Although the Subway Commonwealth Games of Virginia main weekend is still one week away, baseball took center stage over the Fourth of July weekend at Kiwanis Field in Salem as the traditional early-July All-Star high school baseball medal games played out.
Sunday afternoon, the North rebounded from an early-round 8-7 loss to the East team, and knocked off their East counterparts 4-1 in the gold medal final. The East, 3-0 to that point, took home the silver medal.
Earlier Sunday, the West team turned things around after a 0-2 start in the preliminary rounds to easily dispatch Central team 16-5 to win the bronze.
It was a hard-luck medal finale for the Central team which had already lost its first three games of the tournament. Down to two pitchers to start the bronze, both Central hurlers were injured by batted balls to end their day. Commonwealth baseball coordinator Wally Beagle met with both managers and the game was halted after five innings to prevent further injury to any players who may be pressed into pitching additional innings.
The East looked like the team to beat in the early going, posting a 7-0 win over Central on Friday, and two wins, 16-1 over the West and 8-7 over the North on Saturday. The North had pulled out a 8-7 win in extra innings over the West on Friday and 5-2 win over the North in Saturday morning’s opener.
The West had won their first game of the tournament Saturday evening, edging the Central 7-6 and setting up Sunday’s rematch for the bronze.
Representing Roanoke Valley on the West were Luke Marston and Hunter Boone from Hidden Valley, as well as Dean Hermanson and Troy Beckner from William Byrd. Joining those four was Austin Coulling of Salem High School.
– Bill Turner
