Warhawk Softball, Baseball Sweep Langley

Madison High School's baseball and softball teams both defeated Langley High School this weekend.

WARHAWK SOFTBALL WINS PITCHING DUEL AGAINST SAXONS

The Madison Warhawks faced the Langley Saxons on Friday and came away with a 1-0 victory on a game that took only 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete. 

Both pitchers were outstanding, but Madison's Kelsey Ross from Madison was able to outduel Langley's Emily Templin. 

Ross was credited with a one-hit complete game shutout victory and overpowered Langley's potent lineup the entire game.  The only hit came in the top of the sixth as the Saxons' number nine hitter, Maggie Natal, stroked a solid line drive two-out triple to right field. Natal was left stranded, however, as Ross struck out the next batter to retire the side. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Madison's number nine hitter, Alex Alvarez, hit a double to right that nearly left the park. Alvarez advanced to third on a ground out to second by Kat Olson, and after a routine ground out to third by Jackie Yahner, senior Ally Grasso delivered the go-ahead RBI with a solid single up the middle. That run held up as the game winner, as Ross retired the side in order in the top of the seventh with three ground-outs to third baseman Mary Bolinger.

Both teams played flawlessly on defense all night.  The difference in the game was the timeliness of Madison's hits.  Besides Grasso and Alvarez, Jackie Yahner and Ross each contributed base hits for Madison.

Next week concludes the regular season for the Warhawks. The team plays Tuesday against McLean at home and on Friday against Thomas Jefferson.

MADISON BASEBALL EARNS COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN

Warhawk baseball overcame an early 2-0 deficit for an 8-2 victory Friday over Langley, avenging an early season loss to the Saxons in extra innings on their home tundra.

Mid-day thunderstorms gave way to a glorious evening in Vienna and thanks to the team’s hard work the field was playable by game time. 

Once the game started the hard work continued as Dan Powers and Nate Favero combined to scatter seven hits. The Madison offense clubbed thirteen hits with five players contributing two apiece.

To round out the effort the defense played errorless ball.

“This was a great night with a great environment," said Coach Mark “Pudge” Gjormand as a number of Vienna Little League teams came to watch the game. "I’m proud of the team; they played hard tonight.”

Langley's first run came in the top of the first.  With runners on the corners, two outs and a 1-2 count, Michael Byrne took off for second and the throw down was high. Madison's Nate Favero pulled it down with a leap and his throw back home was low, forcing Jack Anzilotti to short hop the throw on his knees in front of the plate. Anzilotti collided with Langley's Brandon Bast as he tagged him on a bang bang play at the plate, but the umpire ruled him safe, giving Langley a 1-0 lead.

The Saxons scored again in the third, when Bast blasted a bomb over the fence in right center.  The inning ended on a called strike three with Langley up 2-0.

The lead didn't last long: Langley started the third fanning the first two batters and then Andy McGuire battled through a seven pitch walk.  Favero went with an outside pitch and hit a laser to left.  As the ball tailed toward the line the left fielder tried to make a diving backhanded catch but the ball ticked off his glove for an RBI double.  The inning ended on a fly out but Madison had cut the Langley lead in half.

Madison scored again in the fourth, when McGuire hit a single to give a Warhawk runner the go ahead run, tying the game.

After grabbing a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third, the Warhawks broke the game open with five runs in the fifth to seal the victory.

The win was one of Madison’s best all around games of the year.  Particularly noteworthy was that with two strikes Warhawk batters collected five hits, three walks, an HBP and a sac fly. 

“We had a couple of great practices leading up to tonight," Gjormand said. "Dan [Powers] composed himself as he always does and we did a nice job of situation hitting.”

Heading into the final week of District play Stone Bridge and McLean will fight it out for the top two slots with the Bulldogs a game ahead of the Highlanders.  The bottom three slots are set.  The top two seeds get double byes in the District Tourney while the next two seeds only get a single bye.  Those byes are up for grabs as Madison, Langley and Marshall are all bunched at 7-5. 

Each of those three teams has split its games with the other two so needless to say, the tie breaker possibilities are probably quite complicated.  Madison and Langley both close with games against McLean and Jefferson; Marshall closes against Stone Bridge and South Lakes.  Be sure to tune in next week for a Liberty District fantastic finish.  

Warhawksports.org and Madisonwarhawkbaseball.com contributed reporting to this story.