High schools begin chase for region, district titles

By Ted Allen

Published: May 18, 2008

Spring high school sports hit full speed with postseason play today when Dogwood, Seminole and Western Valley District tournaments start in baseball, softball and boys and girls soccer.

Jefferson Forest baseball coach Ryan Gilleland expects hitters to have an advantage on pitchers at this stage of the season.

“You have to be able to swing the bat because there are not too many low-scoring games from here on out,” he said after the Cavaliers clinched their third Seminole District title in a row with Friday night’s 10-4 victory over Amherst. “It always seems like end of the year everyone’s swinging the bat pretty well and pitching arms are getting tired. You have to take advantage of opportunities with runners in scoring position.”

JF, the defending champion, has a first-round bye in the tournament and will face the winner of today’s quarterfinal between No. 5 Amherst and No. 4 Liberty on Wednesday at Heritage. Today’s other quarterfinal matchups are No. 7 Staunton River at No. 2 Heritage and No. 6 Brookville at No. 3 Rustburg.

In the Dogwood District, Appomattox secured the No. 1 seed by winning the regular season in its first season back in the league after spending the past two in the Seminole. The Raiders will host the winner of today’s game between fifth-seeded William Campbell and fourth-seeded Nelson County in Wednesday’s semifinal. Tonight’s other quarterfinals pit Altavista at Dan River and Gretna at Chatham.

After finishing second in the Western Valley District, Glass’ baseball team gets a bye to Wednesday’s semifinal round, when it will host the winner of today’s game between Franklin County and William Fleming.

Tonight at Lynchburg College’s Shellenberger Field, Glass’ girls and boys lacrosse teams take on Patrick Henry in a doubleheader, starting at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., respectively, to determine the Western Valley District champions. The Hilltoppers and Patriots split their two regular-season meetings. Glass will vie for its first-ever Northwest Region tournament berths in both.

Glass’ boys tennis team seeks to defend its Northwest Region team title today at 5 p.m. when it hosts Fauquier in the final, which will determine its first-round opponent in the Group AAA state tournament and whether it hosts that match or not.

The Hilltoppers will host the Northwest Region boys and girls individual tournament with singles and doubles quarterfinals set for Wednesday and semifinals and finals played on Thursday.

Brookville’s boys tennis team, the Seminole District regular-season champions, will host Spotswood at Heritage today at 4 p.m. in the first round of the Region III tournament. Jefferson Forest’s girls team will also host a Region III opener while the Cavaliers’ boys team travels to Alleghany.

Gretna’s softball team defeated Altavista to secure first place in the Dogwood standings, eliminating the need for a three-way tie-breaker on Saturday. The Hawks will host the winner of today’s quarterfinal between Appomattox and Chatham on Wednesday. District runner-up and defending Group A state champion William Campbell hosts Nelson County and No. 3 Altavista hosts Dan River in today’s other quarterfinals.

The Seminole softball race was just as tight with the second-, third- and fourth-place teams all going 12-6 overall and Brookville (13-4, 12-2) clinching the title after finishing near the bottom of the standings last spring. It receives a first-round bye and will take on the winner between Liberty and Staunton River in Wednesday’s semifinals at Rustburg.

In the Western Valley District, Glass drew the fifth seed and will host fourth-seeded GW-Danville today at 5 p.m.

The Hilltoppers’ boys and girls soccer teams will host a WVD semifinals doubleheader Wednesday against the winners of today’s first-round games between GW-Danville and Halifax.

Jefferson Forest’s boys and girls teams both captured titles with perfect seasons in district play. They will host the winners of today’s No. 4-No. 5 games (Liberty vs. Staunton River for boys; Brookville at Heritage for girls) on Wednesday at JF (boys) and Amherst (girls) with both finals scheduled for Friday at Forest.

Appomattox’s girls soccer team won the three-team Dogwood District regular season and gets a bye through to the Region B tournament, with Nelson County and Dan River going head-to-head for the second spot.

Nelson’s boys team, which made it to the Group A state championship game last spring, awaits the winner of today’s first-round game between Appomattox and Galileo on Wednesday.