Oakton Tops Stone Bridge in Quarterfinals

By Preston Williams

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Oakton senior sidearm pitcher Bart Reese almost got pulled from the Virginia AAA Northern Region baseball quarterfinals in the fifth inning yesterday. Then he cajoled his way into pitching the sixth. Then he was back on the mound in the seventh.

Reese, who eventually got pulled one out shy of a complete game, just kept hanging around, typifying what No. 2 Oakton tends to do at this time of year.

With their 7-3 win over No. 8 Stone Bridge yesterday at South County, the Cougars have advanced to the region semis for the eighth time in nine years.

Photo: Joel Richardson

Oakton's No. 1 Conner Madden goes flying after being tagged out by Stone Bridge pitcher Tyler Weaver when he was caught in a run down in the sixth inning.

“It's the precedent. Going into it this year, it's hard not to think, 'Let's go for the state championship,' ” said Reese, quick to add that the team was not looking past the region tournament. “It's a great feeling knowing that you're in a program like this.”

Oakton (19-4) will face No. 4 Lake Braddock (20-3) at 4 p.m. tomorrow at South County, with the winner earning region final and state tournament berths. It is a rematch of the 2006 region championship, won by Lake Braddock.

Lake Braddock advanced with a 20-8 trouncing of Westfield yesterday in the first game at South County, the Bruins' 17th consecutive win.

Photo: Joel Richardson

Oakton pitcher Bart Reese pitched 6 2/3 innings.

The other region semifinal will pit West Springfield (a 1-0 winner at Robinson yesterday) and Chantilly (a 7-2 winner over South County, also at Robinson) at 7 p.m. tomorrow at South County.

For Oakton, Reese gave up two runs in the second inning, then did not allow another hit until the seventh, when the Bulldogs loaded the bases. With two outs and Reese having unofficially thrown 118 pitches, on came senior left-hander Bret Williams, who gave up a single to make it 7-3.

Senior Kevin Wager, who had moved to first base from third when Williams went from first to pitcher, snagged a foul popup along the fence to end the game.

Oakton was opportunistic early, scoring in the second on a wild pitch, and in the third on an errant pickoff throw, with a misplayed popup and passed ball nursing the inning. Junior Adam Henne stretched the lead to 4-2 with a solo homer in the fourth, freshman Luke Willis added an RBI hit in the sixth, and senior Alfredo Rodriguez (3 for 4) and Williams drove in runs in the seventh.

“You can't play the worst game of your season and beat a team like Oakton,” said Stone Bridge Coach Sam Plank, whose team won the Liberty District regular season and tournament titles.

Senior Tyler Basso (homer), freshman JJ White and senior Mike Stancik had RBI hits for Stone Bridge (20-4).

Tagged: baseball

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