Liberty Christian Academy swept the Seminole District’s highest honors Monday with the release of all-district teams.
Senior catcher Wes Clarke, who has belted 14 home runs in 17 games and is currently hitting a red-hot .574, took home Player of the Year.
Junior pitcher Christian Gordon earned district Pitcher of the Year. He is 6-0 headed into Wednesday’s Region 4D quarterfinal and sports a 0.78 ERA in nine appearances (eight starts).
And LCA coach Randy Tomlin was named Coach of the Year. After leading the Bulldogs to victory in the Class 4 state championship last June, Tomlin has his team standing at 17-0.
Region 4D tennis
A few tennis teams across the area didn’t need long to advance in the postseason on Monday, as several high school region tournaments got underway.
The Jefferson Forest boys cruised to a 5-0 win over visiting LCA in the Region 4D quarterfinals, getting singles victories from Jacob Hannell, Trent Johnson, Jordan Lumpkin, Jeff Scott and Daniel Burger at Nos. 2 through 6. At No. 1 singles, Robbie Hall did not need to complete his match against Bulldogs’ Peter Helm since JF already had wrapped up the win.
Third-seeded JF (12-2) now plays No. 2 Blacksburg on Wednesday.
Also in 4D, the top-seeded E.C. Glass boys took down No. 8 Salem with ease, 5-0. The Hilltoppers (14-1) now play the winner of Bassett/Charlottesville on Wednesday. The Glass girls (15-2), seeded second in the region, also won 5-0 over No. 7 Pulaski on Monday.
That victory set up a date with No. 3 seed LCA (13-2) in the semifinal round Wednesday afternoon.
LCA defeated visiting No. 6 Jefferson Forest (11-6) 6-3 on Monday. The Bulldogs received singles victories from Ella Anderson at No. 2, Shayla Hoover at No. 4, Karsen Burgess at No. 5 and Hannah Mills at No. 6.
LCA then won Nos. 2 and 3 doubles with teams of Violet Gordon and Burgess and Hoover and Mills, respectively.
JF received singles victories from Lauren Pascadlo at No. 1 and Jamie Smoot at No. 3. Pascadlo teamed up with Kelsey Sewell for JF’s doubles win.
Region 3C tennis
In the first round of the Region 3C tourney, the Heritage boys defeated visiting Liberty 5-1. The Pioneers were backed by Ani Venkanagari (No. 2), Brian Coleman (No. 3), Eduardo Rivera (No. 4) Tyler Coleman (No. 5) and Charlie Smallshaw (No. 6). Zach Key had the lone Liberty win at No. 1.
VES’ O’Brien heads to Nationals
Virginia Episcopal sophomore Daniel O’Brien captured two championships by winning the 1,600 and 3,200 runs at the Virginia Independent Schools Division II Championships on Saturday, a feat that gave him six state titles (cross country and track combined) in what is already an illustrious prep career.
In June, the distance runner will head to the campus of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the New Balance Nationals Outdoor.