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Region 6D Quick Hits: South Lakes at Herndon

June 4, 2022
John Nolan
NOVA

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A perfect Friday night for baseball saw old rivals meet for the 2022 Region 6D Championship. South Lakes travelled to Herndon, as did a lot of the North and Western Fairfax baseball community. Both teams tabbed senior righthanders for the start, with South Lakes going with Ryan Ertlschweiger (James Madison) and Herndon going with Ryan Henson (Patrick Henry CC). 

Henson would work a relatively quiet first two innings. Ertlschweiger also came out in dominant fashion, fanning 5 in the first two innings. There were two pitches where he got beat though, both of which were hammered to center for home runs off of the bats of Liam Willson (Wake Forest) and Conor Brennan. After two, Herndon had a 2-0 lead.

South Lakes loaded the bases in the top of the third with no outs and and after a hit-by-pitch scored a Seahawk run, Colin Casey (Randolph-Macon) delivered a 2-run single to left to give South Lakes a 3-2 lead. Herndon would create a pattern in the bottom half of the inning when they immediately responded to tie the game.

That score would hold until the eighth, despite multiple threats from both teams. In the top of the eighth, South Lakes was able to load the bases against Herndon reliever Jackson Coen (Georgetown), and on a two-out, full-count pitch, drew a walk to take a 4-3 lead. The inning would end a few pitches later when a Seahawks runner attempted a straight steal of home on a 3-1 pitch and was tagged out. That left a window for Herndon, and the Hornets were able to put on two runners ahead of pinch hitter Johnathan Morgan, who came up with two outs and the game on the line. He got down two strikes quickly, but was able to stay in the at-bat and muscle a game-tying single to right to extend the game. 

Herndon threatened again in the ninth, but ultimately the game pushed to the eleventh inning, still in a 4-4 tie. A leadoff walk and a single put two runners on and ultimately led to a bases-loaded one-out situation. A shallow to medium deep fly ball was hit to right, and Ryan O'Connor tagged up and took off from third, he was called safe in a play that was extremely close, giving South Lakes a 5-4 lead that they took to the bottom half of the inning.

In the bottom of the eleventh, Colin Casey, who had entered the game as a reliever in the sixth inning was approaching the 100 pitch mark and he opened the inning with a careful walk of Willson followed by another walk to Hill Naski (James Madison).That ended Casey's night and South Lakes went to the pen. Matthew Neach welcomed the new arm to the game with a game-tying single to right. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Brennan came to the plate and capped off a spectacular night with a walk-off single to left-center, giving Herndon the Region Championship.

Brennan finished the game 3-6 with a HR and 2 RBI. Henson was 2-4 with 2 BB at the plate and Willson was 1-3 with a HR and 3 BB. Ertlschweiger struck out 10 in 5 innings for South Lakes while Casey punched out 7 in 5 innings of his own while going 2-4 with 3 RBI and 2 BB at the plate. Jaime Quinn-Irons was 3-5 with a BB.

Both teams advance to the State Tournament, with Herndon hosting West Springfield on Tuesday and South Lakes traveling to Region C champion Lake Braddock.