Riverheads played the role of the very rude houseguest tonight as they spoiled Senior Night for the Staunton Storm by posting a 12-0 six-inning shutout. The game was a sharp contrast to the one the teams played in Greenville where RHS needed all seven innings to squeeze out a 3-2 win.
The best word to describe tonight's game might be "ironic." First of all, despite the lopsided final score, Staunton actually had the first serious scoring threat as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, only to see Riverheads first baseman Henley Dunlap snag a line drive to abruptly squelch that threat. The Gladiators would go on to score their first three runs in the next frame and never looked back.
And speaking of line drives, those were pretty much the norm here tonight as neither team had any trouble at all connecting at the plate as there must have been a dozen hard-hit balls right at somebody and in many cases the fielder at the other end barely had to move.
But the ultimate irony for the losing Storm had to be the fact that Riverheads by my unofficial calculations scored 10 of its 12 runs on two-out rallies. That is about the most demoralizing thing you can do to an opposing team and Staunton no doubt wondered what might have been if they could have gotten a couple of those third outs a bit sooner.
Obviously RHS got the job done at the plate but they were equally dominant on the mound as the Fitzgerald Family Tree earned the victory. Sophomore Ethan pitched five scoreless frames before Cousin Holden, and he is only a freshman folks, came on board in the sixth. Not only did he prevent the game from going into the seventh inning, but he did it in mighty impressive fashion, striking out the side on something like 11 or 12 pitches.
Holden also got the Gladiator scoring machine going in the top half of the third as his two-out, bases loaded bloop single to shallow right field earned him two RBIs. After scoring their first three in that third inning, the Gladiators added four more in the fourth, again all scored with two outs. The key base knocks in that inning were a pair of deep shots to left field, both of which were misjudged or misplayed, clearing all occupied bases and leaving Carson Kuhn and then Logan Austin standing at third. The Gladiators then chased the Storm starter Job Harrell with five more runs in the top of the game-clinching sixth.
With the win, Riverheads finishes 8-4 in Shenandoah District play. As mentioned in previous recaps, the Big Red is a VERY young team, losing only two seniors to graduation and in fact their entire pitching staff will return for at least two more years as there were no juniors or seniors seeing mound duty this season.
As for the immediate future, the Big Red has to wait a few days while the rest of Region 1-B finishes its regular season schedule. The Gladiators are pretty much locked into a home game for their first playoff appearance, but their exact position, the opponent, and the date are all still to be determined.
Meanwhile at Saturday's graduation ceremony, seniors Bennett Dunlap and Lucas Edward will receive their diplomas and move on to bigger and better things. On that note, congratulations should go out to any and all seniors this year at all area schools. Congrats on a job well done!
The best word to describe tonight's game might be "ironic." First of all, despite the lopsided final score, Staunton actually had the first serious scoring threat as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, only to see Riverheads first baseman Henley Dunlap snag a line drive to abruptly squelch that threat. The Gladiators would go on to score their first three runs in the next frame and never looked back.
And speaking of line drives, those were pretty much the norm here tonight as neither team had any trouble at all connecting at the plate as there must have been a dozen hard-hit balls right at somebody and in many cases the fielder at the other end barely had to move.
But the ultimate irony for the losing Storm had to be the fact that Riverheads by my unofficial calculations scored 10 of its 12 runs on two-out rallies. That is about the most demoralizing thing you can do to an opposing team and Staunton no doubt wondered what might have been if they could have gotten a couple of those third outs a bit sooner.
Obviously RHS got the job done at the plate but they were equally dominant on the mound as the Fitzgerald Family Tree earned the victory. Sophomore Ethan pitched five scoreless frames before Cousin Holden, and he is only a freshman folks, came on board in the sixth. Not only did he prevent the game from going into the seventh inning, but he did it in mighty impressive fashion, striking out the side on something like 11 or 12 pitches.
Holden also got the Gladiator scoring machine going in the top half of the third as his two-out, bases loaded bloop single to shallow right field earned him two RBIs. After scoring their first three in that third inning, the Gladiators added four more in the fourth, again all scored with two outs. The key base knocks in that inning were a pair of deep shots to left field, both of which were misjudged or misplayed, clearing all occupied bases and leaving Carson Kuhn and then Logan Austin standing at third. The Gladiators then chased the Storm starter Job Harrell with five more runs in the top of the game-clinching sixth.
With the win, Riverheads finishes 8-4 in Shenandoah District play. As mentioned in previous recaps, the Big Red is a VERY young team, losing only two seniors to graduation and in fact their entire pitching staff will return for at least two more years as there were no juniors or seniors seeing mound duty this season.
As for the immediate future, the Big Red has to wait a few days while the rest of Region 1-B finishes its regular season schedule. The Gladiators are pretty much locked into a home game for their first playoff appearance, but their exact position, the opponent, and the date are all still to be determined.
Meanwhile at Saturday's graduation ceremony, seniors Bennett Dunlap and Lucas Edward will receive their diplomas and move on to bigger and better things. On that note, congratulations should go out to any and all seniors this year at all area schools. Congrats on a job well done!
