Upon Further Review

So Jeremy Hahn serves up a hanging curve ball to the one guy in the Valley that’ll make you pay for that pitching gaffe every time—Turner Ashby’s Daniel Bowman. Of course Bowman made him pay, placing the ball somewhere on Hopeman Parkway to give the Knights a quicker-than-lightning 2-0 lead in the final regular-season meeting between the two teams.

So, what does Hahn do? Well, he follows mom’s advice, who stood up along with that Golden Retriever so large you could strap a saddle to him and ride off into the sunset and screamed, “Shake it off.“ Next thing you know, he strikes out the final two batters to end the damage in what could have been a devastating inning for the Little Giants.

Then a pitch skips off Terrell Thompson’s head, the guy next to me says, “Don’t blink, you’ll miss him score.“ And a stolen base and two passed balls later, Thompson emphatically steps on the plate; the Giants push three more across and never look back.

Game. Set. Sweep. An 8-7 win for the Little Giants and, yep, we’ll say it, ownage of the Knights in 2008.

Hope nobody blinked.

“You gauge your team against Turner Ashby,“ said Waynesboro coach Jim Critzer, still sporting that Waynesboro ball cap that looks like it spent hours in one of his dogs’ mouths. “We swept them and I don’t know if that has ever been done in the history of Waynesboro baseball.“

Yep, history. So, I’m just wondering, can we start calling the Little Giants a factor in the Group AA title hunt? Seriously, can we?

When you give up only two hits and one run in the next five innings after that what-could-have-been first, does that qualify Hahn for having enough swagger?

When you go out there and pitch after spending most of the day feeling like a pile of diamond dust that’s been kicked around, does that qualify as having heart?

“[The team] scoring all those runs got my confidence back up,“ Hahn said. “I wanted to keep my team in the ball game ...“ We’re pretty sure this counts as character. So, yeah, looks like Hahn has passed the Critzer Credential Test with flying colors. And the Little Giants have followed suit.

Can we start talking about them being a player in the Group AA title race yet?

And another thing: With one swing of the bat, Buffalo Gap’s Josh Wenger broke the school’s single-season home run record by putting his ninth of the year out of the park. His shot, which came during the Bison’s 10-0 win over Riverheads on Tuesday.

Wenger’s shot also keeps the following mantra going at Buffalo Gap: Why not? If names like Wenger, Jones, Sheridan and the like sound familiar to you, it’s because these guys already know what it’s like and, more importantly, what it takes to win a state title. Just ask Rob Maxwell, you know, the guy that coached these ball players to a football state title back in December.

Not good enough for you? Then just ask Bison baseball coach Chad Coffey. All he did was step in, coach girls basketball and lead that team to a state basketball title back in March.

Yeah, so say it with me, “Why not?“

So now the Bison have to sweep Stonewall today in a doubleheader to secure a share of the top spot with Luray and set up a one-game playoff Friday for the first Region B berth. Wow, another Shenandoah sports coming down to the last few days of the regular season? Ladies and gentlemen, this is what they call an old-fashioned hoot-nanny in the Shenandoah. Time to dust off your baseball watching caps.

It carries over to softball too, where the Hornets took over the top spot thanks to a win over 1-0 win over Luray. If the Hornets beat Page today, a team that upset Luray to help Wilson along to the top, the regular-season crown is theirs. You know they say, “What better way to say ‘thanks’ than a good drubbing.“

Hey, can we start talking about Waynesboro baseball yet? Still asking.