The entire game was, oddly enough, defined by just one inning. That’s how good the pitching was for both Miller and Atlantic Shores on Saturday in the Division 2 championship game.
The entire balance swung in both directions during the fifth inning. When the dust settled and business resumed in the sixth and seventh, it was Miller dog-piling in front of the mound. After four trips to Colonial Heights in as many years, the Mavericks finally got their championship with their 6-0 win over the Seahawks.
“We got out of that jam and then guys got a couple of hits,” Wagner said. “It just kind of snowballs. It’s indicative of us playing aggressive and just push, push, push. Make them make some mistakes. The guys just kept playing.”
Miller’s Ethan Murray and Shores’ Reid Celata had themselves an old fashioned pitchers’ duel through the first four innings. Celata did his finest work in the first getting out of a quandary with a pair of runners in scoring position unharmed. Murray saved his magic for the fifth inning.
After a Jason Smith single started the top of the fifth, an error and single from Tanner James put runners on the corners with nobody out. Something was going to happen in this scoreless game, one way or the other. It turned out to be the other with Murray snagging a comebacker to the mound and catching Smith in a run down that was finished with a Will Wagner tag at third base.
“Coach Wagner came out and said ‘try and make your defense work for you, do your job and get a ground ball,’” Murray said. “I did my best. I thought it was going to be a base hit and I threw my glove at it and caught and went to Will and (we got) an out.”
Then Murray picked up a pair of strikeouts to end the threat and bring Miller into the dugout absolutely charged up.
The Mavericks wasted little time capitalizing on the swing of emotion. Jeremy Wagner led the bottom of the fifth off with a single. Then Jack Marshall reached on an error that plated Wagner and put him on third. Tanner Morris then got hit by a pitch and two batters later, Will Wagner delivered a 2-run double to break things open at 3-0.
“I was a little out in front, hit it off the end but got a good hop off the bag or grass to get it fair,” Wagner said. “We scored two runs and kept going after that. I have to give my brother props because he got the whole inning started so it was awesome.”
But the scoring spree wasn’t over. An RBI double from Murray scored Wagner. Carson Atkins followed up with a walk, An RBI single from pinch hitter Paul Johnson plated Murray. Finally Jeremy Wagner came back up and reached on an error to score Atkins.
And so just like that, the Seahawks went from surely scoring their first run in the top of the fifth to suddenly trailing 6-0 as they went into the sixth. For Murray, it was more fuel to the fire.
“After that I had more confidence, confidence in my defense and that I’d throw strikes,” Murray said. “Six outs, that was what it was and we just had to work through it.”
In the sixth and seventh, Murray picked up two more of his eight strikeouts, one of which was the game ending out with runners on first and second with two outs after a pair of errors. Murray’s enthusiasm brought on a celebration between the mound and home plate. For the senior Maverick captains like Jackson Barrett and Will Wagner, the story of the one that got away was finally over.
“I was honestly anticipating a dog pile but that was one of the most painful experiences ever even though it was full of joy,” Murray said. “It hurt, a lot. I don’t know how to describe it. It was unreal.”
For the Mavericks, Jeremy Wagner was 2-for-3. Will Wagner, Ethan Murray and Adam Hackenberg were each 1-for-4. Tanner Morris was 1-for-3.
The Mavericks graduate five seniors including Morris, Barrett, Johnson, Jamal Litzenberger and Will Wagner. With Murray, Hackenberg, Atkins, Stu Barrett and many others returning, the future remains bright, just as it did after back-to-back runner up showings in 2014 and 2015.
“I expect them to keep competing for a state title, next year and year in and year out after that,” Morris said. “I think Miller has built something here where state championship contenders are a yearly thing.”
But more than anything, this title meant something because this program has been on the other side of the equation, twice. Without the bitter, the sweet isn’t so sweet.
“To get there and lose… it’s good to be humble,” Bill Wagner said. “I would have loved to have won it with those other teams with Jack Morris and Mike Dailey, but their leadership carried us into today with Will and Jackson and you have to thank them for that. So I think to have the opportunity to win this with my boys, these boys, it’s priceless.”
