Panther teams prepare for Region play on Monday, Smith qualifies for state in track
By Sharon Kilpatrick
All three Rappahannock County High School teams playing for Bull Run District Tournament championships Thursday came up short.
However all had previously qualified for the Region B Tournament and will begin that competition in away games on Monday, May 28, Memorial Day.
Meanwhile in Region B track competition Irving Smith broke the school record in the long jump while finishing second and qualifying for the state track championships in Radford.
The regular season champion softball team was unable to defeat Manassas Park at home for the third time this season and fell 4-2. They will play Wilson Memorial at 5 p.m. Monday in the first round of the Region B Tournament. Manassas Park will get a home game for the first round.
Rebecca Tupper was the Panther starting pitcher. She faced four batters in the first inning, walked one and got two out on strikeouts. The third out was a little hit that was fielded easily at first.
On the Panther half of the inning, Rappahannock got a 1-0 lead. Morgan Stephens drew a walk, and then stole second, third and home on passed balls.
In the top of the second inning with one out, Tupper gave up another walk and a hit, but with two runners on base Rappahannock got out of the inning with a strikeout and an out at first base. The score stayed 1-0 in Rappahannock’s favor through the fourth inning.
Coach Richie Burke put Crystal Heflin in to pitch in the top of the fifth inning, but errors plagued the Panther defense and Manassas Park tied the score and then got a 2-1 lead. Rappahannock tied the score 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Manassas Park came out strong in the seventh and errant pitches and errors combined to enabled them to add two more runs for the final 4-2 win.
“It just wasn’t our day,” Coach Richie Burke said. “Beating a good time three times in a season is tough.” He has watched Wilson Memorial play (they defeated Page County to win their tournament.) “If our pitching holds up, we can beat Wilson Memorial,” he said. “They have a solid defense and can hit the ball. If we bring our A game we will be fine.”
Five Panthers were named to the All Bull Run District First Team: Katie Burke at first base, Crystal Heflin as pitcher, Christina Naramore as catcher, Amanda Smoot at third base and Rebecca Tupper in the outfield.
Two were named to the second team: Morgan Stephens at second base and Emily Carter as utility player. Richie Burke was name the Bull Run District Softball Coach of the Year.
The baseball team had a really bad outing against the regular season champion Strasburg Rams. Strasburg went up 1-0 in the second inning, added two more in the third, another in the fourth, two more in the fifth and four more in the sixth for a 10-0 win. Rappahannock got a few runners on base, but never could put together a score.
Rappahannock will play Buffalo Gap at Buffalo Gap on Monday.
Rappahannock players Will Miller (as a utility player) and Adam Gessner (3rd base) were named to the second team All District. Ethan Russell (outfield) and Travis Jenkins (2nd base) were named to the first team.
The boys’ soccer team fell again to regular season champions George Mason and will play at Riverheads on Monday. Theirs was an epic battle for the tournament championship as the two teams played for two scoreless halves and most of two scoreless overtimes, before George Mason finally got the only goal of the game. So far this year, Mason, the district champion has tied Rapp at home and defeated the Panthers by a goal each time they played at George Mason. They may well meet again in Region B play, but first they have to get past Riverheads.
Coach Shay Bell said, ” The Mason game was a defensive battle. Our team played good team defense and Arne Utne led them all from the goalie position. We had a few chances but could not get any goals. In the overtimes Rapp looked like the team with the better fitness and strong desire to win, but with just a few seconds left, one of the few mistakes we made cost us the goal to defeat us. It was a very hard fought game and a tough one to be on the losing side of. I am very proud of the team’s effort. I think the boys are ready to give Riverheads a good game.”
Named to the All Bull Run District first team were Alex Ramey, Davey Torrence and Arne Utne. David Clement and Jordan Torrence were named to the all district second team.
-- Sharon Kilpatrick
Write a comment