All Things Valley League

More Pictures from the Finals

Here is one last set of Haymarket Joe pictures for the season...

Bob Van Woert


Mike Kaczmarek


Birthday boy Evan Noell


Dogpile!


2009 Valley League Champions!


With championship tee-shirts

Thanks, Joe, for all your pictures, and your unflagging optimism!

Haymarket Wins First Valley League Championship

Mark Andrews heaved his glove up in the air, and his hat soon followed. The rest of the team poured out on the field and piled on top of Andrews, whooping and screaming- the Haymarket Senators, the #7 seed in the playoffs, had just won their first ever Jim Lineweaver Cup.

Led by series MVP Michael Lang's 4 hits, the Senators used a 12-hit attack to finally subdue the Covington Lumberjacks.

Although the game ended at 6-1, most of the game was much closer than that. Evan Noell, playing this game on his 21st birthday, led off the scoring with a screaming home run, his first of the year, to left field with one out in the 3rd inning. "I was looking for a fastball, and he got one up in the zone," Evan explained.

After the Jacks tied the score in the bottom of the inning on Lammar Guy's 2nd homer of the season, all the scoring belonged to Haymarket. The Sens added a run in the 5th when Noell walked with two outs, and scored on Lang's double (one of three he'd have on the day). The floodgates opened in the 9th, when the Sens scored 4 times on 5 hits and one Lumberjack error. The big hit in the inning was an Evan Noell 2-run single. Scot Van Dusseldorp also singled in a run, and Michael Demma brought in the last run with a sacrifice fly.

On the mound, the Senators received a strong start from Bob Van Woert, who went 6 innings and allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and struck out 6. Mark Andrews received the save after he threw 3 shutout innings and allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 2. Andrews had thrown 5 2/3 innings just 3 days earlier.

The team was helped by an unusually tight relationship among the players on the team. "It wasn't anything I did," said Coach Ryan Fecteau, who admitted to being rather nervous the last two games. "It was this way from day one. The guys just really like being together."

Lang concurred, saying, "You talk to people who say that they can't wait to get back home, but it's been a different thing with these guys. We said, 'We're here, why not win the thing?'"

"We just told ourselves that we were going to get it done, at which point we got it done. It's a credit to everyone on our team, the coaches, and the owners," Noell added.

As the MVP, Lang was unconscious at the plate over the four games in the series. He went 11-19, with 3 doubles, a home run, 5 runs, 3 RBI, a walk, stolen base, and hit-by-pitch. "I'm just seeing the ball real great," he said. "It looks like a beach ball out there. When I'm at the plate, I've been beyond focused. I don't see anything or hear anything else at the plate."

Congratulations to the entire Haymarket organization!

Game Postponed

The finals game tonight in Covington has been postponed. Some heavy storms are rolling across Virginia; I'm assuming that they are the reason. Game will be tomorrow night, same time, same place!

Haymarket Joe Pictures from Game 3

Again, Haymarket Joe has graced ATVL with almost a dozen game pictures. Thanks, Joe!

Benedy Mejia


Michael Lang stealing second


Lammar Guy stealing second...


...and third


Bob Van Woert


Justin Richardson


Jack Leathersich


Ryan Durrence


Jim Vahalik sliding in


Sherman Johnson taking a pitch


Sam Greenberg scoring, while faceplanting


The Sens celebrate the win!

Senators Grab Series Lead With 5-3 Win

The Haymarket Senators defended home field last night, defeating the Covington Lumberjacks in game three of the Valley League championship series.

Led by Michael Lang's lead-off home run, the Senators scored 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 Covington errors, while the Jacks scored 3 runs on 4 hits.

The Senators added two runs to Lang's home run in the second on an RBI single by Lang and a sacrifice fly by Zeth Stone, making the game 3-0. Covington answered back with one in the third inning, when Lammar Guy used his speed, stealing second and third after a walk, and scoring on a Sherman Johnson sacrifice fly. The Jacks tied the game in the 6th, after Ryan Durrence was hit by a pitch, and JJ Muse walked. They were sacrificed to second and third, and Durrence scored on a Justin Richardson sacrifice fly. Muse consequently tied the game when he scored on a wild pitch.

The Senators took the lead back in the 6th, when Sam Greenberg was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on a Stone single. They added an insurance run in the 8th when Lang singled (his third hit of the game), went to third on an errant pickoff throw, and scored on a Stone sacrifice fly (his third RBI of the game).

The final score made a winner out of Bob Van Woert, who threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Jack Leathersich. Grant Sasser pitched scoreless 8th and 9th innings to earn a save. Benedy Mejia, he of the extra energy Sunday night, was saddled with the loss, as he gave up 5 runs (3 earned), in his complete-game effort.

