We posted at the end of the District tournaments on May 23rd the results of the Virginia local district championships. I admittedly took a larger interest this year because of the success of my own alma mater high school Madison, and followed the subsequent regional and state tournament closely. Here’s a recap of those two tournaments, which culminated with the State final being played yesterday 6/9/13 in Chantilly.
The Regional tourney kicked off May 24th with this slate (home teams are the higher seeds, here’s the bracket):
- T.C. Williams (11-10) @ Oakton (17-4): a tough matchup for Oakton if TC Williams throws their ace Alec Grosser.
- Stone Bridge (11-11) @ Yorktown (17-5)
- Stuart (15-6) @ Langley (13-9)
- Robinson (10-12) @ South County (14-8)
- Edison (12-10) @ Madison (21-1)
- Chantilly (11-12) @ Lake Braddock (17-4): Lake Braddock has high-end pitching prospect Thomas Rogers finally back from TJ surgery, adding a surprise element to this storied franchise and defending State champ.
- West Potomac (12-8) @ Centreville (15-4)
- Marshall (8-14) @ W&L (13-10); also a tougher matchup here if Marshall throws its lefty ace Mitch MacKeith
5/24/13 results: first round done, here’s the Northern Region tourney first round results:
- Oakton d T.C. Williams 9-1 (I guess Grosser wasn’t a factor)
- Stone Bridge d Yorktown 1-0 (an upset per seedings and records)
- Langley d Stuart 8-2 (Stuart’s great season comes to an end)
- South County d Robinson 6-1 (a traditional power ends a disappointing season)
- Madison d Edison 13-1 (a predictable blow-out for the region’s #1 seed)
- Lake Braddock d Chantilly 8-2 (Chantilly’s cinderella run ends)
- Centreville d West Potomac 8-2 (no upsets here, setting up an interesting quarter final match)
- Marshall d Washington & Lee 7-0 (an upset by record but perhaps not by overall capabilities)
2nd round Matchups on Monday 5/27/13
- Oakton v Stone Bridge: Oakton beat Stone Bridge 6-2 earlier in the season and is favored here.
- Langley v South County: no prior meetings between the teams, but South County is streaky and has one 5 straight. Close game.
- Madison v Lake Braddock: close matchup by record, no prior meeting but Madison has the advantage playing at home.
- Centreville v Marshall: Centreville beat Marshall away 8-4 to open the season; Centreville favored here.
5/27/13 Results: Big upsets in the Regional quarters:
- Lake Braddock takes out #1 Seed Madison 9-6 on home turf behind Thomas Rogers, recovered from TJ Surgery.
- South County edges Langley 4-3 in 13 innings. Wow.
- Oakton steamrolls Stone Bridge 13-5, is now the new favorite to win the region with Lake Braddock.
- Marshall edges out Centreville 5-4, continuing their cinderella run.
Regional Semis on 5/29/13 are set: Its now looking like and Oakton-Lake Braddock regional final. 5/29/13 results: Indeed both Oakton and Lake Braddock won easily and both advance to the State tournament.
- Oakton d South County 8-1
- Lake Braddock d Marshall 16-5
Regional Final: predicting Oakton but wouldn’t be surprised either way. 5/31/13 result: Lake Braddock batters its way to another Regional crown 14-7.
With the Regional losses for both Great Bridge and Madison, both teams have now dropped out of top-25 rankings in BaseballAmerica and USAToday‘s early June rankings. Great Bridge and now Lake Braddock are Honorable Mentions in USAToday, implying a top 50 national ranking for now.
Virginia AAA State Tournament: with the 5/30/13 Regional results, the 8 participants in the state tournament are now known. From each of the four State Regions:
- Northern Region (Fairfax, Arlington counties): Lake Braddock, Oakton
- Northwest Region (Loudoun, Prince William, Fauquier counties): Hylton, Patriot
- Central Region (Richmond): Douglas Freeman, Hanover
- Eastern Region (Norfolk/Va Beach): Kellam,Great Bridge
Weird how Great Bridge loses early in its own district tournament but still advanced to the Regional tournament, which it subsequently looks to win.
State Quarter finals to be held Tuesday 6/4/13: Lake Braddock v Patriot, Oakton v Hylton, Freeman v Great Bridge and Hanover v Kellam. The semis and final are at Westfields High School friday and saturday June 7-8th.
6/4/13 State Quarter final results: local teams and the favorite go through to the semis. Results:
- Great Bridge d Freeman 3-0 behind Conner Jones‘ 3-hit shutout.
- Lake Braddock edges Hanover 5-4 behind 5+ innings from Thomas Rogers.
- Hanover blanks Kellam 5-0 behind UVA commit Derek Casey‘s shutout.
- Oakton edges Hylton 4-3 in a bullpen-by-committe approach.
State Semis are Friday 6/7/13 at 3pm and 7pm.
Semis and Final Results: Both NoVa local teams were beaten in the State Semis, setting up a Great Bridge-Hanover state final and two of the best arms in the state. In the state final, Richmond area Hanover prevailed over a Conner Jones-less Great Bridge 3-1. Despite a 5-run lead on Friday night against Lake Braddock, Great Bridge left Jones throw 2 2/3 innings in the semi, leaving him ineligible to appear in the championship. This seemed like rather questionable strategy, considering the way Hanover used their ace Casey to save the friday night game and to pitch the bulk of the state championship game. If you’ve never heard of Casey, you will next year. Only a junior, he’s already up to 93 on the gun, was a PerfectGame pre-season undergrad All-American and has an early UVA commit. I’m sure about this time next year we’ll be hearing about Casey’s draft value much as we’ve heard about Jones’ all this spring.
Congrats to Hanover and Derek Casey for a 2013 Virginia State Baseball Title.
