Varina – Varina’s (4-8; 7-13) end of season contest with Henrico (7-4; 14-5) was its playoff game. That passion paid off as the “Blue Devils” upended the “Warriors” 4-3.
“I can only hope we play with such passion in our closing regular season game Saturday,” said Henrico head coach Ken Schrad. “Sure, we’ve qualified for the district playoffs. But we can’t think we can simply turn on our game at that time. We might find that to be way too late,” he added.
Daniel Stanley pitched a complete game for Varina. Despite surrendering five walks and hitting one batter, he scattered six hits and struck out five.
Henrico compounded its lack of hitting with poor base running. Two runners were caught stealing, one over-ran a base, and another was picked off at first base. “Not exactly my finest night as the third base coach,” said Schrad. “Perhaps I was trying too hard to make something happen.”
Henrico did steal three bases. A couple of times runners advanced by reading a curve ball in the dirt. One led to a score by Dorsel Robinson when the attempted recovery throw by the catcher to third base was mishandled.
Henrico scored first. With two outs in the top of the first, Seth Cutler-Voltz singled. He took off on a 3-2 pitch to Landon Prentiss that Prentiss hit to deep right center field for a double. Cutler-Voltz scored easily.
Facing Henrico starter Michael Mansfield, Varina matched the score in the bottom of the inning. Austin McKim led off with a single. Following a walk, McKim scored on Chris Neff’s RBI single to right field.
Varina took the lead in the second when Terrell Mack hit a home run over the fence in left field. Varina’s third run came in the third inning. Jacob Whitlow singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a single by Stanley.
Henrico got one run back in the fourth. Mansfield was hit by a pitch. Robinson, running for the pitcher, then scored his run.
The “Warrior’s” tied it in the fifth. Eric Thornton led off the inning with a single. He stole second base and third base. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Prentiss.
Paul Bateera pitched the fifth inning for Henrico. Varina did not score. But, Bateera did hurt a finger on his throwing hand during a run-down play.
Prentiss was called on to pitch the seventh. He quickly got two outs. Then, McKim reached on an infield single. Kevin Hall walked. Down 0-2 in the count, Jacob Whitlow hit a fastball that caught way too much plate. His RBI single up the middle proved to be the game winning hit.
Henrico went down in order in the top of the seventh.
“Varina deserved the win,” said Schrad. “They hit better (10 total) and their defense was tighter than ours. That usually means victory every time.”