April 28 - Rain forced the final three rounds of the tournament to be played on consecutive days, draining pitching staffs and resulting in the highest-scoring championship game in Northern Region Tournament history.
In 1996, Herndon and W.T. Woodson boasted three of the area’s top pitchers, but none were available to start on the mound for the region final at Fairfax High School. The result? A 17-12 win by the Hornets, who blew two leads before finally prevailing for their second consecutive region title.
The Cavaliers that year featured senior Eric Schmitt, who would go on to compile a 23-3 career record at Wake Forest and advance to the Triple A level with the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves systems. The Hornets were anchored on the mound by seniors Blair DeHart - who would pitch at James Madison and then in the San Diego Padres system - as well as Ben Curtis, who would later pitch for Virginia Tech.
But with both teams reaching deep into their pitching staffs, the game quickly became a slugfest. Woodson’s Eric McGrane hit a three-run home run in the first inning to give the Cavaliers the early advantage. Herndon responded by taking leads of 7-3 and 12-7, but a three-run homer by Schmitt in the top of the sixth inning allowed Woodson to pull even, 12-12.
A solo homer in the bottom of the sixth by shortstop Greg Miller, who would later become the Hornets’ coach and is now the director of student activities at Mount Vernon, sparked a five-run bottom half of the sixth for Herndon. Curtis, two days after tossing a complete-game in the quarterfinals against West Springfield, was inserted by Hornets coach Al McCullock after Schmitt’s homer and got the last six outs to improve to 9-0 on the season.
"As a pitcher, I am sitting out in the field [at second base] watching home runs left and right,” Curtis told The Washington Post after the game. “It was frustrating that I could not make a difference until late in the game."
Added Miller, the Hornets’ shortstop who would later play at JMU and in the Braves system: “I remember Schmitt hitting that home run and as he was rounding second, telling me be was coming into the game to pitch. Luckily, his coach didn't let him and Ben went out there and got us the last six outs.”
McGrane would later play with Herndon catcher Mark Rueffert - the Hornets' current coach - and center fielder Tommy Merical at Virginia. Schmitt would earn first-team All-Met honors by The Post after finishing the season 9-2 with a 1.05 ERA and with a .475 batting average, six homers and 32 RBI.
DeHart, who went 4-for-5 with four RBI and hit a two-run homer in the Hornets’ five-run sixth, also earned first-team All-Met honors after finishing 6-2 with a 1.46 ERA and hitting .450 with four homers and 29 RBI. Curtis finished 9-1 with a 1.55 ERA.
Herndon, which improved to 21-2 with the win, would lose to Potomac in the Group AAA state quarterfinals that next week. And the Cavaliers, which fell to 17-7, would fall to eventual state runner-up Gar-Field in the quarterfinals.
