The already wild Shenandoah District baseball race got even wilder Monday night as all three games beat the rains and produced some interesting results. The most surprising of the bunch was a 4-2 Staunton win over Wilson. That was the Hornets' second consecutive loss and as a result they now hold only a one-game lead in the loss column over Buffalo Gap, Riverheads, and Stuarts Draft.
In the other two games played tonight, the red-hot Bison beat the not-so-red-tonight Gladiators 5-2 and Fort Defiance squeezed by Stuarts Draft 11-10. So all of that unofficially leaves Wilson with three losses, those next three I just mentioned have four each, Fort Defiance has five, and Staunton, which just could be the hottest team in the league at the moment, now has six district losses. As we have said there is no district tournament and they will all go their merry ways at playoff time, but it does go to show what an evenly-matched season it has been.
As for the Bison win at Riverheads, that completes a season sweep for the Black and Gold over their county rivals. The visitors jumped on RHS early in this one as three hits produced a pair of first-inning runs and the Gap never trailed. They hit the ball early, often and consistently, and you might even say they found "the gap" in the Riverheads defense.
Riverheads meanwhile was coming off a pair of double-digit run-rule victories over Parry McCluer and Fort Defiance respectively but the Gladiators just did not have the spark needed tonight to match the intensity of the Bison. The fundamental difference that each coach would point to, I am sure, was that the Bison did a much better job of getting the timely hit when they had runners in scoring position.
Riverheads on the other hand left the bases loaded twice that I distinctly remember and maybe even more than that. One of those occasions was the home half of the seventh, when things did get momentarily interesting. Bison ace Noah Canterbury took the mound as the third Gap hurler of the game, intending to close out the 5-2 win. Instead he threw six consecutive balls to open the inning. The first four of those gave Landon Lightner a free pass and got the Big Red faithful stirring in hopes of a last-ditch victory.
Another walk and a hit batsman later and the Gladiators had the bases loaded with just one out. But Canterbury kept his cool, established control, and got out of the jam without giving up a run. Fans headed home to check on the status of JMU and UVa in those two crucial games and within half an hour after the teams left Greenville, lightning could be seen flashing if you looked in the right places.
For those of you who have not heard, the JMU Lady Dukes did lose their World Series semi-final game to Oklahoma but certainly gained a lot of national attention in the process. As for UVa, they have come back from the loser's bracket in their regional and are trying their darnedest to play ODU for the right to advance to a Super Regional next weekend against what we now know will be Dallas Baptist University. The only problem is that the Hoos and the Monarchs keep getting rained out down in Columbia. As a result they are now scheduled to play that deciding game at the unusual hour of 9:00 AM Tuesday....... about the same time some of you will be reading this.
So the first night of a very busy week is in the books for our Shenandoah teams and we will see how well they can dodge raindrops the rest of the week. I am not sure if everyone has the same busy schedule, but Riverheads does have two more consecutive games, as they are scheduled to host Wilson Tuesday and travel to Stuarts Draft Wednesday.
After tonight's home loss, the Big Red probably never expected to be in a position to tie Wilson for first place, but due to the aforementioned slump the Hornets have found themselves in, RHS can do exactly that tomorrow if they can find their bats again and send Wilson to a third straight loss.
In the other two games played tonight, the red-hot Bison beat the not-so-red-tonight Gladiators 5-2 and Fort Defiance squeezed by Stuarts Draft 11-10. So all of that unofficially leaves Wilson with three losses, those next three I just mentioned have four each, Fort Defiance has five, and Staunton, which just could be the hottest team in the league at the moment, now has six district losses. As we have said there is no district tournament and they will all go their merry ways at playoff time, but it does go to show what an evenly-matched season it has been.
As for the Bison win at Riverheads, that completes a season sweep for the Black and Gold over their county rivals. The visitors jumped on RHS early in this one as three hits produced a pair of first-inning runs and the Gap never trailed. They hit the ball early, often and consistently, and you might even say they found "the gap" in the Riverheads defense.
Riverheads meanwhile was coming off a pair of double-digit run-rule victories over Parry McCluer and Fort Defiance respectively but the Gladiators just did not have the spark needed tonight to match the intensity of the Bison. The fundamental difference that each coach would point to, I am sure, was that the Bison did a much better job of getting the timely hit when they had runners in scoring position.
Riverheads on the other hand left the bases loaded twice that I distinctly remember and maybe even more than that. One of those occasions was the home half of the seventh, when things did get momentarily interesting. Bison ace Noah Canterbury took the mound as the third Gap hurler of the game, intending to close out the 5-2 win. Instead he threw six consecutive balls to open the inning. The first four of those gave Landon Lightner a free pass and got the Big Red faithful stirring in hopes of a last-ditch victory.
Another walk and a hit batsman later and the Gladiators had the bases loaded with just one out. But Canterbury kept his cool, established control, and got out of the jam without giving up a run. Fans headed home to check on the status of JMU and UVa in those two crucial games and within half an hour after the teams left Greenville, lightning could be seen flashing if you looked in the right places.
For those of you who have not heard, the JMU Lady Dukes did lose their World Series semi-final game to Oklahoma but certainly gained a lot of national attention in the process. As for UVa, they have come back from the loser's bracket in their regional and are trying their darnedest to play ODU for the right to advance to a Super Regional next weekend against what we now know will be Dallas Baptist University. The only problem is that the Hoos and the Monarchs keep getting rained out down in Columbia. As a result they are now scheduled to play that deciding game at the unusual hour of 9:00 AM Tuesday....... about the same time some of you will be reading this.
So the first night of a very busy week is in the books for our Shenandoah teams and we will see how well they can dodge raindrops the rest of the week. I am not sure if everyone has the same busy schedule, but Riverheads does have two more consecutive games, as they are scheduled to host Wilson Tuesday and travel to Stuarts Draft Wednesday.
After tonight's home loss, the Big Red probably never expected to be in a position to tie Wilson for first place, but due to the aforementioned slump the Hornets have found themselves in, RHS can do exactly that tomorrow if they can find their bats again and send Wilson to a third straight loss.
