Fauquier blanks James Wood in district softball final

WINCHESTER — James Wood softball coach Todd Baker could tell something wasn’t exactly right with his team during Friday’s Class 4 Northwestern District championship game against Fauquier at Ridge Field.

The top of the first inning proved it.

The third-seeded Falcons unloaded for five runs in the inning and with sophomore Meghan Harrington in the circle that was plenty. Harrington tossed a two-hitter as Fauquier rolled over the Colonels 8-0.

James Wood (16-5) must now travel to Dulles District champion Riverside in the Region 4C semifinals at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Fauquier (20-3) will host Dulles District runner-up Woodgrove at 6 p.m.

The Colonels, the defending tournament champions, could not match the Falcons, who took advantage of a fast infield to smack 10 hits.

Five of those came in the disastrous first inning for the Colonels.

“I don’t think we were mentally right,” Baker said. “What we talked about in the [postgame] huddle is that we fought so hard to get here and then I think we took a sigh and a deep breath and we got smacked in the mouth in that first inning and couldn’t recover. We didn’t do the two things that we did to get here — play defense and hit. We didn’t do either one to them.”

James Wood starter Ivy Rosenberry got ahead of several hitters with two-strike counts, but the Falcons were able to hit sharp grounders that turned into hits on the hard infield.

Leadoff hitter Meredith Wayland got it started with a two-out single to right. She moved to second on a groundout. Callaway Lee followed with a grounder in the hole that ticked off shortstop Haley Kaiser’s glove into left and Wayland scored to make it 1-0. Back-to-back singles by Emily Turner and Harrington loaded the bases.

Emily Corum then plated a run with a perfect squeeze bunt as the throw to the plate was too late. Ashley Renzi walked to plate a run and it was 3-0.

Lauren Davis then smacked a comebacker to Rosenberry, but the Colonels ace thinking there were two outs threw to first instead of coming home and another run scored. Payton Swart, the ninth batter in the inning, then singled to left to make it 5-0.

“They looked more like the way we’ve looked the last two weeks,” said Baker of the Falcons. “I think it was one of those nights where we just weren’t ready and they were. Hats off to Fauquier and their coaching staff. They were ready to rock.

“It was a real fast infield so you had to move quick,” Baker added. “We weren’t moving our feet like we should have been. We just didn’t make the plays behind Ivy.”

Harrington, who tossed a three-hitter in beating Sherando 3-0 in the semifinals, said it nice to walk out to the circle for the first inning with a huge lead.

“As a pitcher it gets you really fired up,” said the right-hander. “It makes you feel like your team is behind you which is really nice. It takes a little bit of the first-inning pressure off. I was really glad about that.”

Harrington had not allowed a hit through the first three innings before James Wood put together its only big scoring threat in the fourth.

With one out, Afton Sykes singled up the middle to break up the no-hitter. Jenna Burkhamer and Rebecca Boone then drew walks to load the bases and put the Colonels within a swing of making it a tight game.

But, Harrington got tough. She struck out Hannah Davis and got Caitlyn Shutts on a weak groundout to second to end the inning.

“We definitely had done a lot of background research on what to throw to different batters,” Harrington said. “I had a pretty good idea of what we should throw in certain situations.”

“Tonight she maintained her velocity the entire night,” Baker said of Harrington. “She hit her spots. I don’t think she ever threw the same pitch twice in a row and the location. We weren’t really swinging at a lot of bad pitches. She kept us off balance all night.”

Aided by a misplay in the outfield, the Falcons would tack on two runs in the fifth and scored an unearned run in the seventh to complete the scoring.

James Wood pinch-hitter Kylie Prusik singled with one out in the seventh and Emma Van Horn walked, but Harrington got a strikeout and a pop-up to end it.

Backed by solid defensive play from shortstop Lee and second baseman Emma Carter, Harrington finished with seven strikeout and four walks as she avenged two regular-season losses to the Colonels.

“It was pretty satisfying because I know they are such a good team,” Harrington said of the win. “They really do have a great group of girls. It was pretty awesome.”

James Wood will look to regroup against Riverside.

“I know zero about Riverside,” Baker admitted. “I really don’t know much about Woodgrove either. I haven’t seen either one of them play. That’s kind of a good thing, too. It will be a good challenge for us. We will get on the bus and go down there and see what happens.”

He will not be making a major overhaul during the Memorial Day weekend.

“I don’t think we need to make any changes. I just think we need to be mentally right. That’s on the coaches as well as the players. We just have got to be ready.”

— Contact Walt Moody at

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1