The teams meet again tonight in Covington, where Haymarket will try to wrap up its first Jim Lineweaver Cup, and Covington tries to send the series to a game 5.

Haymarket Joe pictures coming later!

Haymarket Joe Pictures from Game 2

More pictures from Haymarket Joe! If you see him (or hear him) at tonight's game, make sure to thank him for all the great pictures he captures!

National Anthem time


Cassidy McDaniel pitching to Michael Lang


Mark Kuzma, Haymarket's starter


Sam Greenberg about to tag out Lammar Guy


Matt Suschak, the winning pitcher


Michael Lang scoring in the 3rd inning


Sherman Johnson safe at 2nd


Greenberg diving back to 1st


Mike Demma scoring in the 13th


Johnson swinging, Muse on deck

Thanks again to Haymarket Joe!

Senators Even Series, 1-1

Showing a resilience not often seen at the very end of a season, the Haymarket Senators used two dominating relief performances to outlast the Covington Lumberjacks in game two of the finals in 13 innings, 8-3.

Yes, you read that right- 8-3 in 13 innings. The Senators, at a slow boil all night, finally exploded in the top of the 13th inning against Lumberjack reliever Ryan Shook. The first run scored on an RBI single by Jim Vahalik, and two more scored on Tom La Stella's single, the only other hit in the frame. The Senators were aided by 4 walks, 2 hit-by-pitches, and 2 wild pitches in the 13th.

The aforementioned dominating performances on the mound came from Mark Andrews and Matt Suschak. Andrews relieved the starter, Mark Kuzma, with one out in the third inning. He ended up throwing 5 2/3 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 4. He was followed by Suschak, who threw 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 11 to earn the win.

The Senators were led at the plate by Michael Lang, who had three hits, and Greg Hopkins and La Stella, who had two each. Sherman Johnson and Lammar Guy each had three hits for the 'Jacks, and Johnson added two RBI on a double into the right field corner in the 3rd inning.

With the series now tied at one game apiece, the teams return to Haymarket tonight for game three, and will return to Covington for a game four on Tuesday night.

Game Notes

• Like game one, this game featured an ejection. One half inning after first base umpire Bobby Walker called "no swing" on Covington's Marcus Nidiffer, Haymarket first base coach Mike Martin was tossed by Walker. (Walker had a difficult night for an umpire- he had, seemingly, a half-dozen very, very close plays at first, and a few appeal plays, that had the Haymarket staff riled up. I have no idea how many, if any, he missed, but he was "complained at" quite a bit.)

• There were also many nice defensive plays in the 13 innings. One of the best was when Brian Jordan tracked down Jim Vahalik's excellent bunt in the 9th and flipped it to first straight out of his glove- just nipping the runner. Greg Hopkins made a diving stop and strong throw to retire Justin Richardson in the 6th. Marcus Nidiffer fielded a swinging bunt with the bases loaded and one out, stepped on the plate, and fired to first for the double play... there were even more than just these!

• Benedy Mejia looked like he was having fun during this drawn-out affair. The ballboys from each team spent most tof the game racing to fouls behind the plate, with the Haymarket kid winning over and over, due to the fact that he's much taller than his Covington counterpart. Surprising and delighting the crowd, Mejia leaped out of the dugout and chased a foul ball down, defeating the Haymarket ballboy. He called out a "Hah!" as he did so. Later he walked past the crowd with the big Lumberjack head on his head, also eliciting a cheer from the crowd.

• The game was delayed briefly in the bottom of the 7th by the appearance of two bats in the infield dirt close to second base. Tom La Stella threw his glove at them, one at a time, and then leaped back. They flew off and didn't return.

• ATVL was struck by how pumped the Haymarket bench was, even in the middle of a long game and down in the series. This team has a lot of fight left....

Pictures from Game 1

Here is a collection of 8 Haymarket Joe pictures from game 1 Saturday night. To see more, click on the Valley League website, and Haymarket Joe's website.

Daniel DeSimone, Covington's winning pitcher


Ryan Durrence sliding into Tom LaStella


Lammar Guy tagged out in a rundown in the 6th


Greg Hopkins making leaping grab of a throw from the outfield


Matt Benedict, Haymarket's starter


Michael Demma scoring on a wild pitch


Ryan Durrence taking a pitch- Evan Noell catching


Sherman Johnson retreating to first, Michael Demma receiving throw

Lumberjacks Hammer Senators in Game One

On a breezy, semi-cool evening in Haymarket, the Covington Lumberjacks broke out the lumber in pasting the home Haymarket Senators, 10-1. The Jacks now have home field advantage in the best-of-five championship series.

