Sometimes it only takes that one surge to post a victory and that was the case tonight in Greenville as the homestanding Gladiators strung some key hits together, one in particular, on the way to a 4-1 win over visiting Staunton. With the win, the Gladiators are now 4-2 in district play after the first swing through the schedule and are therefore still within striking distance of league-leading Wilson.
Tonight's game was a pitchers' duel for the most part. The Gladiators got six strong innings out of starter Ethan Fitzgerald and a 12-pitch seventh inning relief effort out of David Austin, who set the final three Storm batters down without any trouble. Meanwhile, Staunton started number 9 (didn't catch the name) and he went the distance, tossing 98 pitches but gave up just a handful of hits to the Gladiators, who were coming off Friday's 22-0 demolition of Buffalo Gap when they couldn't be stopped.
On this night, those potent bats were not as productive but they finally broke through and scored all four RHS runs in the home half of the fourth. Logan Austin and Camden Huffer got the party started with back-to-back hits, each one barely squeezing inside the two baselines. Austin came around to score to make it 1-0, but it momentarily looked like that might be all the Gladiators would muster as The Storm buckled down and recorded a pair of outs.
However, with the game very much in the balance, first baseman Henley Dunlap, who had his first homer of the season during the Gap rout, smacked one over the right fielder's head that went all the way to the softball fence line. That drove in two more crucial runs to make it 3-0. Moments later, Dunlap scored himself when an attempted throw to third got away and he was able to score the Big Red's fourth run.
Staunton, which recorded only two or three hits at the most, finally got on the board in the top of the sixth with some aggressive base running. They had moved a guy into scoring position, maybe for the first time in the game, and had the chance to send him home. It momentarily looked like RHS was going to make the play needed to preserve the shutout but a throw in the direction of home plate sailed out of play and allowed the visitors to score their only run of the game.
With the win, the Gladiators continued their unusual pattern of having close games at home but running away with big-time road wins. In this now-complete first cycle through the district, they won three road games by a combined total of 49-4 but tonight's game was the first district win at home, after losing the first two to Wilson (1-0) and Waynesboro (3-1).
With that in mind, won't it be interesting to see what they can do at Wilson next week? But first things first as they will host Stuarts Draft Thursday afternoon, a team they walloped 12-0 on its own field to start the district race.
It then won't be too long before we can start talking about playoff positioning, which will impact a number of teams since the Shenandoah District has three Class 3 teams (Wilson, Staunton, and Waynesboro), three in Class 2 (Riverheads, Stuarts Draft and Fort Defiance), leaving Buffalo Gap as the district's only Class 1 team. If football and basketball were any indication, we should see at least 4-5 of our teams advancing to post-season play.
Also tasting victory tonight were the Lady Gladiators who smoked Staunton 15-0 in a 4 1/2 inning slaughter rule game. You can now read the softball scoreboard from the baseball bleachers, which comes in handy, so we could see RHS put that one away early with a 9-0 first inning burst.
Tonight's game was a pitchers' duel for the most part. The Gladiators got six strong innings out of starter Ethan Fitzgerald and a 12-pitch seventh inning relief effort out of David Austin, who set the final three Storm batters down without any trouble. Meanwhile, Staunton started number 9 (didn't catch the name) and he went the distance, tossing 98 pitches but gave up just a handful of hits to the Gladiators, who were coming off Friday's 22-0 demolition of Buffalo Gap when they couldn't be stopped.
On this night, those potent bats were not as productive but they finally broke through and scored all four RHS runs in the home half of the fourth. Logan Austin and Camden Huffer got the party started with back-to-back hits, each one barely squeezing inside the two baselines. Austin came around to score to make it 1-0, but it momentarily looked like that might be all the Gladiators would muster as The Storm buckled down and recorded a pair of outs.
However, with the game very much in the balance, first baseman Henley Dunlap, who had his first homer of the season during the Gap rout, smacked one over the right fielder's head that went all the way to the softball fence line. That drove in two more crucial runs to make it 3-0. Moments later, Dunlap scored himself when an attempted throw to third got away and he was able to score the Big Red's fourth run.
Staunton, which recorded only two or three hits at the most, finally got on the board in the top of the sixth with some aggressive base running. They had moved a guy into scoring position, maybe for the first time in the game, and had the chance to send him home. It momentarily looked like RHS was going to make the play needed to preserve the shutout but a throw in the direction of home plate sailed out of play and allowed the visitors to score their only run of the game.
With the win, the Gladiators continued their unusual pattern of having close games at home but running away with big-time road wins. In this now-complete first cycle through the district, they won three road games by a combined total of 49-4 but tonight's game was the first district win at home, after losing the first two to Wilson (1-0) and Waynesboro (3-1).
With that in mind, won't it be interesting to see what they can do at Wilson next week? But first things first as they will host Stuarts Draft Thursday afternoon, a team they walloped 12-0 on its own field to start the district race.
It then won't be too long before we can start talking about playoff positioning, which will impact a number of teams since the Shenandoah District has three Class 3 teams (Wilson, Staunton, and Waynesboro), three in Class 2 (Riverheads, Stuarts Draft and Fort Defiance), leaving Buffalo Gap as the district's only Class 1 team. If football and basketball were any indication, we should see at least 4-5 of our teams advancing to post-season play.
Also tasting victory tonight were the Lady Gladiators who smoked Staunton 15-0 in a 4 1/2 inning slaughter rule game. You can now read the softball scoreboard from the baseball bleachers, which comes in handy, so we could see RHS put that one away early with a 9-0 first inning burst.
