball and hit it down the line."
West Springfield (13-4) was unable to build on any momentum it created by topping defending two-time district champion South County last Saturday in the semifinal round.
In that game, the Spartans posted six straight singles in the bottom of the seventh inning to score three runs against the Stallions, eventually escaping with a 4-3 win.
So the difference between Saturday and Monday?
"We didn't walk 13 guys on Saturday, that's the start of it," said West Springfield coach John James, whose team will host Langley on Friday in the region tournament. "We put up eight [runs] and that's usually enough to win ballgames, but when you give up 13 free passes, you're going to give up a lot of runs."
Junior shortstop Bryn Renner turned in a multiple-RBI performance for the Spartans, finishing 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Senior third baseman Ryan Sullivan went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
You must be logged in to post a comment.