The top four in the Jacks' batting order created havoc all night. Lammar Guy got two hits and scored twice, Sherman Johnson had two hits and scored three times, JJ Muse scored once and drove in one, and Ryan Durrence scored twice and drove in two.

After a quick three scoreless innings, the Jacks broke open the scoring with three runs in the 4th inning, when Guy led off with a single, and Johnson and Muse walked to load the bases. Ryan Durrence brought home the first run with a soft groundout to third baseman Greg Hopkins, and after another out, Adam Browett brought in two more with a solid single to right field.

In the 6th inning, Durrence made the score 4-0 with a high-arcing home run off the scoreboard in left-center, his 13th of the season. In the very next inning the Jacks put the game away with two more, piecing together a hit-by-pitch, single, RBI single from Johnson, and the most controversial play of the game- a Johnson steal of home plate.

The play looked like this: Guy on third, Johnson on second, hard grounder to Hopkins at third. Guy was caught off the bag, so he broke for the plate, while gesturing back to Johnson to make sure Sherman took third. As soon as Johnson was standing at third, Guy was tagged out. What happened next was argued loudly- Johnson noticed that both the catcher and third baseman were standing away from the third base line, pretty close to the third base bag. The pitcher was on the mound, with his back to third. Johnson took off, and scored standing up. Did the Senators call time? They sure thought so. The umps conferred, and decided that the run counts. Haymarket coach Ryan Fecteau followed and argued with home plate umpire Greg Howard a bit too long, and Howard tossed Fecteau.

The Senators scored their run in the 7th inning after two walks with none out, and two wild pitches, bringing Michael Demma home with the Sen's only run of the night.

The Jacks scored again in the 8th inning on Drew Longley's blast way over the left-center field fence, his 6th of the year, making the score 7-1. Three more inconsequential runs were scored in the 9th, weirdly, on no hits. One hit-by-pitch and five walks equaled those three runs.

The other main story of the night was the fantastic job on the mound by Daniel DeSimone, who actually dreamed about the game the night before. "I dreamed just what happened- not too many hits or walks, and pitch to contact," DeSimone said after the game. Whatever he ate before bedtime, he needs to eat it again before his next start, because reality turned out just like his dream. Daniel went 7 solid innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, and striking out 7, while earning his 4th win of the season. Brian Jordan and Michael Kaczmarek each pitched a shutout inning in relief.

Matt Benedict, one of the workhorses of the Senator staff, was saddled with the loss after giving up 3 earned runs in 5 innings over 93 pitches. Steve Forster gave up 3 more, and TJ Ferguson gave up 4, although 2 of those runs scored after he had exited the game.

Covington's Coach, James Conrad, thought the win was critical: "This is big to win on the road," he said. "It deflated the sails of a really hot team a little bit. It makes travel a little inconvenient tomorrow."

Indeed it does- for almost everyone. This strange series, between the #7 and #8 seeds in the league, is also between the two teams the farthest apart in distance.

As mentioned, the teams play game #2 tonight in Covington- game time is 7:30.

Coming next- some great pictures from Haymarket Joe!

Haymarket, Covington to Meet in Finals

It sure is dangerous as the top seed around here. In the first round, all four top seeds were upset. In the semi-finals, #8 Covington defeated #5 Winchester, and #7 Haymarket defeated #6 New Market.

Does this mean that Covington will inevitably win the finals? Well, we'll see.

#8 Covington 6, #5 Winchester 3: Covington wins series, 2-0

Covington once again does not have play-by-play included with their boxscore, so this is what ATVL can tell you about the game.

The Jacks were led by Adam Browett, who had three hits, and Sherman Johnson, Marcus Nidiffer, and Ryan Durrence all had two hits. (Where did Nidiffer come from? This was his first game of the year for the 'Jacks. He was one of the top hitters in the league last year.)

Mike Pierce earned the win after 6 innings and 3 earned runs, and Bryce Robinson earned the win after 3 shutout innings.

The Lumberjacks are on quite the roll, but Haymarket is too....

#7 Haymarket 5, #6 New Market 3: Haymarket wins series, 2-0

The Rebels, coming off an emotional quarter finals victory over rival Luray, ran into the buzzsaw that is the Haymarket Senators.

Heading into the 6th inning of a 1-1 game, the Senators put up 3 runs, which would be enough to move on to the finals. Greg Hopkins scored the first run on a passed ball, and Tom LaStella and Andrew Lawrence scored on Mike Demma's double. That proved to be enough, as Robert Van Woert and three relievers held the Rebels to 8 hits and 3 runs.

Game one of the finals is tonight in Haymarket!