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Sports

Great Bridge Spoils South County Baseball Dream

Stallions bats go cold in state championship game, fall 5-3

South County’s baseball team just couldn’t keep up with the Joneses on Saturday in the Virginia Class AAA state championship game at Westfield High School.

The Joneses, Connor and Cooper (no relation) of Great Bridge, stifled the Stallions bats in a way no pitchers had all season, and led the Wildcats (24-5) to a 5-3 win. The pair combined to scatter six hits, walked just one and induced 12 groundball outs to crush South County’s hopes of a perfect 29-0 season.

“I just felt like we were trying a little too hard, trying to do too much with the ball,” said senior infielder Luke Bondurant, who hit three ground balls into the soft Westfield grass. “It just didn’t come out the way we wanted it to.”

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Connor Jones, a sophomore, worked the first 5 1/3 innings and allowed a run in the bottom of the first on a fielder’s choice and a run in the fourth on a home run by Mike Perez. He left with one out in the fifth before Cooper Jones threw a wild pitch that allowed Bondurant to score from third.

South County wasn’t able to get a rhythm going offensively.

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“We were waiting for that one inning we usually have to get it clicking, and it just never came for us,” said Bondurant, who wore sunglasses during his postgame interview to shield his disappointment with the loss.

The one inning where it looked as if South County might make a comeback was the bottom of the sixth.

“That’s what we’ve talked about,” said coach Mark Luther. “We believe when it gets to the sixth inning, that’s our chance. We had an opportunity there to at least tie it up, if not go ahead.”

Trailing, 5-2, Alex Carrington started the frame with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch, but moments later, he was tagged out between second and third after Bondurant’s high chopper caught him in no-man’s land. Perez drove a ball high off the wall in center for a double to put runners on second and third and with Friday’s hero Tyler Frazier coming to the plate, Great Bridge coach Wiley Lee brought in Cooper Jones.

Jones uncorked a wild pitch and Bondurant scored from third to make it 5-3. Matt DeVore, running for Perez, moved to third on the play, but Frazier struck out for the second out. After Kyle Fairbanks drew a walk, Cameron Thompson struck out to end the threat.

“The whole day, we couldn’t put things together and get the clutch hit at the right time,” Luther said.

Great Bridge struck early, with three runs in the first two innings, and up to that point it looked as if the only thing that could stop the Wildcats was a one-hour weather delay in the top of the third. Steven Dudley put the Wildcats on the board with a two-run single off Jake Josephs in the first and Hunter Higgerson drove in a run with a double in the second. After the break, Ashton Groves ripped an RBI double and came home on a double from Austin Owens to make it 5-1.

From then on, Josephs cruised, retiring 10 batters in a row and 13 of 14 to close the game. But South County couldn’t fight back like it had in games earlier this year against West Springfield and Lake Braddock, where sixth-inning rallies resulted in dramatic comeback wins.

“Our coaches did a good job of scouting them,” said Connor Jones. “We knew the outside part of the plate was a weakness and I tried to mix in a lot of offspeed with it.”

Jones said a natural sinking motion on his fastball regularly produces a barrage of ground balls for his infielders.

“When the infield’s playing well, it makes it really easy,” Jones said.

Aside from a throwing error on shortstop Justin Lee that kept the first inning alive and led to a South County run, the only extra bases the Wildcats allowed came on wild pitches.

“He kept dumping change-ups in and we kept beating them into the ground,” said Luther. “They were making those routine plays, that’s a big part of the game.”

Frazier, who was slated to pitch Saturday, was unable to take the mound due to a shoulder injury suffered during Friday’s semifinal win over James River, a game in which he hit a grand slam. The senior, bound for UNC-Greensboro in the fall, was limited to DH duties, which forced an infield shuffle and prevented usual DH Mike Egbert from getting off the bench until he came up as a pinch hitter leading off the seventh. He grounded out to short, Blake Thompson lined out to left and Andrew Rector grounded out to short to end the game and kick off a major Great Bridge celebration on the mound.

“We should have been ready to go,” Luther said. “We just didn’t have it, or they were a little bit better today. ...  We figured if they put up a five-spot, we were going to win.” 

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