The top two seeds in Region B advanced today in semi-final games but it sounds like they went about it in different ways. Buckingham shut out number four seed Riverheads 8-0 (I will have details here in a moment) whereas second-seeded Strasburg took care of third-seeded Fort Defiance 9-7 in what we can assume was a closer game. The Rams will now make the long trek to BCHS for the regional championship game, which has been moved up to Thursday to stay ahead of the weather. I assume that will be B'ham's normal 4:00 start time. Both teams will then advance to next week's state tournament.
The Knights' win over RHS was simply a case of everything going wrong for the Big Red that could possibly go wrong, including a late-game injury to left-fielder Landon Gibson that required an ambulance to be summonsed and delayed the game for half an hour or more. The incident happened when he was chasing a foul ball in the deep left corner. It appeared to be a collision with a fence injury but one fan said that he may have stepped in a hole. Regardless the injury was to his leg so hopefully he will be able to make a full recovery.
That happened in the home half of the sixth and occurred just after pitcher Avery Schaefer put the finishing touches on the win with a three-run shot over that same left field fence. He was most likely named MVP for the Knights if they chose one, because he also pitched six innings of shutout ball. Ironically Riverheads had its own Avery Schaefer a few years ago, although I can't guarantee I have the spelling right for either gentleman.
The game certainly started off on the right foot for the visitors as Schaefer hit the lead-off Gladiator batter Logan Austin on the very first pitch of the game. He plunked someone else in the second but as you can tell from the score, neither of those errant pitches came back to haunt him.
But speaking of haunting, Gladiator fans will have nightmares tonight over some other incidents that occurred in today's game. There were several controversial situations and RHS came out on the short end of all but one of them. That of course led to almost constant outbursts from some of the more vocal Big Red fans, who left the field thinking they had been hoodwinked and that the game should have at the very least been closer than it was.
Two of the questionable situations occurred during B'ham's three-run first inning. I believe they had runners on the corners when they attempted a bunt. RHS fielded it and instead of going for the sure thing at first, they tried to nail the guy on third who was not especially fast about retreating back to the bag. Some RHS fans were of the opinion that he was out, but the boys in blue said otherwise.
The next batter then smoked one down the third base line that looked foul to a lot of RHS fans, myself included. But it was ruled fair and plated the first two runs of the afternoon. It was all about where the ball was when it crossed third and as you know, instant replay has not yet come into the high school game.
Then in the home half of the second, a B'ham batter smacked one into center-field. It was only a single but he over-celebrated by yelling and/or gesturing toward the RHS dugout. The home plate umpire followed him down the line and appeared to give an out sign and maybe even a thumbs-up ejection sign. Gladiator fans waited for the guy to leave first but when he never did, the umpire finally spoke up and said he was only issuing a warning.
The call that REALLY got the visitors riled up occurred in the RHS half of the fourth and killed what turned out to the Big Red's last major threat of the game. Levi Dunlap smacked one over the center-fielder's head for a lead-off double. The next batter walked, giving the Gladiators men on first and second with nobody out. The score was only 3-0 at the time, so it looked as if it might be big-inning time for the visitors.
The next batter bunted but it went airborne so that the catcher was able to field it. He then fired it down to first where it appeared to everyone on the RHS side, not just a few, that he had made it back safely. But the umpire on first ruled it a double play and Dunlap's lead-off double saw him stranded at second. The visiting fans howled about that one for the rest of the game as it appeared to be a rally-killer.
In the home half of the fifth, the Gladiators pulled off their own double play when they recorded an out at first and then fired back to home to nail M J (Garrett I think?) who was trying to score from third. Granted it was a close play, but when it was ruled in Riverheads' favor, it appeared to upset the B'ham skipper so much that he almost got tossed.
In conclusion I had expected the Knights to be the better team and they clearly were, which they proved by wrapping up the win with a four-run sixth, which of course featured Schaefer's big bomb. But with so many close plays seeming to go their way, you could hardly blame the Big Red fans who voiced their disagreement and felt as if they deserved better.
Hopefully after some reflection, they will see the positives of a 15-6 season, one that many teams wish they could have had. A solid group will return next year, and at least we won't have the "transfer portal" to worry about, which seems to be ruining every college sport by the minute. Meanwhile best wishes again to Mr. Gibson and also to the Knights moving forward.
Since this was the final game for RHS, I offer my apologies for not only this posting but other recent ones. I am referring to the way I have to essentially type one paragraph at a time, which delays the completion of the post a good bit. If you have followed me all year, you recall that on occasion I have typed an entire game review, only to have my computer decide that it only felt like publishing a portion of what I had written.
So doing it this piecemeal way is the only way I have found to prevent that from happening. But things are looking up and I am told that a new computer could be in my future.....Time will tell!
. 
