West Springfield Blows Past Rival Braddock

A perfect Tuesday night for baseball saw the renewal of one of Fairfax County's best rivalries as No. 11 and undefeated Lake Braddock rode up the street to take on the defending Class 6 champions, West Springfield. The teams met 5 times in 2018, with Lake Braddock taking the first three meetings, but West Springfield won the two games that mattered most, the Region C Championship and the State semifinal matchup between the two. In Tuesday night's game, the Spartans had a big first inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead, and eventually put the game away with a 7-run fifth inning to walk off with a 13-3 victory.

Both teams started juniors on the mound, with West Springfield going with righty Coleman Grehawick and Lake Braddock going with lefty Jay Cassady. Grehawick worked out of a jam in the top of the first and the Spartans' offense got to work quickly in the bottom half of the inning. Alec Reilly (CNU) and David Giorgis singled to open the inning and were bunted into scoring position. Reilly scored with an outstanding slide on a safety squeeze, and then Wayne Romero singled to center, driving in two more runs. Jake Roberti added another RBI single later in the inning, and West Springfield jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning.

Cassady led the top of the second off with a home run to center to get Lake Braddock on the board, and Grehawick would allow another hit before he was able to shut down the inning. Cassady also worked around trouble in the second but put up a scoreless inning. Lake Braddock added another run with another leadoff home run in the third when Lyle Miller-Green (George Mason) drilled one out to left. Cassady again worked around trouble, allowing the Spartans to load the bases, but escaping without any more damage, and after three the score was West Springfield 4, Lake Braddock 2.

Braddock cut it to 4-3 in the top of the fourth after Sam Grable led off with a double to left, and eventually scored on a Michael Weidinger groundout. In the bottom of the fourth, Braddock went to the pen for senior Noah Adcock-Howeth (Mary Washington), and he was promptly welcomed by a Reilly double and a Giorgis RBI single to center to extend the lead to 5-3. Giorgis' courtesy runner would score the Spartans' sixth run when he stole third base and the throw went into leftfield, making the score 6-3 after four.

Roberti came in to pitch for West Springfield and worked around two baserunners for a scoreless inning. The Spartans would end the game in the bottom of the fifth with a seven-run rally. Giorgis and Jeffrey Beavers (Hampden-Sydney) had the big blows in the inning, with both drilling 2 RBI doubles to center. Romero delivered the final blow, with an RBI single to center that got past the outfielders and rolled to the wall, allowing him to come all the way around to score the walk-off run.

For West Springfield, Reilly went 3-4 with a double and three runs. Giorgis was 3-3 with a HBP, 2B, and 3 RBIs. Beavers was 1-4 with a double and 3 RBIs. Romero was 3-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs. 

For Lake Braddock, Miller-Green was 2-3 with his home run. Connor O'Grady-Walsh was 1-1- with a 2B and 2 walks. Cassady was 1-3 with a home run, and Grable was 2-2 with a 2B and a run.