With Powhatan topping Fluvanna County earlier in the day in that Jefferson District semifinal, the table was set for Monticello and Louisa County. A Region II berth was on the line for the third meeting between Lions and Mustangs. Louisa took the first two contests by a total of two runs. Tuesday night the weather cut the contest short, but with just under six innings in the book, Monticello was able to execute its small ball approach one inning after another to earn a 5-0 win and extend its season.
“Tonight one guy stepped up and got on base, the next guy stepped up and moved him over and then someone stepped up to drive him in,” said Mustangs coach Corey Hunt. “It was an absolute team effort here. We had guys sacrificing for this team and that’s where you get the benefit back because we came through with the 2-out hits.”
When the Monticello needed a sacrifice bunt, it got just that. When runners reached in scoring position, they came through with the hit they needed. Conversely, the Lions put eight runners in scoring position, but could not plate any of them. Louisa never got the chance to work through all 21 of its outs, instead they were forced to settle with the result on the first 15 with severe weather curtailing the game in the bottom of the sixth with one out.
Monticello drew first blood in the top of the second thanks to a leadoff single from Sam Patterson. After the senior stole second, he crossed the plated thanks to a 2-out double from Will Decker. The next inning Devon Dickerson was nicked by a pitch. After Max Mann reached first on an error, Josh Malm dropped a sacrifice bunt. Connor Lilley sent a ball to the middle of the field to earn an RBI groundout and make it 2-0.
In the fourth inning, Dickerson provided the biggest hit of the game. A Kyle Jacobson single and Alex McNair getting struck by a pitch started the fourth. Decker then put down a bunt to put both runners in scoring position. Two batters later, Dickerson delivered a 2-run double to right field.
“Really I just wanted to prove to everyone what I’m capable of,” Dickerson said. “I’ve been gone for two weeks because of a concussion. I haven’t had a chance to play much since then, so I wanted to show that I’m still here. It feels great. I love the way the team came together to get this W.”
In the fifth, a walk to Malm, another sacrifice bunt from Lilley set Monticello up again. Jacobson came through with a 2-out single to increase the lead to 5-0.
For Louisa, the game began well with Jacob Connley coming up with a leadoff single, but he was unable to move from second base. The next inning another leadoff single from Jarrett Talley and Kevin Kronander reaching base on an error put the Lions in prime position, but a botched bunt, fielder’s choice and groundout got Monticello out of the jam. In the third, an error and walk with two outs put runners on first and second again for Louisa, but an infield fly cut that inning short. In the bottom of fifth with the game at 5-0, Louisa had its best chance, loading the bases with one out on a single from Alex Fletcher sandwiched in between a pair of walks. However, once again the Mustangs defense came through with a line-drive out to Mann and unassisted groundout to first baseman Frank Saxton.
“I tried to keep my composure and get ahead of as many batters as I could,” said Jacobson, who picked up the complete game shutout on the mound for Monticello. “I knew I had the defense behind me so I pitched for contact. I looked at the chart and saw that I got ahead of 17 (of the 25) batters I faced. And look what happens, we won the game. That’s what matters.”
Weather broke up the game in the bottom of the sixth, an after an hour and a half delay, the decision was made to call the contest.
“You don’t know what might happen with those last five outs, but tonight, Monticello was executing and we weren’t,” said Louisa coach Kevin Fisher. “It was that simple.”
The Lions were the surprise team of the second half of the season, starting out 4-7 overall but rebounding and beating seven of its last nine, all of them JD games to earn a bye in the first round of the tournament.
“I told them after the game that we were 4-7 and we really worked hard to change that,” Fisher said. “They battled back and in the end they had a successful season, so we’re proud of that.”
Monticello earns its second straight Region II bid with the win and plays Powhatan today for the JD championship.
“The guys worked really hard all year to be in this position,” Hunt said. “But I think everyone knows that we started this tournament (not just to earn the Region nod but also) to win it all. We’re not looking past the next game. After tomorrow we’ll move ahead, but we’re still hungry right now.”
Indians roll past Flucos
Fluvanna County came into Tuesday needing a win over Powhatan to extend its season. The Indians took a 1-0 lead early, and a weather delay forced the game to resume play in the second on Wednesday. It did not take long for the regular season champs to get rolling. Thanks to a slew of walks, the Indians rolled out to a 10-run lead. While the Flucos were able to mount a rally to avoid a run-ruling, the damage was simply too much to overcome with Powhatan advancing to the JD finals, 12-3.
“Today was one of those ‘Mama said there would be days like this,’ and today was,” said Fluvanna coach Mike Sheridan. “The one thing is that Powhatan has so much depth, its tough.”
Two walks in the first and an RBI single from Nick Maiolo got Powhatan started. After a quite second, the Indians plated seven runners in the third on four straight walks and an RBI single from Zack Bartlett. With the bases loaded, a hit batter made it 4-0. Colby Franklin then drove in another runner on a groundout to third. Josh Cole finished the rally with a 2-run single.
Powhatan tacked on two more runs in the fourth. That started with a walk, fielder’s choice, another single from Bartlett and 2-run single from Andrew Corbitt.
Fluvanna’s back was against the wall in the bottom of the fifth, down 10-0. The Flucos managed to finally get something going though when Caleb White delivered a 1-out single.
“Caleb, he comes in there in a bad situation and could have had his lip out pouting,” Sheridan said. “Instead, he took advantage of an opportunity with a stroked base hit. That put some life into us and from there we put a rally together. Unfortunately we came up short. We didn’t want to be on this side of the bracket against them, but we were.”
Cody Herndon then drew a walk. Brock Harris brought home White on a single. Herndon and Harris then scored thanks to a 2-run single from Sam Turner.
But Powhatan wasn’t interested in surrendering its lead. The Indians added runs in the sixth and seventh, first on a RBI groundout from Bobby Oglesby and in the next inning on an RBI single from Matt Lyman.
The Indians already picked up its Region II bid with their regular season title. They now play Monticello in the JD title game. Powhatan took both meetings against the Mustangs by a total of two runs.
