Connor Gillispie had his stuff and there wasn’t anything Atlantic Shores could do about it. The Miller junior clocked in at 91 miles an hour on his fastball in the first inning and kept his velocity in the high 80’s up until the end. While he found himself in a bit of trouble in the top of the seventh inning after a pair of defensive miscues, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. With the bases loaded and one out, Gillispie picked up his 10th and 11th strikeouts of the day to finish up his complete game and lead the Mavericks to a 4-0 win in the VISAA Division 2 semifinals.
“He was definitely on his game and you could tell from the start with the way he was confident and commanding the strike zone consistently,” said Miller coach Billy Wagner of Gillispie. “We made enough plays and got enough hits to make his performance hold up. But Connor was the story of this game.”
Gillispie retired the first eight batters he faced and didn’t allow the Seahorses a base runner until the third inning. It wasn’t until the fourth that he gave up a hit. In that fourth he faced his only other jam where the Seahorse advanced a runner to third after a passed ball and a sacrifice bunt. Gillispie earned a pair of routine pop fly balls to escape unharmed.
“(Catcher) Jacob Rich and I talked and decided that we would pound the strike zone, that they weren’t going to be able to catch up to me for the first few innings,” Gillispie said. “That’s exactly what happened. In the fifth, sixth and seventh they caught up a bit so we mixed in the breaking ball and that really worked well.”
Gillispie’s leadoff single in the second inning set up Miller’s first run. Brook Henley singled in the next at bat to put runners at the corners. The Mavericks then executed a successful double steal to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the third, Jack Morris made it a 2-0 game after he drove in Jacob Gavin on an RBI double with two outs.
“The key was staying patient at the plate and not getting through this game too quick,” Wagner said. “We know you can’t come here and throw up 10 runs and spank these teams. You’ve got be able to play in tight ball games and get what you can. Early we had a hit and run backfire but after that we took advantage of a few of their miscues, got a couple of big hits.”
The Mavericks stranded a pair of base runners in scoring position with two outs in the fourth, but picked up the insurance they needed the following inning. It was there that Morris struck again, this time with an RBI triple. In the next at bat Mike Dailey brough Morris home on a sacrifice fly.
In the top of the seventh the Seahorses go back-to-back singles, one of which would have resulted in an out on a routine fly ball but were it not for some missed footing in left field. After Gillispie struck out the next batter he faced, Shores loaded the bases thanks to a well placed infield single. With the tying run at the plate, there was no meeting between Wagner and Gillispie.
“You can’t go out there and hold there hand all the time,” Wagner said. “You want them to learn how to fight through (that adversity). Believe me, I wanted to go out there and talk to him as a coach. But I’ve been coaching him a while and I know him. He’s tough kid. He’s a bulldog. So I trusted him.”
The Mavericks hurler responded by simply finding his stuff again to strike out the next two batters to end the game.
“Coach Wagner has helped me so much and has a lot of trust in me,” Gillispie said. “I just believed in myself and got after it.”
Gillispie gave up just four hits and only allowed five total base runners. In his final start of the season he finished with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
The complete game victory gives Wagner a full arsenal to play with on Saturday in the state championship game with Greenbrier Christian. The Mavericks will have Dailey, Morris and Jacob Rich all on four full days of rest after they combined to pitch the win in the quarterfinals on Tuesday against Christchurch.
This is the second straight time the Mavericks have made the state final. The first pitch between Miller and Greenbrier is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday in Colonial Heights at Shepherd Stadium.
“We’ve been here before,” Wagner said. “Our guys have to want it a little bit more than we did last year. It was their first time here last year. Now we have to come with a purpose. We can’t just be happy to get here.”
