6A North Semifinal Match-ups

Chantilly at West Springfield, 7 pm

Chantilly is the Concord District runner-up, having lost the championship game to Oakton and entered the Regional Tournament as a two seed. They have gotten to this point with wins over Washington and Lee and Annandale. The Chargers have yet to give up a run in the tournament and look to continue the formula of pitching and defense that has led it to a 15-7 record so far. In all but one of Chantilly’s wins this season they have held the opposing offense to 3 runs or less. Senior RHP Easton Recto (Cornell Commit) should be on the bump and looks to continue his strong season.

West Springfield is the Patriot League regular season and tournament champion and entered the Regional Tournament as the one seed. In the first two rounds, the Spartans defeated Osbourn and Langley, scoring double digit runs in both games. West Springfield is 18-6 on the year and has been balanced throughout the season, but lately the bats have been carrying them as the Spartans have scored 6 runs or more in each of their last six wins.

McLean at James Madison, 7:00

McLean has had an up and down year. The Highlanders started the season 7-1, including being the only team to beat Stonebridge, but then hit a rough patch in early May. McLean entered the Conference tournament needing two wins just to make the Regional Tournament as the four seed from the Liberty Conference. McLean then pulled two unlikely upsets, 1-0 over heavily favored Oakton in the first round, and 7-5 over a strong Battlefield team to get them to this game. Lately, McLean has been keyed by their bats and by playing solid defense. Junior catcher Caleb Beatty was the star in the Battlefield game and looks to lead McLean to a win and a trip to Robinson.

James Madison is usually one of the strongest teams in the Northern Region. This year’s squad is no exception, having posted a 21-2 record to this point in the season, with their only losses coming to Stonebridge’s JB Bukauskas (UNC) and on their spring trip.  The Warhawks have played the role of comeback kids so far in this postseason, rallying from behind to beat Herndon last week and winning an epic 12 inning affair against West Potomac in the quarterfinals that was highlighted by a rally to tie the game in the bottom of the 7^th and a two run home run by senior Mike Nielsen with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 11^th to keep the season alive before junior John DeFazio ended the game with a walk-off double.