Win Over Woodson Sets Up Rematch With South County

The West Potomac Wolverines defeated the Woodson Cavaliers 12-3 in the first ever Conference 7 quarterfinal game.  First ever sounds impressive, but this is the first year of conferences instead of districts.

The victory sets up a rematch with South County in the semifinals on Wednesday night.  The win also assures West Potomac plays in regionals again this season.

This sets up a few key questions: Given that a Wolverine win was essentially a sure thing, did they really have to play Monday night?  Is everyone excited to play South County again?  Does West Potomac even have a chance?  Will Kate Gregory's grandmother wear a helmet to the game?

Yes of course, yes of course, yes does a bear sit in the woods?, and yes I sure hope so after the last game when she took a foul ball off her head (lost in the sun).  Any further questions?  (Editor's Note: any queries that are actually "key" questions?)

The Wolverines started with a bang, scoring six times in the top of the first.  Annabelle Miller started the scoring with a booming double to left, scoring Grace Moery after her walk.  Raven Williams reached on an error.  Torie Bolger knocked a single to right for an RBI.  Maddie Miller drove in Raven and Eliza Treadwell (running for Torie) with a double.  Kate Gregory stuck a single into the outfield for an RBI, and Olivia Manous finished the run scoring in the inning with another RBI single.

Raven and Jayne Orleans both had singles in the bottom of the second, but neither were knocked home.
Jayne pitched two scoreless innings, inducing four groundouts and whiffing two batters, before being replaced by Christina Dillard to start the third.  Christina K'd all three Cavalier batters in that inning.

West Potomac tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third.  Olivia walked and promptly stole second. Nikki Minnis walked.  Olivia scored on Grace's double, while Annabelle followed with an RBI single.

A couple of hits and a sac fly earned Woodson its first run.  Meanwhile, a Caroline Bowman single in the fourth and an Annabelle triple in the fifth both went for naught.  Woodson got hope in the sixth scoring two runs, but that faint hope was extinguished by the Wolverine sixth.

Harley Divine took a free pass to first, and then Caroline deftly singled through the hole left vacant by the covering shortstop on the steal attempt.  Eliza, in her last home at-bat, then singled past short to load the bases.  Izzy Crawn smacked a double that skipped off the centerfielder's legs to drive in two.  Grace then followed with her second double of the game to drive in two more runs and make the score 12-3.

Christina made short work of the Cavalier seventh -- striking out two and inducing a popout flare on which Caroline made a nice running over the shoulder catch.   Two other defensive plays of note were a liner caught by Kate, who made a diving attempt to double off the runner on second.  She came up just short, but the effort was appreciated by all Wolverine fans but her mother, who probably needed two-three washings to get the dirt out.  (Reporter: When you do as much laundry as I do, you feel sympathetic about those things. Editor: Averaging once a year in 27 years of marriage isn't doing "as much laundry" as anyone!).
In addition, Megan Jackson made an impressive catch in left center, running full speed to make the grab.

Wolverine Whispers: It's on again.  West Potomac at South County -- Wednesday night, with a 6:30 start. Need I say more?  I do?  Okay: South County -- the number two team in the DMV and the number two team in Conference Seven -- has beaten the Wolverines just 2-0 and 3-0 in 11 innings (or 1-0 in 8 innings if the ump doesn't make the most ridiculous judgment call in the history of judgment calls -- if it is unclear what I think, just ask and I will calmly CLARIFY IT FOR YOU!).  Anyhow, should be a good match-up, even if I can't figure out why Lake Braddock finished first in the conference but is ranked third (behind South County) in the Post.  (Editor: If you don't get it, you don't get it.  Reporter: Speechless.)

The only notable injury came when Coach Craig took a foul ball off his shin.  No word yet as to whether he will be placed on the 15 day DL.  He was seen icing the shin during the game, recklessly flouting the macho code of softball.  Although to be fair to the big guy, he did stay in the game and continue coaching, even while suffering through the pain (that's more like it!).