Delahaba, Kramer Lead Spartans To Semi's
ASHBURN, VA - The #1 ranked softball team in Virginia continued its march toward the state championship on Tuesday in the state quarterfinals at home against Poquoson. Broad Run entered the game 26-0 after winning the Regional Championship last Friday night against Turner Ashby. The Spartans, who are comprised of mainly juniors and sophomores, were looking to erase the memory of last season's state quarterfinal loss with a win at home in front of friends and family.
Broad Run's Caitlyn Delahaba took the mound for her 26th start of the season with a perfect 25-0 record leading up to the game against the Highlanders. Delahaba started the game in a similar fashion as she did on Friday night, striking out 8 consecutive hitters at one point to help keep the game scoreless. Poquoson pitcher Sara Evans also pitched well and kept the Spartan hitters from doing any damage through 4 innings.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Spartans sent Ashley Kramer to the plate with two outs on the scoreboard. Kramer, who had ripped a fastball the last time up for a single, proceeded to hit another screamer past Evans on the mound for her second hit of the night. Kramer then advanced to second base on a fielder's choice play that kept the inning alive. That brought Broad Run's most clutch hitter, Karla Powell to the plate. And like so many times this season, Powell delivered again, crushing a 1-2 fastball to left field for a single, scoring Kramer scored easily. The Spartans added two more runs on a Haley Johnson double to the left centerfield fence to extend the lead to 3-0.
Scoring 3 runs on Caitlyn Delahaba has proven difficult for 25 opponents this year, much less doing it in one inning to keep your season alive. The Highlanders were able to get runners on base, but Delahaba and crew put the fire out quickly, and Broad Run won the game 3-0 to advance to the state semifinals on Friday.
Delahaba was dynamic once again, striking out 15 Poquoson hitters and only allowing 2 hits. In her last two appearances on the mound, she has struck out a total of 32 hitters and only given up 1 run. Her performance tonight was no surprise to her head coach Ed Steele.
"We're 27-0 because Caitlyn Delahaba is the best pitcher in Virginia. You see it night after night. Tonight's performance is a typical one for her, but considering the competition is getting better and better, it gets magnified. I truly believe she is the best softball player in the state of Virginia."
The win was sweet for Steele too, who was honored earlier on Tuesday by receiving the Washington Post's Morgan Wooten Award, given to the best coach in the Washington DC Metro Region. Steele has won championships in his tenure at Broad Run, but he may have done his best coaching in the past two years with this young Spartan squad. Broad Run has won the last 53 of 54 games they have played. Steele will take this group of Spartans to Radford for the first time this weekend, something he isn't worried about too much.
"You still play them one game at a time, these kids are all veteran tournament players, so I don't expect anything different from them," Steele said. "We are going to focus on the game, the hitting and the pitching, and I think it will work out best for us if we do that."
Delahaba (15K's) and Kramer (2 for 3, 1 Run) were both named the game's Chick-fil-A Players of the Game with their performances on Tuesday night. Delahaba also received one of the greatest honors given out to a high school athlete in the state. Coach Ed Steele informed her right after the win that she had been named the Gatorade High School Softball Player of the Year in Virginia. Steele had received the notification shortly before the game via a Fedex delivery, but decided to wait until after the game to tell his star player. Delahaba was speechless when asked about the award on the air.
"I was shocked, I don't know what to say about it, I'm honored," she said. "I was reading the document Coach gave me after the game, I couldn't believe it."
This Spartan squad has provided some amazing statistics in their last two seasons, but as Kramer said on the post-game show, anything short of a state title will be a disappointment for this team.
"We fell short last year of our goal, so we are excited about winning tonight, but we want to win the state championship," Kramer said. "That is what we are shooting for."
Broad Run will either play at 10am or 1pm on Friday in the semifinals at Radford University, and if they win, they will play at 12:00pm for the state championship on Saturday. TCC Sports will broadcast the Spartan's run toward a state title on Friday and then again on Saturday if they advance right here online at GamedayMagazine.com. Stay tuned for more news on radio coverage in the coming days.
