By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Monticello’s baseball team held a four-run lead after six innings in Monday night’s 3A West quarterfinal, but visiting William Byrd would not go quietly in the seventh.
“I [put on] two guys early in the seventh, and that came back to bite me,” said Monticello senior Robbie Deane, who took the mound to start the sixth and had retired the bottom of the Terriers’ order in five pitches.
After number-three hitter Cody Carawan singled in a run and setup runners on the corners with no outs, cleanup man Will Culicerto hammered a 1-1 pitch over the left field fence.
“That kid hit a bomb,” Deane said. “All credit goes to him; he killed that ball.”
The ballgame was tied at 7, but the home dugout did not panic.
“The beauty of the situation is we had an opportunity to hit in the bottom of the seventh, and I knew who was leading off, so I was very confident with leaving him in there,” said Monticello coach Corey Hunt. “Robbie’s a senior, veteran player. He deserves to be in that spot. He knows to stay calm and under control.”
After a walk and sacrifice, Deane settled and escaped the frame with no further damage thanks to back-to-back grounders to Reid Huffman at second, who had moved in from left field in the sixth. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Deane promptly doubled to right field leading off for the top of the Mustangs’ order.
With one out, Byrd issued an intentional pass to Jack Decker to setup force outs at all three bases; however, Ben Belcher, in his third inning of relief, then plunked Jonathan Heuchert to load the bases for senior Caleb Archer. With the infield in, Archer looked at a pair of called strikes before delivering a grounder toward first, fielded by the first baseman diving across the line. The umpire behind first signaled fair, much to the dismay of the Terrier dugout, as Deane raced from third, beating the throw home to secure an 8-7 victory and advance in the 3A West bracket.
“When he threw that pitch, I just waited back and hit it,” said Archer, who got the start at first after fellow senior infielder John Page departed for basic training after graduation over the weekend. “The thing I like about our team is we never give up and we always fight until the last inning. John was a big part of our team; he’s going to do something really good for this country, and we just want to do this for him.”
Junior Carter Lee got the start for Monticello and went five innings, scattering seven hits and allowing three runs. In the first, Byrd’s Donny Lewis tripled and scored on a groundout to shortstop. In the fourth, designated hitter Dylan Spradlin drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third as the Terriers played small ball with a bunt and flyout. Starting pitcher Reed Cooper singled him home to open a 2-1 lead for Byrd. Lewis led off the fifth with a single, stole second, and scored the Terriers’ third run on Spradlin’s single to right by sliding around and under a tag at the plate.
Monticello scored on a solo home run by Tre Dudley in the first. Although Byrd starter Reed Cooper struggled with location, missing high and away as he often wiped his hand in the high humidity and intermittent drizzle, he did not allow a hit over the next three innings. The Mustangs left the bases loaded after three walks in the second and stranded two more in the third. Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Monticello finally broke through as Heuchert led off and reached first on a fielding error at shortstop. Archer and Kyle Jarrell followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases before sophomore third baseman Ben Riley roped a two-RBI single to center. A fielding misplay allowed a third run to score and Riley to reach third. Next, Huffman swung at strike three, but a passed ball allowed Riley to score from third.
Cooper gave way to Ben Belcher after 4.1 innings having allowed just five hits, but also six walks and two wild pitches, resulting in five runs. Monticello would extend its lead to 7-3 in the sixth inning with a two-out rally starting with Jarrell being hit by a pitch. Riley singled to right before Huffman drove in Jarrell with a single through the right side. The Mustangs manufactured one more run as Huffman stole second and drew a throw, allowing Riley to take home.
Monticello (17-7) will face Christiansburg on Wednesday night in a 3A West semifinal.
