VARSITY REPORT
Maury wins Eastern district

Will Garlick
VirginiaPreps.com Senior Writer

Coby leads second back-to- back victory over Granby 7-2.

The last three meetings between Granby and Maury have gone in to extra-innings and with an average of 11 innings per contest. This time, Maury broke the game open with a big inning.

Douglas Hatcher sparked a 6-run third inning with leadoff double and a two-run single. John Garrett delivered two-out, two-run single that scored Hatcher and another runner with the bases loaded. A single by Brian Bashara make it 3-1, and Karter Rivera walked with the bases loaded to give the Commodores a 3-run lead. Hatcher, in his second at bat of the inning, singled home two more runs.

"That really boosted our confidence," said Bashara about the big third inning. "It definitely put the nail in the coffin." Maury added an insurance run in the seventh for the final margin.

"We knew it was going to be tough," Bashara added, "but we knew if we played as a team we could beat them twice in a row."

It also helped to have Cowgill, who finished with 14 strikeouts while winning his sixth game this year. Cowgill had double digit strikeouts in all three games versus the Comets.

Granby had a 1-0 lead after two when Blake Sheldon scored from third on a fielders choice after a double earlier in the inning.

The win gives Maury the #1 seed in the Eastern district playoffs that start Thursday at Old Dominion. They will face Norview, who squeaked in by one game over Churchland. Granby will need to beat Lake Taylor to return to the region playoffs where they were runner ups last year.

Maury & Granby Advance to Championship Game (excepts from Jami Frankenberry, Va Pilot)

The Commodores, who already owned an Eastern Region berth, defeated Norview 5-3 in Thursday’s other semifinal for their seventh consecutive victory. We will face Granby again for the 4th time this season for the district champion tournament this Wednesday at 5:30 ODU.

In the first semifinal, Maury’s Marcus Breeden had two RBIS and Doug Hatcher’s RBI groundout in the fourth inning broke a 2-2 tie.

Commodores lefthander Karter Rivera tossed a complete game, surrendering seven hits and a walk while striking out five.

Maury’s Brian Bashara and Steve Overcamp each had two hits.

Congratulations to the team and to these stand-out players. Keep it up!

JV REPORT

Maury vs. Lake Taylor -- 5/01/08

This 8th Grader's future is indeed bright. Commodore Pitcher Cameron Parker hurled 4 hitless shutout innings, recording 8 strikeouts along the way against only 2 walks and a handful of hits, in leading Maury to an 8-5 victory against the Lake Taylor Titans Thursday afternoon 5/02 at Maury Field. He also had 2 hits, one of which was an RBI single in the 1st inning. Once again, the Commodores led a very balanced offense. Connor O'Donnell started the scoring with an RBI single in the 1st and Shortstop Justin Davis hit an RBI triple in the 2nd that landed at the bottom of the left-field fence. Sam Triplett doubled in the 3rd and easily scored on an RBI double to left-centerfield by Leftfielder Trent Litsch. Maury added on in the 4th when Triplett drove in 2 more runs with a single and he scored on an RBI single by 3rd baseman Stratton Georges. Christopher O'Donnell relieved Parker after 5-1/3 Innings and combined with Kevin Radford to shut the door on the Titan offense. Georges caught a shoestring low liner in the top of the 7th, doubled-up the Lake Taylor runner on 1st and their last batter popped up to 2nd base to end the game.

Churchland will roll-in to Maury Field at 4 p.m. on Friday 5/02 looking to earn a season series-split with a victory.

The future's so bright they gotta wear shades. The Maury JV continues to rack up impressive wins on its way to a 7-0 record this season. Rain-outs have limited the number of games played but the Maury bats have been making solid contact and the team has been posting big run totals.