The heavily-favored Gladiators got more of a battle than expected tonight but prevailed over homestanding Waynesboro to keep pace with Wilson at the top of the district standings. Both teams hit the ball well and played excellent defense, including some impressive catches in the outfield and some well-executed and alert double plays.
Ironically however it was a lapse in defensive judgment on the part of the Little Giants that led to the key play that started RHS on the way to the win. Each team had scored twice in the first inning, followed by a pair of scoreless frames. Then in the top of the fourth, the Gladiators pushed across two hard-earned runs with both involving successful plays at the plate.
Those two runs put them ahead 4-2, but there were two outs, leaving the home team faithful feeling as if their team was still very much in the game. However the Gladiators had runners on first and second with centerfielder Bennett Dunlap at the plate. The Giants then made an ill-advised decision to try to pick off the guy at first, perhaps because they had already done so successfully earlier in the game.
But this time, the ball scampered away, allowing both runners to advance. Dunlap then did his job at the plate and knocked in both runs to make the score 6-2, quite a bit more of an uphill climb than 4-2. Things then unraveled for the Little Giants when RHS plated four more in the top of the fifth to make it 10-2.
To their credit, the Giants kept battling and closed it to the more respectable 11-7 final but you never felt as if the game was in doubt. Each team tried four pitchers in the game, with RHS freshman Brody Phillips notching the final strikeout that sent the Big Red home victorious.
All in all a good clean game with very little of the controversy we have seen thus far this season, so both teams should be proud of their efforts. The Gladiators have a busy week ahead next week as they host Staunton Monday in a game that has been moved up from Tuesday. They then travel to Harrisonburg Wednesday for a non-district make-up game. They then start the second cycle through district competition Friday when Stuarts Draft comes to Greenville.
Ironically however it was a lapse in defensive judgment on the part of the Little Giants that led to the key play that started RHS on the way to the win. Each team had scored twice in the first inning, followed by a pair of scoreless frames. Then in the top of the fourth, the Gladiators pushed across two hard-earned runs with both involving successful plays at the plate.
Those two runs put them ahead 4-2, but there were two outs, leaving the home team faithful feeling as if their team was still very much in the game. However the Gladiators had runners on first and second with centerfielder Bennett Dunlap at the plate. The Giants then made an ill-advised decision to try to pick off the guy at first, perhaps because they had already done so successfully earlier in the game.
But this time, the ball scampered away, allowing both runners to advance. Dunlap then did his job at the plate and knocked in both runs to make the score 6-2, quite a bit more of an uphill climb than 4-2. Things then unraveled for the Little Giants when RHS plated four more in the top of the fifth to make it 10-2.
To their credit, the Giants kept battling and closed it to the more respectable 11-7 final but you never felt as if the game was in doubt. Each team tried four pitchers in the game, with RHS freshman Brody Phillips notching the final strikeout that sent the Big Red home victorious.
All in all a good clean game with very little of the controversy we have seen thus far this season, so both teams should be proud of their efforts. The Gladiators have a busy week ahead next week as they host Staunton Monday in a game that has been moved up from Tuesday. They then travel to Harrisonburg Wednesday for a non-district make-up game. They then start the second cycle through district competition Friday when Stuarts Draft comes to Greenville.
