Orange Post 156 would have much preferred to not have Friday off. While the rest is welcome, the result, an 11-5 in Thursday’s contest against Staunton Post 13 put them in the loser’s bracket awaiting an opponent for Saturday.
156’s pitching wasn’t much to complain about, it’s offense wasn’t either. But a pair of innings during which the team committed one error after another, often during the same play, has team frustrated.
“It’s the first time we’ve kicked the ball around the field in four weeks,” said coach Brian Rasnick. “It looked like a high school team the way we played defense and was really frustrating. Anytime they put pressure on us it was mistake after mistake. The guys are disgusted by it, we coaches are disgusted by it. It’s just frustrating to play such good defense for the previous three weeks and then kick it around so much in the manner we did.”
Post 156 got off to a reasonable start on the road by taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an leadoff single from Jesse Getchel, a walk to Andrew Kalis and two RBIs respectively driven in by Tres Winkler on a single and Trey Maupin when he reached base on an error.
That top of the first was the highlight for Orange though as Staunton seized momentum by plating a run in the bottom of the first and then taking a 3-2 lead in the third.
The bottom of the fourth was the story though, as Staunton jumped out to a 7-run lead thanks to six hits sandwiched in between four errors.
“We’ve struggled a lot being young for the most part so it was huge for us to get ahead,” said Staunton coach Mark Patterson. “We got some timely hits and then they kicked the ball around a good bit too. We’re excited to be in the winner’s bracket and a tough task ahead.
The relief pitching effort lead by Cameron Pickett was able to put a finger in the damn for three innings, and back-to-back double from Kalis and Snooter Merryman made it a 9-3 game. The bottom fell out for Orange in the bottom of the eighth after Pitckett left though.
Once again, Staunton took advantage of a multiple error inning to extend its lead to eight thanks to a leadoff error, a single from Taylor Davis and a pair of throwing errors.
With three outs left, Orange did some damage in the top of the ninth on a pair of walks, a 1-out 2-run single from Trey Maupin, but that was not enough as Staunton collected the last two outs needed in the next three at bats.
Staunton will face top seeded Albemarle today at Albemarle at 7 p.m. and hopes that the trick they have up their sleeve paired with a first round win in a double elimination tournament will bode them well.
“Albemarle’s a power house but we’ve got a good pitcher that they haven’t seen yet.” Patterson said. “I told (the team) after the game, we’re going to have to play our best to win that game, but if we lose tomorrow night, we’re still in it. This is a good group of kids, we’ve got 14 here and we’re missing a few but so is everybody else and these kids we have will play hard.”
Leadoff hitter Kyle Armstrong had particularly strong performances for Staunton. Armstrong, an All-Group A player from Riverheads was 3 for 5 with three runs scored. Post 13 saw great balance offensively though as seven different batters drove in a run.
By virtue of finishing fifth, Orange gets a day of and awaits an opponent for their second round game which will be played Saturday at 4 p.m. at Albemarle.
No matter who they face, Fluvanna Post 2003 or King George Post 89, Post 156 will play a team it has beaten before during the regular season and Rasnick hopes that his team will be able to rebound.
“We’re going to play somebody we beat back when we were playing well,” Rasnick said. “I’ve got my three and four best arms left based on (availability) and rest.”
