Potomac Falls 6, Briar Woods 2

Potomac Falls enacted a little revenge on Briar Woods for an earlier loss by beating the Falcons 6-2 on Tuesday night setting the stage for tonight’s matchup at Broad Run that will help decide the Dulles District regular season title.

The Panthers (14-5, 11-2 AA Dulles) got three innings of work each from Brian Griffin and Mike Detaranto and one inning of relief from ace Jacob Kline.

The Falcons (7-12, 5-8) jumped on the Panthers for one run in the first inning when Gavin Scherer led off the game with a shot to third base. Pat Nightingale could not come up with the play and Scherer advanced to second on a wild pick off attempt by Griffin. After a groundout, Logan Harris stroked a single to left field to score Scherer.

Ian Hickman was on the hill for the Falcons and cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. Rob Malan led off with a single to center field that Victor Rizzardi made a good diving attempt on but couldn’t grab. Greg Woodlief followed with a single to left field. Aaron Sweger then battled Hickman in a 13-pitch at-bat before singling to left field to score Malan and tie the game. Pat Nightingale then singled to right field to load the bases and Chris Pelto followed with a single to left field on an 0-2 pitch to score Woodlief and Sweger. Eric Dimsey moved the runners up on a sacrifice bunt to Hickman. With the runners on 2nd and 3rd, Chad McMichael laid down a suicide squeeze that Hickman fielded but his only play was at first Kyle Haufler was covering and initially dropped the ball but picked it up in time to get McMichael. While Haufler was looking at the umpire for the call, Pelto kept chugging around third base and scored without a throw to the plate to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead.

Detaranto came into pitch in the 4th inning and the Falcons got their second run when Harris drove in Scherer with his second RBI single of the game. The Panthers answered with a run in their half of the inning when Malan was hit by a pitch and stole second. He scored when Sweger hit a groundball to third and Chris Wade’s throw was in the dirt at first for an error. That ended the scoring for the night at 6-2.

The Panthers brought in Jacob Kline to pitch the 7th inning and he recorded three straight outs to preserve the win.

Potomac Falls travels to Broad Run tonight to close out the regular season while Briar Woods hosts Park View.

Heritage 13, Loudoun County 3 (5 innings)

The Pride got one step closer to a first round home playoff game in the Dulles District tournament with a 13-3 win over Loudoun County in five innings. Andrew Zarobila earned his fourth win of the season going four innings and giving up only one run.

The Raiders (4-17, 4-10) had trouble stopping the Pride offense as Heritage pounded out 11 hits on the night. Nick Clayton had five runs batted in, and Andrew Zarobila drove in four to help his own cause.

Stats for Heritage:
Peters 2-for-3 SB, BB, K
Reed 1-for-2 2 BBs, 3R, SB
Rogerson 1-for-3 2 R, IBB
Harvey 1-for-2 BB, Sac, 2 SB, 4 R, RBI
Clayton 2-for-3 BB, 2B, 2 SB, 2 R, 5 RBI
Zarobila 3-for-4 2B, 4 RBI
Massey 1-for-3 K RBI
Hoffman 0-for-2 BB
Flinton 0-for-2 K, BB

Zarobila 4IP 1 R, 1 ER, 7 K, HBP, 4H
Polkowski 1 IP 2 R, 0 ER, HBP, 2H

The Pride improve to 8-13 overall and 7-6 in the district. They host Dominion tonight for senior night in their last game of the regular season.

Park View 5, Freedom 4

Drew Mason went 2-for-4 and Billy Bradley, Jonathan Mason, and Jimmy Kerby each had a hit for the Patriots (11-9, 7-6) who kept pace with the Pride for fourth place in the district race. Tom Wellington picked up the win to go to 4-1 on the season and Jimmy Kerby got the save. Park View concludes its regular season tonight at Briar Woods.

Fauquier 8, Loudoun Valley 7

The Vikings committed four errors, leading to four unearned runs and lost for the fourth time in their last five games, 8-7 to Fauquier.

Valley’s miscues began right from the start as they committed two defensive errors in the top of the 1st to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead out of the gate. Fauquier added two more runs in the top of the 3rd on a two-run single from Billy Pierce.

The Vikings struck back for three runs in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, juniors Iain Mottice and Wes Walker drew back to back walks. Sophomore Alex Owens hit a double plating Mottice. With runners at second and third, junior Adam Reed walked to load the bases. Junior T.J. Daeschner then reached on an error, scoring pinch runner Brian Kelly from third. With the bases still loaded, sophomore Daniel Fleming hit a grounder to third baseman Zach Phillips who threw home for the force out. Catcher Ryan Smith tried to throw to first base for the double play but his throw ended up in right field, allowing Reed to score. Pinch runner Trey Clark tried to score all the way from first base on the play but was called out at the plate on a good relay throw and tag.

Fauquier got three more runs in the top of the 5th on two hits and another costly error from the home team. The highlight of the day for the Vikings came in the bottom of the 6th inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Owens hit a grand slam over the right field fence to make the score 8-7. It was the third baseman’s second homer of the season. He went 3-for-4 on the night with a single, a double, a home run and 5 RBIs. Junior Wes Walker went 1-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored and sophomore Beattie Southerland was 1-for-3 with a walk. That would be it for the Vikings as they could not score in the bottom half of the 7th inning. Senior Thomas Moxley got his first start of the season and pitched well despite getting the loss. Junior Daniel Burke also pitched well and finished the game for Valley.

Falcons’ starter Nick McMahon lasted four innings and picked up the win. Greg Ussery pitched in the 7th and recorded the save. With the loss, the Vikings fell to 9-9 overall and 5-7 in the AAA Cedar Run District. They play again tonight at Culpeper and travel to Stonewall Jackson to close out the regular season on Friday. The district playoffs begin next week.

Tonight’s Schedule
Potomac Falls at Broad Run
Park View at Briar Woods
Dominion at Heritage
Loudoun Valley at Fauquier

Thursday’s Schedule
Broad Run at Dominion

Friday’s Schedule
Loudoun Valley at Stonewall Jackson
AAA Liberty District Tournament Semifinals
No. 1 Stone Bridge vs. No. 4 McLean/No. 5 Woodson (8 p.m. at Madison)