Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Taylor Sandeur and Drew Turocy were first-team All-Valley League selections, and Cody Hudson was named to the All-Valley second team, in selections announced on Saturday.

Sandefur was dominant on the mound for Waynesboro in 2010, going 7-0 in 13 appearances, including eight starts, with a 2.26 ERA. Sandefur, a 6-2, 245-pound freshman from Western Carolina, had 60 strikeouts in 59 and two-thirds innings pitched and allowed opposing hitters to bat just .215 on the season.

Turocy, a 6-3, 190-pound junior centerfielder from Akron, led the Generals in batting average at .370 with a home run and 31 RBIs. Turocy also had eight stolen bases in 10 attempts and seven outfield assists.

Hudson, a 5-11, 183-pound freshman leftfielder from Austin Peay, hit .303 with 24 RBI, a team-high 36 runs scored and 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts.

A notable omission from the All-Valley teams was Waynesboro third baseman Grant Fillipitch, who led the team with six home runs, 34 RBI and a .497 slugging percentage while hitting .302 on the season.

Named first-team All-Valley League at third base was Mike Garza from Woodstock (.388, 3 HR, 30 RBI), and named to the second-team at third base was Brant Jones (.356, 5 HR, 34 RBI).

Front Royal got to Waynesboro starter Chastin Akers early and cruised to a 9-3 win in the deciding Game 3 of the teams’ first-round Valley League playoff series on Saturday night.

The Generals trailed 2-0 after one, but had a chance in the third to make it a game when a two-out walk to Chase Worthington loaded the bases for T.J. Kuban. Kuban flied out to deep right to leave the bases loaded, and Front Royal seized control with a threespot in the bottom of the third that knocked out Akers (1-1).

Waynesboro left 12 runners on base for the game.

First-team All-Valley outfielder Drew Turocy had three hits for Waynesboro.

The loss ends Waynesboro’s 2010 season.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Tim Leather had a rocky top of the first in his first start of the season, but after getting out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam with no damage, Leather was dominant, pitching seven scoreless innings to push Waynesboro to a 4-3 win over Front Royal in Game 2 of the teams’ first-round playoff series Friday night.

The win means there will be a deciding Game 3 Saturday night in Front Royal. First pitch in Bing Crosby Stadium is at 7:30 p.m.

Leather (1-0) also had to work his way out of a second-and-third, one-out situation in the third, striking out Cardinals’ cleanup hitter James Roche and getting Pete Greskoff to fly out to right. The Generals then put up a threespot in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Colin Harrington, a base on balls issued by Front Royal starter Ricky Ott (2-3) to Cody Hudson, and a wild RBI single by Grant Fillipitch that scored Harrington from second. On that play, Cards’ centerfielder Will Walsh tried to throw Hudson out at third base, but the ball hit Hudson on his slide into the bag and got away from third baseman Steve Rogers. Hudson scored, and Rogers’ throw home also got away from catcher Andy Drexel, allowing Fillipitch to advance to third, where he scored when Drew Turocy hit a sacrifice fly to left.

The Generals made it 4-0 in the fourth on another sac-fly RBI, this one off the bat of Harrington, scoring designated hitter Haskell Fink.

Leather handed a 4-0 lead to the bullpen in the eighth, but Front Royal got to the first man out of the pen, Zach McElroy, getting back-to-back doubles by Roche and Greskoff and an RBI groundout by A.J. Albee to make it 4-3 Waynesboro. Mark Lamm got the final two outs of the eighth, then closer Andrew Blackwell pitched a scoreless ninth, getting Matt Holland to fly out to Hudson in left to end it.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Heavy rain creating poor field conditions have once again delayed Game 2 of the Waynesboro-Front Royal first-round Valley League playoff series.

The game will be completed on Friday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field. The contest had gotten under way on Wednesday night, but was put into a delay with the score at 0-0 in the top of the second inning.

Heavy rain on Wednesday had pushed the completion of the game to Thursday at 7 p.m. Heavy rains in the Waynesboro area Thursday afternoon, with more in the forecast for the evening and night hours, forced the additional delay.

Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Waynesboro and Front Royal got in an inning Wednesday night before the rains came and washed away the rest of Game 2 of their first-round Valley League playoff matchup.

The game will resume in the second inning Thursday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field.

Both teams went down in order 1-2-3 in the first inning. Front Royal cleanup hitter James Roche had a 3-0 count from Generals starting pitcher Tim Leather when the game was put into delay by a thunderstorm around 7:20 p.m.

By 7:40 p.m., the field was unplayable, with standing water on the infield dirt at shortstop and second base.

Heavy rains in the forecast for later Wednesday night also factored into the lengthened delay.