The Dominion Rules

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com

In February, when bats started making that oh so sweet ping noise and gloves began popping, Cosby was ranked first in the DigitalSports Top 10, James River second.

Things held to form Thursday evening as both of the Dominion District powers won their semifinal baseball matchups to earn that pivotal state Group AAA tournament berth and a Central Region title game appearance.

Before the game, Ronnie Shaban said he didn’t know much about Mills Godwin. He just wanted to get that state tournament berth.

His actions spoke louder than his words as he led off Cosby’s half of the first inning with a home run.

Fired up, the Titans continued their torrid hitting as Bradley Shaban singled to move his brother’s courtesy runner, region 100-meter champion Mitchell Shifflett, to second.

A sacrifice by Dustin Sollars moved the runners, and Tadd Bower‘s grounder was enough to get Shifflett in for a 2-0 advantage.

Jake Lowery then put up an RBI single and Bower scored on a passed ball for a 4-0 advantage.

Many teams usually fold against the Titans after that, but not the youthful Eagles.

Starting four sophomores and a freshman at pitcher in lefty Matt Lees, Godwin responded with back-to-back home runs from Reed Gragnani and Nick Caporale off of the hard-throwing Shaban.

“I thought our kids played well,” Godwin coach John Marano said. “We got some home runs, they got some home runs. It was a tough game in that respect.

“We started four sophomores and a freshman against a bunch of men and we out hit them.”

Godwin had nine hits, and Cosby had eight, but the Titans scored in the fourth off of heads-up base running from football standout Josh Wilburn to go up 5-2.

An error in the top of the fifth allowed Godwin to reduce the advantage to 5-3. Then Caporale drilled a Shaban offering, but Sollars made a great sliding catch in center to end the threat.

Then it was the Ryan Parker Show. He drilled a three-run screamer to left-center field to put Cosby up 8-3.

Then in the top of the sixth, with Eagles sitting on first and second, he nabbed Eric Payne‘s liner to end the threat.

“I don’t know if you saw me in the third-base box,” Marano said. “But I did a 360 [when he caught that ball]. Lucky I didn’t turn my ankle.”

Said Parker: “I barely saw it. I didn’t even know if I caught it or not. It was a shot.”

Now Cosby’s gets its third shot at James River, the defending region and state champion.

The Rapids took down the Patrick Henry Patriots 11-1 led by pitcher Austin Stadler. He climbed the mound and pitched the entire contest, striking out 10 Patriots, scattering six hits.

James River stroked two home runs, one each from Austin McGowan and Eamon Schwartz.

McGowan’s capped a four-run second for the Rapids. Schwartz’s solo shot came in the fourth.

All the while, Daniel Marrs (three hits) was terrific at the plate, and Ian Harvey was all over the base paths with three runs and four RBI.

Though the Rapids had four errors, only one hurt that Ryan Smith took advantage of in the first inning on Jordan Fox’s single. JR’s defense was solid all evening behind Stadler.

“Just trying to play good team baseball,” James River coach Pete Schumacher said. “We know you at least have a fighting chance if you do that. It was fun to watch.”

The third meeting between the Southside teams should be fun to watch as well, with a home state playoff game on the line.

“There’s great baseball in the Dominion District and the Central Region,” Tim Lowery said. “It’s going to be fun and I’m going to soak it in and enjoy every bit of it.”

Patrick Henry 100 000 0 – 1 6 3
James River 040 133 x – 11 14 4
Berry, Seay (2), Stanley (5) and Woodworth; Stadler and Cleary. W: Stadler. L: Berry.
Records: Patrick Henry (17-6); James River (17-5)

Mills Godwin 000 210 1 – 4 9 2
Cosby 103 130 x – 8 8 1
Lees, Ross (5) and Saladino; Shaban and Lowery. W: Shaban. L: Lowery.
Records: Mills Godwin (18-6); Cosby (18-2)