In the kind of well-played game you would expect to see at this late stage of the season, the Gladiators rallied from an early 1-0 deficit and held off The Generals 5-3 to capture the Region B crown. However both teams will now advance to state quarter-final play, tentatively set for Tuesday. The opponents in those two games will be Middlesex and Lancaster, with RHS hosting whoever loses today's Region A championship between those two, whereas WC will travel to the home of the Region A champ. By now that championship has likely been determined and I am sure someone will post the results before the evening is out.
Play tonight focused on three very young pitchers and some strong defensive work, especially on the part of the two infields. Neither team kicked or bobbled the ball around to speak of and some tight throws over to first always found their mark. On the mound, RHS started sophomore Levi Dunlap and the Generals countered with freshman Landon Elder. Presumably Dunlap got the win as the Big Red was leading 3-2 when he was replaced in the top of the 5th, whereas Elder went a full five innings with a pitch count that reached into the low 90s. Had it not been for one crucial play that I will get to shortly, he might very well have earned the win for his team.
Dunlap's replacement was yet another freshman, Holden Fitzgerald, who earned the save although the Generals did touch him for their third and tying run when he came aboard in the fifth. But once he settled in, he kept the visitors off the board in the final two frames.
WC struck first in the opening frame as a balk advanced a runner to second and they eventually brought him around to score. That 1-0 lead then held up until the bottom of the third when the Gladiators made the first of their two big moves.
They loaded the bases and shortstop Brody Phillips stepped to the plate. He lofted one down the right field line that looked like it might curve foul. The WC right fielder made a valiant effort to haul it in but it bounced away from him. Two runs scored easily and then the Gladiators saw the chance to wave the third guy home. He made it safely to give the home team a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately for young Mr. Elder, that was his one and only really wild inning as he walked the first two batters to get RHS started and then walked two more later in the inning. Other than that, he pitched a decent game and deserved a better fate.
Trailing 3-1, the visitors did not give up as they touched Dunlap for one in the fourth and added the tying run against Fitzgerald in the 5th. The Gladiators then tacked on their two winning runs in the home half of the fifth, scoring without the benefit of a hit. One of those runs scored on a passed ball.
The 7th inning started off with a mild controversy but it ended up having no impact. WC's lead-off man smacked one down the left baseline. It made it into the outfield but there was only one problem. No one on the RHS side had seen a signal so we were not sure if it was ruled fair or foul until the batter was standing at second. So it wasn't so much a matter of debating the call but instead wondering why a clear one had not been made. The Generals managed to get that runner to third and had the tying run at the plate, but Fitzgerald bore down and got him on a called third strike to end the game.
As mentioned, Riverheads will host next week's state quarterfinal, whereas WC will once again hit the road. But considering how the post-season has gone for them so far, they might not mind that so much, as they started the Region B playoffs with consecutive road wins over Surry County and the number one seed Buffalo Gap. Then if you add today's respectable showing to that tally, the Generals may actually have come to realize that they LIKE being the road team. Given the format of the state tournament, there is a mathematical chance that these two could meet again in Salem, but Region A will of course have something to say about that.
