Charger catcher Keith Morrisroe celebrates his fifth-inning, RBI triple with coach Kevin Ford.
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Chantilly 7, South County 2
When Chantilly first-team All-Region catcher
Keith Morrisroe was called back to the batters' box after an apparent hit by pitch against South County, he could not have been happier.
Well, at least, not after the
next pitch.
Morrisroe stroked a triple into the gap – plating senior
Max Langford – one pitch after the home-plate umpire ruled that Morrisroe leaned into the inside pitch that clipped his elbow.
The extra-base hit was part of nine-hit surge in the final three
innings for the Chargers, who powered by the Stallions, 7-2, in the
second game at Robinson High on Memorial Day.
"I know I leaned into it, but I just started sprinting to first," said
Morrisroe, whose aptitude for making contact far surpasses his acting
ability. "I heard all the opposing parents cheering, so I knew they
were going to call me back. I got all curve balls every other pitch. A
fastball came and I hit it the other way.
"I told the umpire thanks afterwards for that."
Through three innings, though, it appeared as if the latter half of
Monday's doubleheader would be a repeat of the early-afternoon
defensive showcase between Robinson and West Springfield.
South County led Concorde District champion Chantilly, 1-0, and the Chargers were a combined 2-for-12 at the plate.
"We didn't know a whole lot about them," said Stallion Coach
Mark Luther,
who led South County to the Patriot District title in the school's first two seasons of
existence. "We had never really seen them. We knew they put balls in
play. But just watching them on video on [Digital Sports] and
listening to people, we knew they put the bat on the baseball and you
have to make plays.
"They were getting used to
Peyton [
Bartlett] ... He
certainly does a great job, mixes his pitches pretty well. But once you
get through him one time, he's certainly hittable when he's not hitting
his spots. But they're a good hitting team, they put balls in play. And
that's a big part of high-school baseball, not getting punched out."
Added Charger Coach
Kevin Ford: "A couple of the guys were a
little too anxious. We still can't get them relax and just play. That's
kind of what we've been preaching. Each game that we move onto here, if
we just play our game, we'll be okay."
And when the Chantilly bats came out of hibernation, its pitching stayed locked in.
Starter
Jordan Johnson and reliever
Chris Yates pitched
all seven innings, combining to allow two earned runs on seven hits,
while striking out six Stallions. Yates accounted for five strikeouts
in his three innings of work.
"I was hoping we were going to swing the bat and I was hoping we'd get
a good outing on the mound by both of our guys," Ford said. "We've gone
here at the end of year with starting Jordan and then going to Chris. Jordan has pitched in very few games here lately and we got pretty
much what we wanted out of him. He gave up a run and gave us four
innings and we were able to go to Chris."
With the Patriot District three-seed out of the way, Chantilly advances
to the Regional semifinals where it will play Patriot runner-up West Springfield.
The game – scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Yorktown – will feature All-Region pitchers
Mike Kent (Spartans) and
Pat Somers (Chargers) with a berth in the Virginia AAA state tournament at stake.
"[That game] is probably going to be lower scoring than this," Ford
said. "I've heard a lot of things about that kid. I haven't seen him
pitch, but I don't think you really need to from what people say.
"We're just going to have to come out and execute. There were one or
two times tonight we didn't execute. Against a really good pitcher like
that, you are going to have to."
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
R H E South County 010 010 0 -- 2 7 1
Chantilly 000 322 X -- 7 11 1
Notables:
SC-
Bartlett - 4+ IP, 4 ER, 2 K; 1-3
Adams - 2-3, 2B, RBI
Michaels - 1-2, R
CH-
Yates - 3 IP, ER, 5 K; 1-3, RBI
Morrisroe - 2-4, 3B, RBI
Carwile - 1-3, 2 RBI