By Andy States
Digital Sports Content Manager
In the minutes following their win over the North Point Eagles in the 2A South regional final on Friday afternoon, the River Hill Hawks jumped all over each other, were presented the regional championship trophy, took pictures and carried on as would be expected given the occasion.
Lost in the celebration, at least for Coach Wes McCoy, was what day the next game -- in the 2A state semifinals -- would be played.
"I hadn't even looked ahead," McCoy said following his team's 3-1 win at third-seeded North Point. "I didn't even know when the next game was."
River Hill (14-6) will play in the state semifinals on Tuesday. A month ago, and maybe even a week ago, that may have seemed a rather unlikely destination. The Hawks started the season slow, and even after playing well down the stretch had an arduous regional path after drawing the No. 8 seed. But, led by the pitching of Brandon Estrain and Jeff Crosswhite, both of whom delivered two complete games in the four-game regional run, the state semifinals is exactly where River Hill now finds itself.
"Since spring break we're 11-3," said McCoy, citing a team meeting following an ugly loss to Atholton as the team's turning point. "Since then we've really been on a roll. We've been playing some solid baseball."
It all started with the effort on the mound on Friday. Estrain was perfect for the first 3 2/3 innings. After hitting the Eagles' Ricky Brady with two outs in the fourth, Jonathan Keeler lashed a long RBI single to the fence in right to tie the game at one. But that proved to be all North Point (16-4) would get.
"It just made me mad," Estrain said of the two-out hit. "It was one hit and they scored that one run off that one hit."
The sophomore hurler kept the Eagles off balance the entire game and allowed just five hits on the game, issued just one free pass and struck out nine.
North Point had the tying runs on the corners with two outs in the sixth, but Estrain came up with the strikeout to get out of the jam. Again in the seventh, after the Eagles' Tre Harding lashed a double down the left-field line wiht one out, Estrain came up big with consecutive strikeouts to end the game and clinch the regional championship.
"[Estrain] pitched tough," North Point coach Bill Chichester said. "Threw offspeed and his curveball was working. They played better than we did."
River Hill squandered several chances early, as three runners were picked off the bases. But with the game deadlocked in the sixth, Joe Kolodrubitz clubbed a double to lead off and came around to score on Christian Laidley's single the following at-bat. Danny Caddigan supplied an RBI single two at-bats later to give Estrain a two-run cushion to work with.
The Hawks have eight players that can pitch, according to McCoy, but have been riding Crosswhite and Estrain in the playoffs. Friday's regional final was the fourth straight win for Estrain, who pitched a two-hit complete game in the quarterfinals against Gwynn Park.
"That's what the playoffs are all about," McCoy said. "You take your best players and let them go win the game for you."
For North Point, Friday's conclusion to the season was not just the end of the season, but the end of the line for a group of seniors that literally built the program's foundation. This year marks the first senior class in the four-year history of the school.
"We had a really good season," said Eagles senior Brent Poullard. "We had 10 seniors, so we all stepped up this year. We just didn't hit the ball today."
Friday marked the first regional final North Point's baseball team has competed in.
"Our goal was to get to the regional final," Chichester said. "We've never been there before. Obviously we'd have liked to have won it and taken our chances [at the state tournament].
"We had a shot. [River Hill] just played a little better than we did today."
River Hill 3, North Point 1
R 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 - 3 9 0
N 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 5 3
WP: Estrain, LP: Ryan
2B - McLaughlin (R), Kolodrubitz 2 (R), Harding (N)
astates@digitalsports.com