Langley Is Battery Operated

Langley catcher Christina Bumpus had her glove in exactly the right place last night, catching a foul-tip third strike in the bottom of the seventh inning to end a 2-1 win over W.T. Woodson.

Bumpus's proficiency behind the plate means a lot to the Saxons, who for the past two years have established themselves as one of the top hitting squads in the Virginia AAA Northern Region.

But when ace pitcher Paige Miller graduated last year, it seemingly created a hole in Langley's lineup. Enter the sophomore Bumpus, who is instructing Miller's replacement, Jessica Milloy.

"She's the brains of the operation," joked Milloy, who threw a one-hitter with one walk last night in Fairfax. "We really depend on her. She calls the game."

Milloy yielded a single off the first base bag to Marissa Cozette to lead off the fourth and a two-out walk in the seventh inning. She finished with six strikeouts and retired 11 consecutive batters at one point. W.T. Woodson's run in the bottom of the first was unearned.

The Saxons (15-3, 10-2) remained tied in the loss column with Madison behind unbeaten Stone Bridge in the Liberty District. W.T. Woodson (9-6, 7-4) is in fourth place and plays at Madison on Monday and then hosts the Warhawks on Tuesday.

Langley will face its toughest week of the season starting Tuesday, when it hosts Stone Bridge, then welcomes Madison on Friday.

"We started strong this season and then had a little bit of a lull, but we're putting it together now," Saxons Coach Bob Morrow said. "You want to play well going into the postseason. Jessica pitched like gangbusters tonight. She used a variety of pitches and moved them around."

The Saxons scored twice in the first inning against Cavaliers senior pitcher Laura Gibson, who did not start in Langley's 7-2 win at home against W.T. Woodson in April. Junior third baseman Bridget Desbois drove in a run with one of her two doubles, and Bumpus followed by singling in Desbois.

"We had to be aggressive, we knew [Gibson] threw hard," Desbois said. "We're a young team, and we're gaining our experience. This is what we need [down the stretch]."

Woodson scored on a two-out infield error in the first inning.

"We never recovered from that first inning," Cavaliers Coach Bob Coleman said. Gibson "pitched strong, it wasn't her fault. We're just not getting the consistency we need from our offense; and Langley didn't make any mistakes."

La ngley 2, W.T. Woodson 1 Close Calls: Last night marked W.T. Woodson's third 2-1 loss to teams ahead of it in the district. Stone Bridge won the other two. Top Heavy: The first four batters in Langley's lineup (Kelsey Green, Katherine Miller, McKinley Cooper and Bridget Desbois) each is batting over .500.