By Betsy Haugh / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Spotsylvania Post 320 was the only team to defeat Albemarle Post 74 multiple times during the regular season. Saturday night, Post 74 was able to avenge those two losses, defeating Spotsylvania by slaughter rule 16-6, earning Albemarle a place in the District 13 Championship game Monday night.
“We really wanted to beat them,” William Monroe standout Logan Forloines said. “Last time we were at their place they got us, and we just wanted to come out tonight and make a statement that we’re the best team there.”
Facing Spotsylvania’s ace, Jonathan Daniels, Albemarle knew they would need a smart approach at the plate in order to find success.
“(Daniels) beat us here earlier in the year in a shortened game – I think it was a six or seven inning game – because of weather,” Post 74 coach Mike Maynard said. “Our approach was to be patient, because we wanted his pitch count up as fast as possible.”
Post 74 made Daniels work from the beginning, as Joey Varaksa hammered a lead-off double and then scored on a hit-and-run, with Eli Haden recording the RBI. Haden scrambled home on a passed ball after advancing to third on one of Forloines’s four walks on the evening.
Danny Morris followed with a walk of his own, advancing to second via a stolen base, and reaching third on a ball in the dirt. Ryan Morris, who went 3-5 on the night with 3 RBI, plated Danny Morris with a single to centerfield, giving Post 74 a 3-0 advantage.
“[Daniels] threw 30-some pitches in the first inning, and I made us try to be patient again in the second inning, and he got ahead of us a little bit, but we had his pitch count up early,” Maynard said. “That’s the approach we talked about before the game.”
The second inning was the only inning in which Post 74 was not able to score. Back-to-back walks to Forloines and Danny Morris got things started for Albemarle again in the bottom of the third. Both runners would score on a bunt from Sheldon Shifflett, as an attempt to throw out the lead runner at third ended up in the outfield. R. Morris blasted an RBI triple in the next at-bat, plating Shifflett.
“I worked on using my legs, been working on it in the cage,” said Ryan Morris. “Just working on driving the ball to the gaps, seeing pitches, keeping my hands back, and working on driving it.”
Ryan Morris scored on a sacrifice fly from David Spinosa to tally the final run of the inning.Post 74 had a 7-0 lead heading into the fourth, but Spotsylvania started to break through. After pitching three hitless innings, Albemarle’s starter, Dillon Via, surrendered his first hit with two outs in the fourth, when Spo tsylvania first-baseman R.W. Payne connected for a double, advancing Cameron Tubbs, who had reached first on a walk, to third. Tubbs took home on a strikeout in the dirt, cutting the score to 7-1.
“I was feeling good,” Via said. “I got a little tired I guess, left a few balls up, made a few mistakes and they took advantage, but the first three innings felt good. We put up a lot of runs for support, and I struggled with a little bit of command on my fastball, but my off-speed stuff was working pretty well today.”
Via picked up the win, allowing four runs in six innings of work.
Post 74 answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, as R. Morris knocked in Haden, picking up his third RBI.
The fourth inning proved to be Daniels’s final inning of work on the evening.
Despite the lead being stretched back to seven runs entering the fifth inning, Spotsylvania was determined not to go down without a fight.
Clay Matthews reached base on a Post 74 fielding error, and with two outs, the Spotsylvania bats came alive again, as back-to-back singles from Travis Payne and Derek Gallello advanced and eventually scored Matthews. A third-straight single from Tubbs allowed Payne to score, cutting the Spotsylvania deficit to five, making the score 8-3.
Unfortunately for Post 320, the Albemarle bats were reluctant to stay quiet, and Post 74 answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Jake Hendrix led off the inning with a single to left field, and advanced to second when Thomas Stallings was hit by a pitch. Haden loaded the bases, reaching first on an error, and another patient approach from Post 74 allowed Hendrix to reach home after a Forloines walk.
A two-RBI single from Danny Morris in the following at-bat plated both Haden and Stallings, stretching the score to 11-3.
Post 320 answered again in the sixth when an infield hit from Nick Lasik drove in Chris Ardiente, reducing the lead to seven runs. Spotsylvania scored their first four runs with two outs.
After flirting with stretching the lead to the necessary ten runs in order to shorten the game by slaughter rule, Post 74 had an explosive sixth inning to propel themselves over the hump. With one runner already plated in the inning, Foloines blasted a three-run home run to give Post 74 a 15-4 advantage.
“I was waiting for a fastball, and I got it, and I put a good swing on it,” Forloines said.
The catcher went 1-1 on the night, with the homerun and four walks. Danny Morris followed up Forloines’s blast with a solo shot of his own, upping his team’s lead to 12.
But in a game where both sides consistently traded runs, Spotsylvania mounted one last attack. Gallello led off the inning with a single, and Tubbs hammered a double to put runners on second and third. With one out, Trevor Talley hit a sacrifice fly to plate Gallello. Ardiente kept the inning alive with an RBI single, pulling Spotsylvania within one run of avoiding the slaughter rule
Despite the rally and momentum swing for Spotsylvania, reliever Chris Madison was able to seal the deal for Post 74 in the next at-bat, striking out Post 320’s final batter, giving Albemarle a 16-6 victory.
Albemarle High School will be the site of a double-header of tournament games Sunday, with Staunton and King George opening play in an elimination game. Spotsylvania will await the winner for a 5pm start.
Post 74 will have Sunday off and will face the winner of Sunday’s second matchup at 7pm Monday. Albemarle needs only one win to advance to the state tournament. For any team to knock them out, Post 74 has to be beaten on Monday and then again on Tuesday.
