Gretna, Middlesex unfamiliar foes

By Ted Allen

Published: June 2, 2008

If it’s good to know your enemy, Gretna’s softball team could be in trouble for today’s Group A state quarterfinal against Middlesex (17-3) starting at 5 p.m.
“I know absolutely nothing about them (other than) they’re a young team,” Hawks coach Ketina Brooks said.
At the same time, the Chargers don’t have much of a scouting report on Gretna.
“We haven’t heard anything about them,” said Middlesex coach Wade Traynham, whose team is making its first state tournament appearance in school history. “It’s going to be an adventure.”
Gretna (18-4) swept its way through the Region B tournament last week without scouting any of its opponents, dealing Buckingham (20-1) its first defeat in the championship game.
Winning that game gave the Hawks one decided advantage — hosting today’s state quarterfinal rather than making a three-and-a-half-hour drive to play in front of a hostile crowd.
“Our fan base of support has been really, really good,” Brooks said.
Middlesex’s only three losses came to Tidewater District champion Mathews, including 3-2 in 15 innings in the Region A final played before close to 1,500 fans.
The Chargers have experienced some rough road trips from Saluda, an hour east of Richmond. They beat Windsor in the Region A opener after their bus broke down near Newport News.
Traynham, who played in the NFL for two years as a placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers in the 1960s before tearing a ligament kicking a 37-yard field goal into the wind at Soldier Field, doesn’t have great expectations against Gretna.
“We’re considerably an underdog,” he said. “I just hope they have a good time … and do the best we can. If they win, that’d be great. I don’t expect them to.”
He just wants to see his team, which features seven new players and only two returning starters, execute and maintain its focus throughout the contest.
“We try to play fundamental softball,” Traynham said. “We don’t have a lot of speed or a lot of power. We just try to hit it, put the ball in play somewhere. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. We’re an average team. Sometimes, we get lucky bounces.”
Like Gretna, which features Dogwood District pitcher of the year Teresa Dalton, Middlesex relies on its pitcher, Janie Holmes, who will play for Roanoke College next year.
She one-hit Mathews in the Chargers’ only win over the Blue Devils this season.
“She mixes it up a little bit,” Traynham said.
Brooks believes competing in the Dogwood District — against Altavista and defending state champion William Campbell — prepared the Hawks well for the state playoffs.
“Everybody from the district was a great test,” she said.
Senior leadership, especially from Dalton and center fielder Ceseley Haynes, could give Gretna an added edge against Middlesex, which has four freshmen and two sophomores.
“Teresa’s been exceptional as she has for the past three years,” Brooks said. “All six of my seniors have taken a leadership role. That’s what makes the team so unique, and the bond they have with each other. They keep each other up. We’ve been in tight games, five or six extra-inning games, and never before have I seen them get down on themselves or give up.”
It’s been 27 years since Gretna last played in a state tournament and 30 years since it competed in its first. Both of those teams made it to the Group AA state finals before losing to Spotswood, 8-5 in 1981, and Culpepper, 21-6 in 1978.
Tonight’s winner advances to Friday’s Group A semifinal at Radford University starting at 1 p.m. against either James River, the 2003, 2004 and 2006 state champions, or Coeburn.