James Wood falls to Loudoun Valley in 4A West Region softball

WINCHESTER — Loudoun Valley senior Sydney Hays said her team believes it always has a chance when junior Tressa Kagarise is in the pitcher’s circle.

And Hays gave Kagarise all the run support she would need with the first multi-homer game of her varsity career in a 4A West Region first round game against James Wood.

Hays homered twice and drove in three runs, and Kagarise tossed a four-hit shutout to lead Loudoun Valley to a 6-0 victory over James Wood at Ridge Field on Friday night.

“[Kagarise] was doing great and times like that we really need to put runs on the board behind her, so it really felt good to know that she knows we have her back,” said Hays, who hit her third and fourth home runs of the season. “It was good.”

For the Colonels (18-5), it was their second straight four-hit shutout loss after falling to defending Group 4A state champion Woodgrove 11-0 in six innings in the Conference 21 West championship game on Monday.

“[Kagarise] mixed her pitches in real well and kept us off balance,” said James Wood coach Todd Baker. “I think we might have played a little nervous today, especially early on. We didn’t make the plays and get the hits to stay in the game.”

The Vikings (18-4) broke open a scoreless game with a two-out outburst in the top of the third.

Loudoun Valley No. 9 hitter Grace Kopf-Grey singled through the middle — for the Vikings’ first hit of the game — off Wood starting pitcher Lauren King to lead off the inning.

Two outs later, Hays blasted a fastball from King over the left-center field fence to put the Vikings ahead 2-0.

From there, Sam Buckland reached on an error on a grounder to second, and Brooke Cassada Maple followed with a single back through the middle.

With runners on first and third, Mackenzie Fisher singled to right, driving in Buckland and Cassada Maple, who also scored after James Wood right fielder Haley Kaiser struggled to get a handle on the ball.

King walked Kagarise, but the Colonels junior got out of the inning — and saved another run — by gloving a hard liner back to the circle off the bat of Kelly Kmetz.

The Vikings sent nine batters to the plate and scored four runs (two earned) on four hits off King (10-2), who exited after three innings.

“I think the defense was backing me up, but I could’ve pitched better,” King said. “I was a little too on-the-plate [with some pitches].”

The four-run third proved to be more than enough for Kagarise, who allowed just two hits — a pair of singles by James Wood junior Lindsey Anderson — through the first four innings.

Kagarise retired the Colonels in order in the second, third and fifth innings.

“She’s definitely our ace,” Loudoun Valley coach Carly Schmidt said of Kagarise. “We go to her whenever we need those big wins. She’s definitely a huge asset and we’re definitely happy to have her.”

James Wood’s best threat came in the bottom of the sixth.

Colonels senior Courteney Harper (1 for 3) singled past the shortstop to start the inning — giving Wood a leadoff hitter on base for just the second time against Kagarise.

Wood senior Alyssa Brown followed with a drive into the gap in right-center, but Vikings center fielder Olivia Badura made a nice running catch with her glove about knee-high when she tracked it down on a full sprint. Harper needed to hustle back to first and barely beat Badura’s throw back to the bag.

From there, Kagarise got Anderson to pop out to first for the second out.

King followed with a single to right to put runners on first and third, but Kagarise worked out of the jam by getting Spielman on a short pop-fly in foul territory near the Wood dugout.

The Colonels’ Spielman worked three innings of scoreless, no-hit relief, but the Wood junior ran into trouble in the seventh.

Hays launched a fastball from Spielman over the fence in center to stretch the Vikings’ lead to 5-0.

Buckland followed with a single, and Spielman walked Cassada Maple to put runners on first and second with no outs.

King re-entered in the circle and struck out Fisher for the first out. Kagarise hit a grounder back to the circle for the second out, but Buckland scored to put the Vikings ahead 6-0.

King retired Kmetz on a grounder to short to get out of the jam, but the damage was done with two big insurance runs.

“It was pretty well pitched by both sides, but [Hays] hit the two home runs and they were no-doubters,” Baker said. “She’s a great player. We had a few miscues, and before we knew it, it was 4-0 and that makes it tough. It takes you out of your running game and it takes your bunting game away. I had a good feeling about getting some bunts down today, but it just didn’t work out for us.”

Kagarise worked her fourth 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, getting another nice outfield grab from Kopf-Grey on a sinking line drive by Camryn Rizzari for the second out.

Then Kagarise got Emma Van Horn to ground out to second for the final out.

“I felt like we didn’t hit as well as we could’ve or should’ve,” said Anderson, who went 2 for 3 to lead the Colonels. “When we did get hits, we’d hit right to people. We just never got the right hit at the right time.”

Kagarise, who kept the Colonels off balance by mixing in a curveball, a screwball and a change-up with her fastball, credited her teammates.

“I think the teamwork is coming together,” Kagarise said. “Just as a team we’ve come so far since the beginning of the year and everyone has been able to pick everyone else up. No one puts their head down as soon as something bad happens.

“It means a lot. We really want to go to states so every step at a time.”

Loudoun Valley will travel to unbeaten and top-seeded Carroll County on Monday.

For the Colonels, their season ended one step shy of reaching the regional quarterfinals like they did a season ago.

Wood’s 18 victories was two better than last year when the Colonels ended the season 16-8. The Colonels only lose two starters (and their top two hitters in the batting order) — shortstop Harper and infielder Brown (who plays either second or third) — to graduation.

“This is such a tight group and it’s an emotional time,” Baker said. “Sometimes it’s bigger than losing a game. It’s seeing these seniors say their final goodbyes and it’s tough. But 18 wins — I’ll take it every year.”

Although it was disappointing to see the season end earlier than she hoped, King said it was hard to complain about what the team accomplished, starting the season 14-0 and earning another regional playoff berth.

“I can’t ask for more from the season because this is the best team that I’ve played on of all the years I’ve been here,” said King, who went 1 for 3. “I think it’s going to be that much better next year.”

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