No. 4 Loudoun County Hangs On to Beat Potomac Falls

By Paul Tenorio

Saturday, April 26, 2008

One night after being upset by Park View, No. 4 Loudoun County senior Hope Flanagan said the Raiders wanted to come out against Potomac Falls on Friday night with their bats blazing.

The Raiders did just that and jumped out to an eight-run lead after the first inning, but Potomac Falls staged a comeback with a five-run fifth inning and visiting Loudoun County had to fight to hold on to a 10-8 win in Sterling.

For the Raiders, the win was another indication of how tough games can be with a target on your back. And for Coach Ryan Vance, it was also a sign of the team's ability to fight through adversity.

"These kids are gutty, every single one of them, there's not a single one who doesn't believe we can't win no matter the situation," Vance said. "I always praise them in that regard. … We're just a gutty team. That's the best compliment I can pay them."

The Raiders came out looking like a team on a mission to put any memories of the 13-10 loss to the Patriots to rest, registering six consecutive hits and taking a 5-0 lead before their first out.

Rochelle Latka started the game with a single and moved to third with heads up base running on a bunt from Lindsey Holtz. Holly Norris followed by driving Latka home with a hard hit up the middle and Flanagan scored Holtz with a single to center field.

Sophomore Lindsey Packard then drove in Norris and Flanagan on a double to left field to put the Raiders up by four and Packard came home on Megan Lindsey's single in the next at-bat.

With one out, Rachel Wigfield's sacrifice bunt scored Lindsey to make it 6-0, and Latka and Holtz both followed with singles to increase the lead to 8-0 before Potomac Falls finally got out of the inning.

"We wanted to get a little aggression out, obviously, today," Flanagan said. "Last night was an upset but were going to come back strong no matter who we're playing, we're going to keep fighting and that's why we came out with the bats early."

Down 9-0 entering the bottom of the third, Potomac Falls pulled to within seven on Courtney Sunderland's deep double to right field that scored two.

Then, with a comfortable 10-2 lead in the fifth inning, the Raiders got into trouble when Sunderland stepped to the plate again with two on and two out. Loudoun County elected to intentionally walk the sophomore catcher and paid for it when freshman Heather Kiefer stepped to the plate and smacked a single up the middle to plate two and start the two-out rally.

Kiefer said seeing the Raiders walk Sunderland in front of her provided motivation to come through with a hit.

"It actually pumps me up more because it makes me think they're thinking down on me," Kiefer said. "It gives me a better chance to get a really big hit."

Following Kiefer's hit, Essence Dashtaray kept the inning alive by drawing a walk and freshman Kayla Guttridge singled to bring home Sunderland and Kiefer and pull the Panthers to within four. Junior Krista Daniel followed with an RBI single to make it 10-7, but Holtz struck out a Potomac Falls batter to end the rally.

Potomac Falls nearly completed the comeback in the seventh.

Kiefer started the inning with a single but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double in what turned out to be a key out. Two singles followed Kiefer's hit and probably would have scored her and with runners on second and third and one out a passed ball scored a run to pull Potomac Falls to within two. But Holtz got another ground out to end the game and the comeback and give the Raiders the win.

"It's one of those things where we can't let teams like that hang around because if you let them hang around they can get hope and things like that happen," Vance said. "I give [Potomac Falls] a lot of credit because they didn't quit and didn't give up."

LEADERS: The Raiders were led by Latka (2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R), Flanagan (1-2, 2 BB, RBI, 2 R), and Packard (1-3, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R). Potomac Falls' leaders were Sunderland (1-3, 2 RBI, R, BB), Kiefer (3-4, 2 RBI, R) and Guttridge (3-4, 2 RBI).

Tagged: Loudoun County High School, Potomac Falls High School

Your Thoughts...

Are you happy that the school year is over?