Park View Powers Past Wakefield

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Originally published at 8:09 a.m., March 27, 2008
Updated at 5:03 p.m., March 28, 2008

After a disappointing showing from his team in its last time out, Park View coach Mickey Leap was looking for a few positives heading into Friday's AA Dulles District opener at Loudoun County. The Patriots were out-played in all facets of the game in a 13-4 defeat against Park View that lasted only five innings on March 19.

Leap's players got the message and used a five-run sixth inning to break open a close game with visiting Wakefield and give themselves some momentum heading into the district schedule with a 10-4 win.

“We've played five games now, and now the real season starts on Friday,” Leap said. “In the district it's for all the marbles. It was good to get this win and now the preseason is over, so we're going to have to learn from every game we play from here on out.”

The Patriots (3-2) got off to a rocky start in the first inning with senior Zack Anderegg walking the first two batters he faced and throwing only 2-of-10 pitches for strikes. After his second wild pitch put runners on first and third with no outs, Leap didn't hesitate going to Tom Wellington in his bullpen.

The senior lefty answered the call, allowing only one run and getting Park View out of the inning with minimal damage. He lasted five innings, gave up three runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts and collected the win.

“We got off to a bad start there the first couple batters and started walking people around,” Leap said. “We couldn't put ourselves into a situation where they might score a couple runs because they're a young ball club and they played with some life and I was afraid if we let them stay around in the game, they could pull one away from us.”

“We went to Tom Wellington and he came in and shut the door on them in the first, only giving up one run when they had runners on second and third with nobody out. He gave us five good innings.”

The Patriots took a 2-1 lead in the second when designated hitter Jimmy Kerby scored on a wild pitch from Warriors starter Sam Keeling. Park View got another run in the third on Jonathan Mason's RBI triple, but Wakefield stormed back with a two-run fifth to tie things up at 3-3.

Defensive miscues cost the visiting Warriors in the bottom half of the inning as back-to-back errors led to two more Park View runs. The Patriots got five more in the sixth off Wakefield reliever Mike Edwards to put the game well out of reach.

Mason came in to pitch the final two innings, giving up no runs on two hits while striking out four to notch the save.

Ten Patriots reached base and all but one of the nine in the original batting order crossed home plate as Park View got offense from just about everyone. Mason finished with a double to go along with his RBI triple and second baseman Adam Foltz had two RBIs on a strange play in the big fifth inning.

With runners on the corners, the senior smashed an Edwards' fastball deep into the left field corner. As Wakefield's left-fielder went back to make a play on the ball, he twisted his knee and fell to the turf in agony. Drew Mason and Jonathan Mason crossed the plate and with Wakefield center-fielder Josh Jones scrambling to scoop the ball off the warning track, Foltz was able to come all the way around to score standing up.

“We do like to swing the bat,” Leap said. “We're aggressive at the plate and we were getting on either by error or with base-hits here or there. But we've got to be a little bit more disciplined and selective up there at the plate. We're not going up there with a plan right now and so we've got to do a little better job with that.”

With a visit to Loudoun County scheduled for Friday, the competition will be stiff for the Patriots as they attempt to improve on last season's second-place district finish and subsequent early exit in the tournament. For Park View’s young team that lost several key players from last year's squad, there is still significant room for improvement.

“We've got to come ready to play everyday which we haven't done the past couple days,” Leap said. “We've got to improve in every aspect of the game. We've got to be able to hit one-through-nine, which right now we're not. We've got to put the ball in play with two strikes, which we're not doing consistently. And we've just got to make sure our pitchers go out on the field and give us their best each day. Because there have been some times in the first five games where we haven't pitched very well.”

Tagged: baseball, high school sports, Park View High School

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