Jack Cleary got it done behind and beside the plate for the Rapids.
Robert Oldham and family enjoy the second straight trophy James River has claimed.
by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
A second consecutive state championship in a James River napsack, coach
Pete Schumacher still found time for coaching as one of his stars,
Daniel Marrs, doused him with a bucket of ice cold water. A welcomed treat on a near 100-degree day.
One problem. The game had one more out to go, though James River led 10-0, the eventual final score.
"I yelled at him," Schumacher said. "The game wasn't over yet."
It's this type of leadership and accountability that has enabled the Rapids to take over the state Group AAA baseball landscape the past two seasons, climaxing Saturday afternoon in a defeat of Northwest Region champion Colonial Forge.
It was perhaps the Rapids' best performance of the season, combining the stage, opponent and outing.
James River scored in five of the six innings it batted, banging out 12 hits as if they were playing baseball on Wii Sports.
Austin Stadler, the Central Region player of the year, looked every bit of it. He allowed four hits on the mound in six innings, no runs to speak of. He was lights out.
"I think he's got a lot of confidence. I think he's got a lot of poise," Schumacher said of the Wake Forest-bound student-athlete. "He's a very intelligent pitcher. He knows how to set batters up. He knows where he wants to throw the pitches and he doesn't get rattled."
Rattled was third baseman
Sean Monahan.
He had a throwing error in the first inning, then bobbled a ball in the top of the fourth, hanging his head afterward, a disastrous demeanor for such a tough fielding spot.
But Monahan was undetered, scooping the very next ball, tagging third for the second out and throwing a frozen rope to first for the final out of the inning. His Rapids teammates mauled him as he approached the bench, still disappointed.
"All year coach Schu's been talking about everybody picking each other up," said Monahan, who transferred from Cosby to James River this season. "I had two errors. I didn't know what happened. Right after that I was able to get the ball again ... made the double play, and from there it was smooth sailing."
James River rocked Colonial Forge for five runs in the fourth inning to put the contest away.
Robert Oldham delivered a two-run double to make it 5-0.
Ian Harvey smacked his own two-RBI double to make it 7-0. He was also sensational in the field, making two nifty grabs in left and a bullet in the first inning to nail
Jason Kittell at the plate.
Monahan, further atoning for his errors, roped an RBI single to score Harvey for an 8-0 lead.
Then
Austin McGowan provided the fifth run on his single.
Colonial Forge had trouble getting him out as he was 3 for 3 with a walk through four innings.
They had trouble dealing with the second baseman in the field, too, as he gobbled up everything close to him, as did shortstop
Carter Brown. That's nothing new.
"Our hitters were able to put the ball in play," Colonial Forge coach
Shawn Szakelyhidi said. "Fortunately for them they made some plays and the ball didn't drop for us."
There was little drop off from last year's state champion, though stalwarts like
A.J. Prill,
Chris Briere and
Tyler Gruhl had moved on. Different team with a different start and the same strong ending.
"Sweet both times," Schumacher said. "I think these guys came together as a team. I really think they had to work harder to come together as a team. Last year's group had played together for so long that it almost seemed natural.
"These guys had some growing pains and they really bought in to everything. One's not sweeter than the other, but I'm so proud of what these guys did."
Colonial Forge 000 000 0 - 0 5 1
James River 121 510 x - 10 12 2
Records: Colonial Forge (20-9); James River (24-4)