Boys lose in state quarters

In Thursday's Region II semifinal game, the fighting Hornets slipped past the Sherando Warriors in a comeback effort on a rainy night at Porterfield Park.
The Warriors burst out of the gate with a two run blast that nearly landed in Gordonsville from Sherando junior Derek Reid. Reid's rocket soared into uncharted territory hitting the press box in leftfield which is approximately four hundred feet from the plate. This shot extended their lead to three nothing before the game was twenty minutes old. But that was all the Warriors would get from the stingy Orange defense. Hornet's hurler, Derek Justice, would go on to pitch four more innings of shutout ball.
Although Orange was down by three early, it did not take long for their bats to come alive. In the bottom of the first, Lazaro Torres ripped a line drive into the left field gap and was later driven home by a two out double, courtesy of Chris Bittner.
The charging Orange offense continued their assault on Warrior pitching in the second. Junior Chase Hutchison took advantage of the leadoff hit from Nick Bledsoe with an RBI single to cut the Warrior lead to 3-2. Already electrified by the offense, the Hornet faithful was sent into a frenzy when speedy Junior Corey Schmidt hit an RBI triple to tie the game.
After five full innings of strong pitching Derrick Justice, coach Jesse Lohr called upon Orange ace DJ Brown to shut down the Warriors in a tied game entering the sixth. Brown's first batter was Sherando's monstrous cleanup hitter, Reid, who already had two RBIs in the game. After a tough at bat, Reid sent Brown's fastball into leftfield to give the Warriors a leadoff base runner. He was stranded, however, thanks to two clutch K's by Brown.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brown and catcher Torres proved that their pitcher/catcher chemistry extends to a contact/cleanup hitting duo when Torres lasered an RBI double to bring home Brown and complete the comeback.
Brown tacked on two more strikeouts in the seventh to seal the deal for Orange, and put them into the region finals game against the Potomac Falls Panthers on Friday. Orange's assistant coach Skeeter Lutz was "pleased with the boy's performance and [hopes] to play another complete game in the final," he said.
Coming off a huge comeback performance, the Orange County Fighting Hornets were ready to take their home field against the Potomac Falls Panthers in their Friday night bout with both teams vying for the Region II Championship.
With future JMU athlete Brown on the mound for Orange, the Hornets hoped to get off to a better start then they had the night before in the semi-final game against Sherando. But their wishes were not granted, for Panther sophomore Ryan Miller got to Brown early with an RBI single. And although Orange infielder Trey Maupin began the bottom of the first with a leadoff single, the Hornets could not capitalize; this was a trend that would carry throughout the night.
As the third inning began, the sky opened up atop the stagnant bats of the Fighting Hornets, who were hoping that the rain may cool off the fiery Panther's pitcher. It did. After a pair of extra base hits by Bledsoe and Schmidt, the Hornets were knotted up at one, and forced the Panthers to make a pitching change.
The two pitchers were ensconced in a pitcher's dual leading up to the seventh and final frame.
With the crowd roaring Brown's name as the first batter for the Panthers took to the box, they were suddenly silenced when the first two batters for Potomac Falls singled, putting two runners on with no outs. Brown's seventh and final strikeout sparked the roars once again, this time, louder than ever. But again they were quieted when the Panther's catcher, Mike Spring, struck a seeing eye single up the middle to drive home the go ahead run. Brown rebounded though by sitting down the next batter to put the Hornets one out away from entering the bottom of the inning with only a one run deficit. Unfortunately for Orange, a routine dribbler to third was thrown into shallow right field, plating another Panthers player. The next batter would be Brown's last; although Brown once again got ahead in the count two zero, a two-run double by sophomore Matt Rubino extended the Panther's lead to four, and ended Brown's night. As he walked lividly back to his dugout, the crowd once again rose to their feet to applaud their beloved pitcher.
Bledsoe, who had a fantastic night in the field recording all three outs in splendid fashion in the sixth, closed out the inning sending the Region II Championship game into the bottom of the seventh.
While Bittner hit a two-out single, a weak grounder to third ended the game giving the Potomac Falls Panthers a 5-1 victory over Orange.
Although disappointed, the long time pitching coach Bill Harner was "proud of the boys for their performance. We just have to regroup and be prepared to play next week," he said.
The Hornet's will travel east to Poquoson Tuesday to play their state quarterfinal game.
Unfortunately for Orange, their magical season came to an end.
The Hornets jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Brown’s two-run home run in the fourth inning and Orange held the lead until the Islanders rallied in the sixth.
After being baffled all afternoon by Hornet hurler Justice, the Islanders started taking the lefthander the other way and slapped four hits in the sixth to go up 4-2.
The Hornets were unable to rally in the top of the seventh and ended their season 21-3.