Tonight on the final night a regular season game could have been played due to playoff obligations, the Riverheads Gladiators traveled to Page and spoiled the Panthers' Senior Night with an impressive 4-0 win. The Big Red was about as fundamentally sound in this one as any coach could ask and of course fans were just excited to get the game played without any interference from the weather.
The big win for the visitors left each team with a final 9-4 district mark after a highly-competitive season in which three other teams finished with 5 losses and even sixth-place Wilson only had 6. To my knowledge no district champion will receive a trophy or be crowned officially, but since the Gladiators also won the first match-up over the Panthers, that should constitute a tie-breaker. So if anybody has a right to say "Hey we won the district" it would be Riverheads. Instead I am sure both teams have already put this one in the rear view mirror and started preparing for conference playoffs, as will every other team in the Shenandoah.
The big difference in this one was the effectiveness of RHS' Colt Miller on the mound. He went the distance, and although I don't keep stats, I believe he only gave up one hit, and even that one was a bit on the weird side. It happened in the third when a Page batter send a pop-up straight up into the air. The Gladiator first baseman called for it and by the time the ball came down, he was only about 10 feet from home plate. He misjudged it slightly at the last moment and failed to make the catch.
So if the official ruling was perhaps an error, then Miller may very well have been credited with a no-hitter. Again I am not "official" but I am pretty sure the Panthers did not get any other hits and if they ever reached second base, I don't recall it. Miller had six strikeouts through the first three innings, so my guess is that he finished with between eight and ten.
His teammates backed him up with some solid play in the outfield including a pair of impressive catches by Tyler Smith in center and Jackson Shover in left. In each case, it momentarily looked as if they had misjudged the ball but they made the necessary adjustment and hauled in the catch. Ridge Stokes also had 2 or 3 nice deep throws across the diamond from the hot corner to nail Panther runners.
On offense, the Big Red touched starter Seth Comer for single runs in the second, third and fourth innings, and then added an insurance tally in the seventh against his replacement Ryan Cave. In all four cases, the run scored in essentially the same way. The Gladiators got that all-important lead-off batter on base, aggressively moved him to second with either one or still no outs, and then got the key hit that brought him home. All four Gladiator runs scored from second on gutsy base-running in which an on-target throw might have nailed him.
I am told that Riverheads gets a first-round bye and will not play until the Conference 44 semis, when they will host the William Campbell/Stonewall winner. With Page's overall impressive record, they should receive a high seeding in Conference 35 and perhaps get their own first-round bye.
The big win for the visitors left each team with a final 9-4 district mark after a highly-competitive season in which three other teams finished with 5 losses and even sixth-place Wilson only had 6. To my knowledge no district champion will receive a trophy or be crowned officially, but since the Gladiators also won the first match-up over the Panthers, that should constitute a tie-breaker. So if anybody has a right to say "Hey we won the district" it would be Riverheads. Instead I am sure both teams have already put this one in the rear view mirror and started preparing for conference playoffs, as will every other team in the Shenandoah.
The big difference in this one was the effectiveness of RHS' Colt Miller on the mound. He went the distance, and although I don't keep stats, I believe he only gave up one hit, and even that one was a bit on the weird side. It happened in the third when a Page batter send a pop-up straight up into the air. The Gladiator first baseman called for it and by the time the ball came down, he was only about 10 feet from home plate. He misjudged it slightly at the last moment and failed to make the catch.
So if the official ruling was perhaps an error, then Miller may very well have been credited with a no-hitter. Again I am not "official" but I am pretty sure the Panthers did not get any other hits and if they ever reached second base, I don't recall it. Miller had six strikeouts through the first three innings, so my guess is that he finished with between eight and ten.
His teammates backed him up with some solid play in the outfield including a pair of impressive catches by Tyler Smith in center and Jackson Shover in left. In each case, it momentarily looked as if they had misjudged the ball but they made the necessary adjustment and hauled in the catch. Ridge Stokes also had 2 or 3 nice deep throws across the diamond from the hot corner to nail Panther runners.
On offense, the Big Red touched starter Seth Comer for single runs in the second, third and fourth innings, and then added an insurance tally in the seventh against his replacement Ryan Cave. In all four cases, the run scored in essentially the same way. The Gladiators got that all-important lead-off batter on base, aggressively moved him to second with either one or still no outs, and then got the key hit that brought him home. All four Gladiator runs scored from second on gutsy base-running in which an on-target throw might have nailed him.
I am told that Riverheads gets a first-round bye and will not play until the Conference 44 semis, when they will host the William Campbell/Stonewall winner. With Page's overall impressive record, they should receive a high seeding in Conference 35 and perhaps get their own first-round bye.
