Giants fall in Region III championship

By Doug Layman Correspondent
Published: May 30, 2008

AMHERST — The Waynesboro Little Giants couldn’t find enough firepower to overcome the Alleghany juggernaut and fell to the Mountaineers 10-5 in the Region III championship game at Amherst on Friday.
Every batter in the Alleghany lineup produced at least one hit, and two of those cleared the fence.
Thursday night’s hero in the Region III semifinals, freshman Drew DeMoss, took the loss pitching into the fifth inning. He gave up seven runs on seven hits.
Taylor Carter, batting out of the No. 9 hole, led the Mountaineers’ (23-1) attack with three hits, including a three-run homer in the top of the third inning that broke a 1-1 tie.
“Taylor came out of his slump tonight,” Alleghany coach Gary Rice said. “He’s just a freshman.”
The Mountaineers came into the day with a team batting average of .349 and the entire lineup gave Waynesboro fits.
“Drew did a good job for us,” Waynesboro coach Jim Critzer said. “His arm bothered him a little bit and I didn’t want to hurt him.
“I called all the pitches, so the hits are on me but the [Mountaineers] are a hitting machine.”
The Little Giants did collect ten hits off two Alleghany pitchers, but some sparkling defensive plays kept potential runs off the board.
“We’ve played good defense all year,” Rice said. “This may be the best fielding team I’ve ever coached.”
Rice said that the team had a .943 fielding percentage heading into the game.
Waynesboro scored in five different innings, but couldn’t string hits together to produce a big rally. Alleghany meanwhile, broke the game open with Carter’s blast and a two-run double by Josh Taylor in the fifth.
Cody Pratt ended the Giants’ hopes with a two-run homer in the seventh.
Waynesboro got three hits from shortstop Jay Thompson, who was named to the first-team All Region III squad, while Stevie Moreland and Derek Hall had two hits apiece. Waynesboro’s Joseph Lucas was also a named to the first team.
It was a Jay Thompson single that scored Terrell Thompson for the Giants’ first run and Josh Craig knotted the score in the third with a RBI single.
But Waynesboro couldn’t match the offensive prowess of the Mountaineers.
“We battled hard,” Critzer said. “We were in [this game] until the seventh. We had a couple of chances but couldn’t take advantage of them. I’m proud of this team.”
Alleghany, with the win, earns the right to host Hidden Valley in the Group AA quarterfinals. Waynesboro will travel to Abingdon on Tuesday.