AAA Northern Region Baseball
Infante Stylish for Lake Braddock
The Bruins storm the field and winning pitcher Joe Infante, right, who three-hit Stone Bridge in a region semifinal.
(By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)
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Thursday, June 1, 2006
When Lake Braddock senior Joe Infante pitches, he not only needs a catcher, he needs a tailor.
Yesterday during his three-hit 6-1 win over Stone Bridge in the Virginia AAA Northern Region semifinals, Infante belt his broke after the first pitch. The buttons on his jersey occasionally came undone. And on every follow-through, his cap tilted off to the side.
"That's my style, I guess," Infante said with a laugh. "I'm a lefty. Lefties are a little off."
What Infante, a closer at the beginning of the season, lacked in fashion he made up for by striking out 10 batters and walking three in sticky heat at Madison to push his Bruins (21-4) into the region championship for the first time since 2000.
Eight of nine Lake Braddock starters had at least one hit, and all six runs came with two outs against Stone Bridge senior right-hander Chris Dzurilla, including a two-run double by senior Ian Smith in the fourth inning. Sophomore Jim Buckley, junior David Fennessey and sophomore Bret Williams all had RBI hits in the third.
Stone Bridge (17-9), making its fourth straight regional appearance, was competing in its first season in AAA.
In the other semifinal, Oakton (17-6) fell behind by three runs in the top of the first inning but roughed up three Langley pitchers, including senior ace Bryce Morrison, for 12 hits in a 12-5 win.
Oakton junior Brandon Padula and senior Chris Despins combined for five hits -- including two doubles and two homers -- and seven RBI. Junior Eric Cantrell allowed one run in three innings of relief and junior Kevin Wager pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.
Oakton lost four of its first six games. Even so, Coach Scott Rowland told his assistants during the team's spring break trip that if the Cougars could find a way to qualify for the region tournament, they could do some damage once they got there.
"They thought I was nuts," said Rowland, whose team started only three seniors last night in the program's sixth region semifinal appearance in seven years. "I'm pretty happy that our guys expect to be playing for this game."
Langley (15-10), vying to reach the region final for the first time since 1985, stranded nine base runners.
Lake Braddock 6, Stone Bridge 1 Oakton 12, Langley 5 Surprise Finalists? Lake Braddock and Oakton are traditionally two of the stronger programs in the region, but the Bruins returned only one regular from last year, and Oakton was without several injured starters at the beginning of the season. Both teams have qualified for the state tournament. Up Next: Lake Braddock will face Oakton for the Northern Region championship, 7 p.m. tomorrow at Madison.
