McLean and Oakton each won championships, Centreville will play for one tonight, and the top two teams in our Top 10 will square off for the right to play in another Spring Break tournament final later today.
No. 1 Madison (5-0) and No. 2 Battlefield (6-0) swept their three pool play games at the Mingo Bay Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., earlier in the week and will meet in the semifinals at Socastee High School tonight at 7 p.m. Narbonne (CA) will meet Spring Valley (W.V.) in the other semifinal, held at 4 p.m. at the same location.
Robinson (5-1) also swept its three pool play games at the event, and will play Virginia High School from Bristol in the Danny Isaac Bracket consolation championship game. South County (3-3), Forest Park and No. 7 West Springfield (4-2) each won two of their three games as Northern Virginia schools in the tournament’s ‘A’ bracket went a combined 15-3 in the pool play round.
“It’s great,” Madison coach Mark “Pudge” Gjormand said of the success of local teams at the event. “I think Northern Virginia, really the state of Virginia, has played great baseball for a long time. And it’s a testament to how hard guys work up in our area. It doesn’t come as a surprise to me.”
The Warhawks will send junior Pete Nielsen to the mound tonight against Bobcats sophomore Austin Landrum, who has thrown just one inning this season but is part of a young Battlefield nucleus.
“It’s a good matchup, a good test this early in the season,” Battlefield coach Jay Burkhart said. “The biggest thing is for us to just go out there and play the game, don’t try to be something we’re not and do what has made us successful.”
The Bobcats did that in coming from behind to beat Myrtle Beach (S.C.), 8-5, slipping past an East Clarendon (S.C.) team that is ranked No. 3 in the state’s Class A coaches poll, 7-6, and posting their fourth shutout of the season in a 10-0 win over traditional West Virginia power Nitro. Junior Jake Agnos threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts in Wednesday’s win over Nitro, and has 30 strikeouts in 15 innings of work this season.
The Warhawks are no strangers to making deep runs in spring break play under Gjormand, having won the Mingo Bay event in 2013 and the Orlando National Classic in 2012, as well as the Hanihan Invitational Tournament in Charleston, S.C., in 2006. Madison played Narbonne in the quarterfinals in Orlando in 2012, winning 7-6 in 11 innings.
“The goal every spring break is simply to get better,” Gjormand said. “I think we’ve accomplished that already. Playing Battlefield in the big picture doesn’t mean a whole lot come mat, but playing them tonight will be fun and I think kids are looking forward to it.”
A few hours down the South Carolina coast, Centreville (4-1) won its first three games to advance to tonight’s Seahawk Invitational championship game against the host, Hilton Head. In Wednesday’s semifinals, the Wildcats defeated South Lakes (3-2), 9-6, behind three hits and three RBI by senior Nate Nguyen and senior pitcher Matthew Blaise, who struck out six over four innings.
“Our bats have warmed up and we have been able to piece hits together down here,” Findley said. “Winning the tournament would be nice, but we haven’t really even talked about it. It’s just game No. 6 of 20. This has been a good bonding experience for our team so far.”
Centreville’s win gave Findley a win over first-year South Lakes coach Morgan Spencer, who hired Findley as the Wildcats’ junior varsity coach while serving as Centreville’s coach from 2007-12.
Locally, No. 8 Oakton (4-0) defeated No. 4 Stone Bridge (4-1), 15-5 in the championship game of the Bulldog/Titan Classic on Tuesday after defeating No. 3 Lake Braddock (5-1), 7-5, the previous day. And McLean defeated Mountain View, 12-4, in the Eddie Hope/Let’s Play Two Tournament hosted in Prince William County. Highlanders sophomore outfielder Matt Collins was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
The Cougars were paced on in Tuesday’s final by junior shortstop Joe Rizzo (pictured), who celebrated his 17th birthday by hitting a Grand Slam, doubled twice and walked twice while driving in five runs, and senior first baseman Cooper Mitchell, who doubled, tripled and drove in four runs. Senior right-hander Connor Jones threw four scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season and added three hits.
“It was good to play three quality teams,” said Oakton coach Justin Janis. “Those are the type of games we hope help us in the long run.”
Photo courtesy of Jane Davis
