Vienna has a LONG history & reputation for producing great baseball players. And if you missed this week's District Championship Baseball Game between Vienna's
Madison HS Warhawks and
McLean HS's Highlanders, you missed an EPIC game! Lucky for you, we are blessed with another post from Guest Blogger, Dave Graham. Enjoy!
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MADISON 4
McLEAN 1
We often hear during the NFL playoffs that it is tough to beat a team three straight times in a season. The same typically applies to the Liberty District Baseball Tournament. However, when one of the teams won the previous two games by a combined score of 24-6, is the top ranked team in the Northern Region and the second ranked team in the state, a third consecutive victory would seem to be a foregone conclusion. Facing such a daunting challenge, the Madison Warhawks rose to the occasion pulling off a miraculous upset to snatch the Liberty District Championship trophy from the hands of the defending District Champion McLean Highlanders.
Central to the stunning victory was a bold pitching strategy formulated by Madison Coach Mark “Pudge” Gjormand. Having given up a dozen runs in each of the previous contests between the teams, Gjormand had to find a way to shut down the McLean bats. Heeding the advice of Albert Einstein that “one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” Gjormand devised a scheme to keep the Highlanders off balance by pulling his pitcher every other inning regardless of how well he was doing.
When David faced Goliath, he chose five smooth stones. Gjormand chose four to hurl the stone. The first three---Eli Facenda, Dan Powers and Nate Favero---pitched two innings apiece and the fourth---Danny Cate---closed in the seventh. They embodied the age diversity of the team; respectively, they are a junior, freshman, sophomore and senior. The first and third are more finesse pitchers while the second and fourth are more power pitchers. Facenda, a stocky lefty, was followed by a trio of righties who kept getting longer and lankier. Backed by several stellar defensive plays, the quartet combined to limit the potent McLean line up to three hits and a lone unearned run.
In addition to having the advantages of being a prohibitive underdog and having a daring pitching strategy, another factor in the Warhawk’s favor was that although the Highlanders were the higher seed, the location of the game had been predetermined to be Madison. To be sure the Highlander faithful were well represented but the Warhawk Nation was out in force and made the confines at JMHS “visitor” friendly.
Against that backdrop, the Highlanders sent Sean Fitzgerald, the Liberty District Pitcher of the Year, to the mound. He had pitched three innings Friday night getting the win in extra innings in the semifinal game. He began this game in impressive fashion needing only thirteen pitches to set down the side in order on an infield pop up, a comebacker and a strike out.
Facenda started the game pitching carefully to Liberty District Player of the Year Riley Beiro ultimately issuing a five pitch walk. On a 1-1 count, he induced a room service ground ball to short and Andy McGuire, Favero and Jonny Graham dialed 6-4-3 for a splendid twin killing. This loomed particularly large when Fitzgerald shot a grounder through the left side for a single. Facenda retired the side on a comebacker.
Scott Bernier led off the second for the Warhawks by wearing a curve ball in the back. After a strike out, Jay Kenyon crushed a drive on a bounce off the fence to the left of the 415 sign in left center with Bernier scurrying home. Austin Mellor entered as a courtesy runner. It looked like Madison would put another run on the board when Graham scorched a shot to center. However, the fleet Beiro, who played shallow all game, raced in to make the catch and doubled the runner off second to end the inning.
Josh Sborz led off the second with a rocket barely over the second baseman’s leap that went to the fence for a double. After a pop up to second, James Oldenburg sacrificed the runner to third and was safe at first when the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag. Facenda picked off Oldenburg who broke for second. Graham looked Sborz back to third and fired to shortstop Andy McGuire who started to chase Oldenburg back to first then relayed home where Kenyon blocked the plate and tagged Sborz for a crucial out. After the textbook execution of the rundown, Charlie Geiger walked to put runners at first and second. Facenda got ahead of the next hitter 1-2, ran the count full and ultimately recorded a swinging strike out to conclude an eight pitch at bat.
Fitzgerald mowed down Madison in order in the top of the third needing only thirteen pitches sandwiching a pair of strike outs around a ground out.
In the bottom of the third with the top of the Highlander order coming to the plate, people were wondering if Facenda had been injured as Madison sent Powers to the mound. A freshman facing the top of the order in a 1-0 game when the starter had only thrown thirty pitches? Little did they know it was part of a plan. Beiro fouled off a pair of two strike pitches before drawing a walk on a full count. Chris Russo grounded a single through the left side to put runners at first and second. Powers got a huge out on strikes then a force play at second put runners at the corners. A wild pitch moved the runner to second but Beiro held third. With the runners off with the pitch, Powers escaped the jam getting another swinging strike out on a full count.
