LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor
Broad Run 2, Orange County 1
The Spartans rang up a fourth straight Region II title behind the pitching of senior Judy Betz, timely hitting and fielding by junior Anna Blessing and a pair of close plays at the plate.
Betz scattered four hits while striking out nine with no walks and one hit batter and held Orange to just a lone run in th top of the seventh inning.
Broad Run managed just two hits off a pair of Fighting Hornets pitchers, senior Heather Jenkins and sophomore Micalah Sacre but the Spartans manufactured a run in the first inning with junior Jenn Soroka getting brushed with a pitch to take first and then she moved into scoring position when senior Reagan Doiron reached on a catcher’s interference. Blessing followed with a single through the left side of the infield and Soroka arrived at the plate just prior to the throw, but Orange catcher junior Amanda Pritchett had it blocked and Soroka went tumbling over the catcher’s left leg and just nicked the plate with her knee as she went sprawling in the dirt. Doiron was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play to end the threat with it 1-0 BR.
In the bottom of the third, Broad Run added another run with senior Megan Waterman reached on an infield single to second base that senior Megan Roberts did a great job of knocking the ball down to keep it in the infield. Dulles District Player of the Year Haley Johnson, the senior catcher who called a great game for Betz Saturday, followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Waterman to second. Waterman then took third on a passed ball.
Sophomore Maggie Betz then hit a grounder to senior Christina Spencer at third and she fired to fist to get Betz out while Waterman briefly held. As soon as the throw left Spencer’s hand, Waterman was headed home and she must have taken note on Soroka’s play at the plate as Waterman did a nifty head first slide around the catcher and snuck her left hand across the plate for what would turn out to be the game winner.
In the other four innings the Spartans managed just one baserunner and that came on an error. Sacre in particular, coming in relief for the final three innings, was overpowering with seven strikeouts in 10 batters faced.
Betz worked out of trouble in the first inning after back-to-back hard hits by Sacre and Pritchett with one away. Betz was able to get clean-up hitter Jenkins to hit into a fielder’s choice at second base and then with runners at the corners, she struck out a hitter to end the inning.
In the top of the second, Orange put the leadoff hitter on but Johnson fired down after a pitch and caught the runner a foot too far off of first base.
From that point, Betz was in a groove with 13 straight outs recorded before she plunked Spencer in the ribs with one out in the sixth. Another good fielding play erased the baserunner as Blessing cauight a fly in shallow center and rifled a throw to first base to catch the runner for an inning-ending double play.
Pritchett doubled to start the seventh and a pair of groundouts brought her across the plate to make it 2-1. Maggie Betz then made a nice play at third base on a grounder down the line to clinch the victory.
Loudoun Valley 3, Battlefield 2
It must seem like to the Battlefield and Loudoun Valley softball players that they are facing each other every week of the season and there is always something big on the line as Valley edged Battlefield, 3-2, in the fifth meeting between the two teams, including third time since the end of the regular season.
The Vikes had fallen to the Bobcats in a one-game playoff to decided the Cedar Run District top seed after the two teams split in the regular season and then beat Valley in the Cedar Run District title game but the Vikes, playing less than 16 hours after arrving home at 2:30 a.m. from a long bus trip from Rocky Mount after a Friday night 5-1 semifinal victory over Franklin County, turned the tables Saturday in a game that came down to the final out as Battlefield had the tying run at third base.
Ashleigh Miller openned up Valley ‘s first scoring rally with a double to left-center field Jamie Crisp moved Miller into scoring position, allowing Amanda Horton to get the RBI with a solid hit.
Valley scored again in the fourth inning, pitcher Caroline Williams getting a hit, with courtesy runner Christy Haney taking over on the basepaths for the senior. Crisp bunted but Haney was thrown out on the fielder’s choice.
Katlyn Latka got Miller home for her second run in the game with a shot to center. Miller did a nice job of getting around Battlefield’s catcher blocking the plate on the play at home.
In the sixth inning, Williams got another hit, and hotter-then-hot Miller laid down a made a sacrafice bunt to put a runner in scoring position. DH Crisp clocked a double that might have been a home run on most fields that made it 3-0.
Defensively for Valley, Hayley Grabner and Latka had six putouts in the outfield with Grabner making a diving catch that was a show stopper, and Latka ran down two shots to right that quieted the Battlefield home crowd.
Second baseman Horton snagged a line drive and snared a lead runner at during a key moment.
Battlefield had some nice hits, and fougth until the end.
In the bottom of the seventh, Battlefield had the tying run on third, but the JMU-bound Williams kept her cool. Battlefield’s Co-Pither of the Year for the district, Brittani Black hit a ball back to the mound, where Williams, the other co-Pitcher of the Year, made a high throw that was saved by Jeanne Cahan at first with a tough-to-make tag.
The final outcome was in doubt until an umpire conference ruled Black out and thus ended Battlefield’s 2-year unbeaten streak at home and Loudoun Valey was crowned Northwest Region champion.
Now Battlefield and Valley are just two wins away from a potential sixth meeting in the AAA state title game.
Processing your request, Please wait....
