Since I live in Massanutten now, I get to watch East Rock, many Bull Run teams and most of the Valley teams. My 2 cents of the 2A remaining teams:
Girls: Luray and Strasburg are good teams, albeit very different styles and personnel. Neither is state championship caliber IMHO.
Boys: East Rock is big, shoots lights out and is deep. Nickels is a legit D1 talent. They probably lose to JM Tuesday but I think it will be a much better game than most think. And if it is real close late, I like ERs chances.
Tyce McNair is a heckuva guard/leader. If Evick is on, his range is out to the logo (seriously).
ER doesn’t have a true center though. They have a bunch of 6’5-6’7 guys but they are slim. If JM pounds it inside, the ER party will be over.
It's OK to go visit for a couple of hours...bullet proof vest gets too hot in the summer to wear it much longer...but would prefer Cherry Grove in North Myrtle 1,000,000 to 1. Prefer Sunset Beach 1,000,000 to 1 over Cherry Grove. Just sayin'...
We love our condo at Sea Cabin in Cherry Grove...best pier on the grand strand IMHO.
haha just kidding, gotta do what you gotta do mess up a pitchers rhythm, and try to get runners in scoring position to complete the #1 goal of the season.......
The girl who bunted does it all the time. She’s fast obviously. Did it against us multiple times. When the Richlands pitcher shut out Page, knew they had a real shot. Madison has struggled at the plate without Johnson (acl). It’ll probably be Richlands, Page and Madison again next year!
I didnt catch that at first but apparently the throw went between Estes legs. I was assuming it was on the play at the plate originally but apparently not.
Coaches...with Estes back, they moved the girl who has been catching for the last month to CF and 3B to catcher. Looks like that had cost them... but if they can’t hit it won’t matter.
4 minutes ago, 1inStripes said:
I didnt catch that at first but apparently the throw went between Estes legs. I was assuming it was on the play at the plate originally but apparently not.
She held them in check. Not that it matters, but I’m impressed. Page is a good hitting team...better than Madison. Good luck in the finals. Basically the same teams from 2017.
Richlands should have a decent shot at the title this year. There was a rumor that Estes would be back in the circle for Madison but she didn’t throw today. Seale is good but not at Estes’ level.
Not a SWVA report but had the chance to see a bunch of 2A schools last weekend.
East Rock looked pedestrian at best...but the Nichols kid did not play due to a knee injury. But to his credit, he was there all weekend supporting his team.
Madison County could be a dark horse. They had a couple of big guys who o do not recall from last year. They beat a couple of solid 4A teams and lost a good game to 5A Albemarle.
After reading the reasons given in the paper, it was probably a decent idea to postpone baseball/softball. Seems most of the coaches were in agreement.
State title game will be a rematch of some sort in 3 of the 4 possibilities.
Richlands vs Lebanon is a district rematch.
Page vs Madison is a district rematch.
Richlands vs Madison is the rematch of the title game 2 years ago.
Really, only Lebanon vs Page would be a “fresh” matchup.
Page and Madison is not currently a District game. Page is in the Shenandoah while Madison is in the Bull Run. The schools have played each other in most sports for years though. And they seem to meet for the Tegion B title frequently.
Starting this fall, Page will join the Bull Run. Then, the District tourney will likely be state championship caliber.
Page is a really good hitting team. If the Richlands pitcher holds them in check, I’ll be a believer.
I know nothing at all about Lebanon but they may have the better draw. I’m not expecting Madison to win it all though Here’s why:
Madison’s ace, Estes, cannot pitch or play SS. Their big bomber Hannah Johnson tore an ACL and is out. The current pitcher, Seale, broke a bone in her pitching hand 4 weeks ago. A freshman is now at SS...but she did have 4 RBI today. The CF is now catching...Yada, yada, yada.
But they still made the State semis so who knows.
But it will be tough to overcome those kind of losses and still win the State or beat Lebanon for that matter
He was talking about Baseball in that pitching matchup. Lebanon may have the best pitcher in the state, certainly at the Class 2 level.
Pages TR Williams (sophomore)was just named Region B POY again; reaffirmed his commitment to VT; and will be pitching for Team USA again this summer.
I’d really like to see him and the kid from Lebanon going against each other in HS. Probably have to wait until ACC games...or the MLB! I counted 21 clipboard toting, radar gun pointing scouts at Williams last outing.
The best pitcher in 2A plays for Richlands not Lebanon or Page County. I agree , Lebanon & Page Co would be worth $10 ticket though. (Edit: Oops, missed you were talking about baseball)...in that case, yes I agree!)
In 2A softball, I’d argue that the best pitcher plays for Madison County. Logyn Estes will be pitching for East Carolina next year. She was well on her way to POY until separating her shoulder a couple of weeks ago when sliding head first into home. She is only hitting now. She beat Page twice this year ( and Richlands in 2017). Their second pitcher is good but it’s hard to replace mid 60 speed.
Lebanon and Page Co COULD meet Friday in the state semifinals. Man oh man... I’d love to see a Buchanan/Williams match up. Probably the two best pitchers in 2A going at it would be well worth the $10 entry fee.
Richlands has consistently beaten teams twice the size of them when they play their out of district schedule. They've won games in big tournaments and have a pitcher that is pushing 800 strikeouts for a career as a junior.
Richlands, Lebanon and Battle are all three teams that I think deserved to be in this state tournament. The depth may not be there at the bottom, but the top is just as good as the top of the east.
But could those teams Richlands is beating compete in other parts of the state? Maybe, possibly.
I hope SWVA softball proves it is as good as other parts of the state...but I don’t see any historical proof of such.
The top of SWVA is every bit as strong. I think depth is the determining factor there.
I love you and your insights but I’d have to disagree here. I’ll admit that I have not seen Lebanon and haven’t seen Richlands since 2017.
With that being said, and no way of proving this, I’d wager that neither Richlands or Lebanon would win the regular season in the ‘Doah or the Bull Run. One of them might get hot and win the tourney but I doubt they could consistently beat Page, Buffalo Gap, Wilson, Madison or Clarke. But that is just my opinion...I wouldn’t be surprised to be wrong😀
Overall yes. Not saying that there cannot be one team that is very strong coming out of SWVA...there usually is. But from my perspective of being from (and loving) SWVA sports to living in the Shenandoah area, has given me a different view.
I think there is much more depth of talent in other areas of the state. And that is a huge change from my views growing up.
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Since I live in Massanutten now, I get to watch East Rock, many Bull Run teams and most of the Valley teams. My 2 cents of the 2A remaining teams:
Girls: Luray and Strasburg are good teams, albeit very different styles and personnel. Neither is state championship caliber IMHO.
Boys: East Rock is big, shoots lights out and is deep. Nickels is a legit D1 talent. They probably lose to JM Tuesday but I think it will be a much better game than most think. And if it is real close late, I like ERs chances.
Tyce McNair is a heckuva guard/leader. If Evick is on, his range is out to the logo (seriously).
ER doesn’t have a true center though. They have a bunch of 6’5-6’7 guys but they are slim. If JM pounds it inside, the ER party will be over.