Matt Moore was plunked in the posterior with a curve ball to start the eventful fourth for the Warhawks. He was forced at second on Teddy Turner’s hard grounder to first. Bernier reached out and poked an outside pitch for a bloop single barely out of reach of the second baseman. The runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and after a strike out, Kenyon hit a grounder to short. The throw to first bounced and the first baseman knocked it down but couldn’t scoop it allowing Turner to score and putting runners at first and third. Mellor again entered as a courtesy runner. With an 0-2 count on Graham, Mellor advanced to second uncontested on a pitch in the dirt. On the ensuing offering, Graham fisted an inside breaking ball just hard enough to dump a single out of reach of the shortstop to drive in a pair of runs. The inning ended on a ground out but somehow Madison had manufactured three runs with only two bloop hits. Depending on who you were rooting for, the hits were either cheap or good pieces of hitting against a terrific pitcher. Either way, they gave Madison a 4-0 lead.
With one out in the bottom of the frame and Powers still on the mound, Oldenburg walked on a full count pitch and took second on a passed ball. After a fly out to right, Oldenburg scored when Bruce Beatty’s grounder was booted. The error meant that for what would turn out to be the only time in the ballgame, McLean batters would face a pitcher a second time. Beiro reached first when he was hit by a 2-2 pitch but Powers bore down, quickly got ahead of the next hitter 0-2 and ended the inning on a grounder to short.
Fitzgerald dominated with a 1-2-3 fifth needing only ten pitches to retire the side. Sticking with their game plan, Madison sent Favero out to pitch the bottom of the fifth. Andy McGuire started things with a web gem as he backhanded Fitzgerald’s bullet on one hop and lasered the throw to first. Denis Buckley was hit in the back with a curve ball and Chase Mills entered as a courtesy runner. Sborz scalded a line drive right at McGuire who made a fine catch jumping but not needing to fully extend to haul it in. The inning ended on a fly out on a full count. It was indicative of the kind of night it was for McLean that two balls they roped in the fifth produced outs while Madison used a pair of dinkers in the fourth to produce three runs. A sense of frustration must have been mounting for the “home” team.
Turner started the Warhawk sixth by drilling a shot over shortstop for a single. With one out, Ryan McGuire sacrificed him to second and he stole third getting a great jump off second and going in with a headfirst slide. It was all for naught as Fitzgerald ended the inning on a called strike three on a 3-2 pitch.
Facing the bottom third of the line up, Favero retired the side in order. His replacement at second, David Belt, stayed with a high pop up for the first out and a made a solid play on a grounder for the second out. The inning ended on a comebacker.
Graham led off the seventh going with the pitch to stroke a soft line drive to left for a single. Mellor entered as a pinch runner and Favero sacrificed him to second. Fitzgerald got his eighth strike out of the game for the second out and ended the inning on a comebacker. On the night he walked no one but the two batters he hit led to a pair of runs. Though charged with four runs, only one of them was earned.
With the top of the order coming up, Cate took the mound for Madison. He was focused and quite loose having warmed up a number of times in previous innings. He started the inning facing the dangerous Beiro. After fouling off a two strike pitch, Beiro looked at called strike three and stalked back to the dugout shooting a disgusted look at the plate umpire. Russo hit a hard grounder to short on an 0-1 pitch. Andy McGuire’s throw to first was high but Graham leaped and made an acrobatic play to snare the ball and make a sweep tag on Russo for the out. The game ended on another grounder to short with McGuire making the pick up and another strong throw to first for his seventh assist of the night.
It was a tough loss for a marvelous McLean team that had won 29 of 31 Liberty District regular season and playoff games over the last two years. In particular, it was a tough loss for Fitzgerald who was attempting the remarkable feat of winning both the semifinal and final games of the District tournament. After pitching three innings three days earlier, he had tossed 108 pitches in seven innings. Next year he will pitch for the Fighting Irish and hear about Notre Dame’s fabled Four Horsemen backfield that played football in the 1920’s. On this night though, Madison rode its own version of the Four Horsemen---Facenda, Powers, Favero and Cate---to a victory that will long live in Warhawk folklore.
As the exuberant Madison players and coaches celebrated on the infield, one could almost hear Al Michaels saying, “Do you believe in miracles?” Coach Gjormand summed it up noting, “We had a great approach against one of the best pitchers in the Northern Region. We beat a great team tonight; I tip my hat to them. They don’t make many mistakes but we took advantage when we had the opportunity. We played almost a flawless game, battled for everything and got a few breaks. We had been planning how to win this game for a long time and decided to run a potpourri of pitchers at them. Eli, Dan, Nate and Danny all did a great job. Our kids have been resilient all year and I’m excited for this group to win their first championship.”
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Other posts about Vienna Baseball:
Yeonas Park - The Old-Fashioned Back Fence ,
Baseball At Waters Field,
Baseball & Apple Pie
