AAA Softball - Valley, Great Bridge Advance
The Lady Vikings celebrate their 2-0 victory over South County on Saturday, and will now face Great Bridge on Sunday for the AAA state title. Great Bridge also won their semi-final game, over Prince George, 2-0.
Photo By Dave Bernhardt \ Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
Loudoun Valley pitcher Caroline Williams bears down on a South County batter during the Viking's 2-0 win on Saturday. Williams allowed a mere 4 hits, and struck out 6 in the game.
Photo By Dave Bernhardt \ Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
The Great Bridge Lady Wildcats storm the field and surround their pitcher, Kaitlynn Szczepanski, who just hit a walk-off, 2-run home run, to seal the 2-0 victory.
Photo By Dave Bernhardt \ Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
CHANTILLY, VA - The AAA State Softball Semifinals finally got off at Westfield high school Saturday, after rains pushed play back a day, and after the dust settled, the Loudoun Valley Vikings, and Great Bridge Wildcats both advanced to the Final game on Sunday, with both teams garning 2-0 victories over their opponents, behind stellar pitching performances. Here's how the two teams took care of their business...
GAME 1: Loudoun Valley 2 - South County 0
In the first game of the state semi-finals it was the Loudoun Valley Lady Vikings getting the best of the South County Lady Stallions 2-0. From the start of the contest it was apparent that both pitchers would be tough to beat in this one. Valley's Caroline Williams took control in the circle, holding the Lady Stallions to just 4 hits in 7 innings. It was also Williams' bat that did the damage, collecting the game winning hit in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Lady Vikings drew a walk to start their half of the 6th inning and then had another runner reach on an error. Into the box stepped Williams who took the offering from Chelsey Dunham to deep center scoring the first runner of the game. Later in the 6th the Lady Vikings would add another run and then retire the Lady Stallions in order to complete the victory. Williams finished the afternoon with 7 IP, 4 hits allowed, 6 strikeouts, and just 1 walk. She also went 2-3 from the batters box to help her cause.
The Lady Stallions suffered just their 2nd loss of 2009 behind the arm of Dunham. For the game Dunham had 7 IP, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, and 3 walks. Both runs scored by the Lady Vikings were unearned against Dunham. Stephanie Sbardella spotlighted the Lady Stallions offensive day, going 2-3 against a very stingy Williams. South County finishes 2009 with a 27-2 record and will start 2010 as the defending Northern Region champions.
GAME 2: Great Bridge 2 - Prince George 0
The nightcap of the state semi-finals turned out to be even better than the first game. Great Bridge came away with the victory on a Kaitlynn Szczepanski 2-run walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 7th inning. It was just the 4th hit of the game for the Lady Wildcats. Szczepanski also threw a magnificent game from the circle, striking out 13 Lady Royals batters in 7 innings. The Lady Royals countered with a pitching gem of their own in Lauren Vinson. Vinson recorded 9 strikeouts in the loss while giving up just the 4 hits; 3 of which were by one player, Jaclyn Paulk. Paulk contributed 2 singles and a triple while going 3-3 in the game.
Paulk collected her third hit of the game to start off the bottom of the 7th inning and was standing on first when Szczepanski stepped into the box and stroked the first pitch she saw over the left field fence for the win. Head Coach Kirk Clayton allowed Szczepanski to swing away on 1 pitch only, if the at-bat would have lasted longer the Lady Wildcat pitcher would have been bunting to move the runner into scoring position. Prince George completed a very successful season and should be back again in 2010 due to the fact they have 7 sophomores on a team that will lose just 2 players to graduation.
The two teams will face off Sunday, at Westfield high school, at 4:00pm, and the game can be heard on the Gameday Radio Network, beginning with the Pregame Show at 3:45, with Justin Waddle and Bruce Bornarth
