Region B finals set...

[DiamondDude]

D2: Wilson Memorial at William Monroe Friday. Each won easily over their Dogwood District foes....Wilson (16-4) rode the 5-hit pitching of Brandon Gochenour and belted 12 hits in a 10-1 win over Appomattox County. Monroe pulled away -- helped by Austin Batten's bases-loaded triple in the 5th-- to knock off Dan River 10-2. So the Green Hornets and the Greene Dragons battle but both will move on to the state quarterfinal round next Tuesday. King William and Nandua meet in the Region A D-2 finals Friday.
D1:Riverheads 9, East Rockingham 2..Gladiators move on to face William Campbell in the finals Friday and also punches its ticket to state play next week. They have history in football between them.
This post was edited on 5/29 10:01 PM by DiamondDude

 

[longtimerhsfan]

Kyle Wilson smoked the very first pitch of the game out into center field and that pretty much set the tone for the game tonight as the Gladiators jumped on East Rock early. They went on to score two runs in the first, one in the second, and two more in the third. East Rock then chipped away with a pair of runs in the middle innings to stay within striking distance at 5-2, but the Gladiators put it away with a four-run 7th inning.

The Big Red bats pounded 14 hits and the damage might have been even worse if not for the fact that they stranded eight base-runners in the first three innings. But fortunately that did not come back to haunt them as East Rock seemed shell-shocked by the big early advantage and never seriously threatened in the game. The Gladiators chased the starting pitcher in the third and his replacement in the 7th (sorry don't recall the names) whereas senior Zach Clymore went the distance for RHS, scattering six hits to earn his most satisfying win of the season.

This game was a sharp contrast to all three of the teams' earlier match-ups,which had all been low-scoring pitchers' duels. East Rock won two out of those three and Riverheads only scored a total of three runs in those three games. So the Gladiators not only won the big one and tied up the season's series, but ironically their two wins came in front of the East Rock home fans.

As Diamond Dude said, the Gladiators' next stop is William Campbell on Friday, a place we have visited numerous times over the years in a variety of sports. The winner of that one will get to host the Region A runner-up next week, whereas the loser will face a long trip "back east."

Congrats to Coach Painter and the Gladiators on this huge win tonight. Definitely a solid, all-around effort against a quality team.

 

[emma'sdad]

Longtimer: Good luck to you and your Gladiators as you go for the Region B D1 Championship and chase that state title while representing Riverheads High School and The Shenandoah District. We will be cheering on you guys from Luray!!

Hopefully you guys end up with a better crew of umpires than we did in yesterdays game. Our game was a good pitchers duel until the umpire in the B gap made a horrible horrible call on a clearly stolen base by one of our guys, and the calls went downhill from there. Our hitters had to end up swinging at breaking balls that were nearly hitting the plate, a strike zone that was an honest 10 inches off the plate away, and about 30 missed balk calls from their pitchers twiching their gloves after coming set. Then when our guys were pitching it tightened up something terrible, including one fastball straight down the pipe that would have been a called 3rd strike and was called a ball. The plate umpire also was telling our batters that they were too close to plate and would not continue with the game until they moved off the plate. For starters he has no authority to enforce that, his only authority is he can call a batter out for hitting a ball while outside of the box, and second there were no inside lines of the batters box, which means he has nothing to judge it by, and no inside lines is in fact a violation of VHSL and NFHS rules. As someone who has been behind the plate for probably no less than a thousand games at various levels, I understand it is a thankless job, but they are being paid to fair, honest and impartial, and not affect the outcome. Would the game have been different? There is no way to say, and we will never know.

It was so bad that one of their parents kept apologizing for the umpiring........
This post was edited on 5/30 11:04 AM by emma'sdad

 

[EASTONALUM2]

The umpires called the game the same both ways,and from my vantage point the kid stealing second was clearly out. In fact,the one call that was reversed when the batter claimed he was hit in the hand by the pitch went Luray's way. Make a better pitch when the bases were loaded and maybe the grand slam doesn't happen. 6 to 2 is not the umpires responsibilty.

 

[emma'sdad]

You clearly are biased, as am I, but you are wrong, and very wrong at that. Even your fans and parents were commenting on the hose job that we got and the pitiful umpiring crew. It is very hard to make a quality pitch when the strike zone has shrunk to the size of a volleyball.

 

[EASTONALUM2]

I'm not saying they were an all star crew,but the calls went both ways,and that hit batter call was terrible. I heard the ball hit the bat.I dont think any of the calls were that critical to the outcome, the dropped third strike prior to the homerun,the throwing error to third on the stolen base,the fielding error on the ground ball to second were all more significant than the umpiring.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

Clearly you guys have differing opinions on what went down in that game yesterday. So I guess it will be interesting to see what RHS fans have to say after the game tomorrow.

 

[shenhoopsfan]

I was at this game and seated where I had a clear view of the strike zone, and I would have to agree with Emsdad that there was 2 clear and distinctly different zones depending on which team was at bat. Luray would have needed golf clubs to hit, while Luray's pitcher's had to groove it to geta call. No doubt an advantage.

This post was edited on 5/31 2:04 PM by shenhoopsfan

 

[EASTONALUM2]

Maybe the gamme will be decided on the field this Friday by the kids,I hate to see the umpires blow another 6 to 2 game.

 

[91comets]

I agree with you Easton. The umpire must have told the kid what pitch was coming on the grand slam. He must have told the catcher to throw the ball into left field to. What about the center fielder who missed played the ball and it got under his glove and he had to go back to get it. The error on the 2nd basemen. Luray had some miscues and that's all its to it. Emma's dad must be the one who kept crying for a balk every pitch. The strike zone was the same for both teams. Luray's first pitcher threw the ball real well but when he got into trouble and the pitch count got up, he looked like he struggled a bit. But like always its the umpires fault.

 

[EASTONALUM2]

You speak the truth 91!

 

[86GENERALS]

I love to see grown men cry!!!!!!!!!

 

[longtimerhsfan]

As discussed in another thread, Friday's WC/RHS game did not have any such controversy, other than the usual grumbling over certain pitches. It was a very well-played game featuring outstanding efforts by four different pitchers.