Orange boys bow out of state tourney

Staff report
Published: August 14, 2008

Orange Post 156 committed seven errors but managed to walk away with a win in its opening game of the American Legion state tournament last Tuesday.
They weren’t so fortunate Wednesday evening when they faced South Richmond Post 137.
The Richmond squad made the most of four Orange errors, six walks, and three hit batsmen by scoring 13 runs in a three-inning stretch and winning by the slaughter rule, 15-3.
“From one through nine, there’s nine kids that at any time can hit a ball out of the ballpark,” said Richmond coach Byron Ballard.
It was the middle innings that plagued Orange again, but unlike Tuesday, Richmond wasn’t willing to return the favor.
“We’re just not doing the things we need to do to win legion baseball games,” said Orange coach Chris Haney. “We can hit with people, but we can’t bang with them. We’re not going to get into a slugfest.”
The Richmond batters made the most of a shallow field at the Diamond Club, going deep four times. Dustin Sollars’ three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth was the finishing blow.
“Their pitcher had been throwing it hard and down the middle all inning,” Sollars said. “So I just sat on and first pitch it was there, and I happened to get all of it.”
Sollars, who will play for Longwood College next season, also did his part on the mound, pitching four innings of scoreless relief and picking up the win.
“I was just trying to hit my spots every time, and hopefully when they’d hit the ball my defense would be there,” Sollars said.
In the first five innings, the two teams went back and forth, exchanging leads three times.
Orange was up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth. The offense was fueled by a pair of solo home runs, from Matt Torres and Hunter Kenney, whose blast to right field went out of the park and across the street, before finally hitting a house facing the field.
But aside from the two four-baggers, the Orange bats were quiet, and the Richmond defense was staunch and error-free.
“In Legion baseball you take two or three schools and mold three or four all-stars into one team, and most the time they’re rivals,” Ballard said. “This team really gets along. That’s where the cohesion comes from. It’s what I’m most proud of about these guys.”
Orange struggled mentally on defense for the second straight game, and Richmond’s high-powered offense made them pay double for every mistake.
At this late point in the season, it’s a problem that Haney can’t fix on his own.
“This isn’t a situation where I can sweat it out of them,” Haney said of his team. “They have to look in the mirror and look at what’s been happening. We’ve stunk up the joint these last two nights.”
Orange has a chance to rebound Thursday against Staunton Post 13 in an elimination game at the Diamond Club in Stuarts Draft. But things didn’t get much better.
Trailing 6-1 after two innings, Orange got within 7-5 in the seventh, but host Staunton put up five runs in its final two at-bats.
Zac Marion and Nick Balisteri hit back-to-back homers for Staunton in a five-run second inning.
Derrick Justice went two for four and Jeremy Brown hit a two-run homer for Post 156, which finished 19-10.