For one inning, every single person executed their job and for that very reason, Covenant is headed back to the VISAA Division 2 championship game. The Eagles trailed top seeded Atlantic Shores heading into the top of the seventh and needed a run to keep the game alive. They got three and then shut the door on the Seahawks in the bottom half of the inning instead to win 5-3.
“Boy did we have a lot of heroes in this one,” said Covenant coach Doug Smethurst. “Scoring three runs in the top of the seventh is really just a storybook ending.”
With their backs against the wall, the Eagles planned to bunt Brady Doyle to start the inning off. However, Doyle informed Smethurst that he had gotten first pitch fastballs in his previous two at bats and so he was allowed to swing away. Sure enough Doyle got what he wanted and then singled right up the middle of the field.
Next Jesse Getchel moved Doyle over on a sacrifice bunt. That set the table for Sean Rutherford who tied the game up on a hard hit double.
“We were pumped up and we were not going to go down easy,” Rutherford said. “It all started with Brady’s big hit and Jesse was able to get his bunt down and we just moved from there. It was a little bit of a downer being down in the seventh, but once we tied it we knew we could do this.”
In the very next at bat Sam Patterson brought Rutherford home on a single. Then a wild sequence of throwing errors allowed Patterson to work his way home.
“I tried to block everything out and pretend like it was a regular at bat,” Patterson said. “I got a pitch that I could handle and it just worked out for us after that. I tried to steal third and they didn’t exactly make a great throw and so we were able to get that extra run.”
That was all that starter Lee Coppock needed. The senior righty had given up just six hits in the previous six innings. In the seventh he hit each batter with a first pitch strike and was able to get an excellent play on a ground ball hit to third baseman Clark Crutchfield for the first out and pop out the next two batters to center and short to wrap up the win.
“Lee lost it there for a bit but the neat thing about a senior like him is that he was able to figure it out,” Smethurst said. “His changeup won the game today. That’s a team that was 27-8 and a great hitting team. Lee did a great job of bending and not breaking.”
Coppock only found himself in trouble twice, during the third and fifth innings, but escaped relative unharmed. In the third the top of order for Atlantic shores was able to come up with three straight singles to make it a 2-1 game with Covenant still out in front. The Seahawks took the lead 3-2 in the fifth after a pair of walks and an RBI double from Jordan Sergent.
“That’s such a good hitting team that the only way to work against them is to get ahead in the count,” Coppock said. “Once you walk a few guys they start pouring them in. They really work off of momentum. If you can get a few outs here and there you’re in good shape, but it was really about getting ahead so that you had the momentum, not them.”
That’s just what he did after Shores took the lead. Coppock locked in and located his pitches, retiring the last seven batters he faced as his defense played an error free game behind him. Almost most importantly though, Coppock was able to throw the complete game as the Eagles are on very short rest.
“I really enjoy pitching the entire game where it’s mine and I’m in control,” Coppock said. “I think that helps the team as much as possible as we saved the other arms so they can pitch tomorrow.”
Covenant picked up its first two runs thanks to errors in both the second and third inning. A walk to Ethan Taylor turned into a 1-0 lead after Brian Pollard was hit by a pitch and Doyle reached base on a throwing error.
The next inning, Rutherford lead off with a single, advanced on a ground out and then plated as Coppock reached base on a throwing error as well.
For Covenant, Rutherford was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Patterson went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored. Taylor went 1 for 2 and Doyle was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Eagles (22-5) play Christchurch in Petersburg Saturday morning at 11 a.m. in Colonial Heights for the state title. It’s also graduation day for the Class of 2011 and just one year ago they were in the very same spot. Now their back playing their last high school game on the last day they will be students at the school.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Rutherford said. “We need to get some rest because we’re a little tired. We’re going to find a way to get it done tomorrow.”
It will be Covenant’s third game in as many days.
