The unique combination of joy, anxiety and stoicism that early June can provide for high school baseball teams lucky enough to still playing is represented well by what West Springfield coach Jason Olms told his team after they won the Class 6 Region C title.
“Enjoy it for 24 hours,” Olms said after the Spartans beat Lake Braddock 7-1.
It was a momentous, impressive win for West Springfield, who had lost to the Bruins three times already this season. Senior Calvin Pastel pitched a complete game and added a two-run home run in the third inning. But on Tuesday afternoon the team will be playing the new biggest game of their season: a state quarterfinal meeting with Chantilly. So the celebration had to be measured and quick.
“Chantilly is always one of the best coached teams in the area and that’s going to win you a lot of games this time of year,” Olms said. “We need to go out and take that game because they’re not going to give it to us.”
Elsewhere in the Class 6 bracket, Battlefield will face Lake Braddock after they beat Chantilly in the Region D championship. The Bobcats battled back from an early deficit and used a five-run sixth inning to secure a 7-4 win. Junior Carter Cunningham went three for three, including a big triple in the sixth.
“They’re a resilient group,” Coach Jay Burkhart said. “That was a tough week. A grind. We’re just crossing things off our goal list.”
Riverside is out after Fauquier held off their seventh-inning rally in an 8-6 win. The Falcons went on to beat Woodgrove in the regional title game. As the regional runner-up, Woodgrove will face Salem in the Class 4 quarterfinals.
In the Class 5 bracket, Region C champs Freedom-South Riding, winners of their last 11 games, will face Halifax County on Tuesday night. They will face the winner of Potomac versus Briar Woods. The Panthers earned their spot at states with a regional semifinal win over Albermale and then beat Halifax 4-2 for the title.
“We were obviously excited to win, but they understand there’s bigger fish to fry,” coach Mike Covington said.
That bigger fish is Briar Woods, whom they meet in the quarterfinals for a second consecutive year. They will likely face Wilson Ayers, the Falcons’ ace, for the second year in a row. Last year, Ayers struck out 10 in a complete game to end Potomac’s season. But Covington is hoping his team can access another gear to keep their season alive.
“We haven’t played our ‘A’ game yet this season,” he said. “And this is certainly a big hill to climb.”