No. 8 Walt Whitman Edges No. 21 Bethesda-CC for the 4A West Section I Title

No. 8 Walt Whitman and No. 21 Bethesda-CC met for the second time this season Wednesday afternoon in the 4A West Section I Final. Whitman defeated the Barons in a low scoring affair (3-2) back in April at Bethesda-CC. With the venue switched, fans were treated to another well played low scoring ballgame that could have gone either way.

 Whitman starter Mark Dimitrov and Barons starter Brendan Hughes went pitch for pitch with both surrendering just one run. Hughes made it through seven innings allowing four hits while striking out four while Dimitrov gave way to reliever Bennett Solomon to start the fourth. Whitman’s lone run against Hughes came on a solo shot by Tyler DeMartino (West Virginia) in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at one.

Bethesda-CC touched Dimitrov for the games first run in the second when Will Philpott singled through the left side to score Parker Silver who singled with one out earlier in the inning. Solomon was sensational the rest of the way in relief for the Vikings throwing five scoreless, allowing just one base runner on a walk while striking out four. 

With the score knotted at one after seven, the game headed to extras with Bethesda-CC turning to Henry Smith on the mound as Hughes had reached his pitch limit for the day. Sean Fleming reached on an error to lead things off in the bottom of the eight and Sam Mermelstein laid down a sacrifice bunt that was mis-played into a hit giving the Vikings first and second with no outs. Harry Kaplan then singled to left scoring Fleming for the game winning run to capture the 4A West Section I Title.

Walt Whitman will now play Clarksburg on Friday for the 4A West Region Championship.