Honaker girls win 11-12 state title

By DAVE COX/Staff
HONAKER- During the middle innings of the Virginia State All-Star Junior Baseball tournament at Honaker last Friday evening, the public address announcer made a statement that was music to the Tiger’s fans ears. The announcement wasn’t about the game that was going on in front of them. It was about the 11-12 year-old softball team, one of six Honaker Little League All-Star squads that had made it to the state tournaments played around the state at various locations. The young Lady Tigers were playing their state tournament at Aragona Pembroke in Virginia Beach and the announcement was that Honaker had defeated Elkton 2-1 to claim the state championship trophy for Virginia 11-12 year-old softball teams.
Actually, the win was one of two for Honaker over Elkton that day. The Lady Tigers posted another one-run victory (4-3) in 11 innings over Elkton earlier Friday to set up the winner-take-all contest later that day. The state championship win is the first ever for a Honaker Little League team and advances the 11-12 year-old Honaker softball team to the Southern Region tournament to be played in St. Petersburg, Florida July 25-30. The Lady Tigers played seven games in the state tournament, losing only one by a slim 1-0 score.
The win by the 11-12 softball team was about the only good news for Honaker fans during the Junior baseball tournament as the 13-14 year-old Honaker baseball team was far behind its first-game opponent in the double elimination tournament. Grottoes Community eventually thumped Honaker 13-3 on Friday, dropping the Tigers to the consolation bracket for a Saturday game against Alexandria, a 9-3 loser to Essex County on Friday.
Things didn’t get any better for Honaker against Alexandria on Saturday. They only got worse as the Tigers made an early exit from the tournament with a 21-7 loss.
The game against Grottoes started out tame enough through the first inning, but the roof caved in on Honaker in the second frame as Grottoes lit up the scoreboard with eight runs to grab a 9-0 advantage.
The Tigers went calmly in the top of the first before Grottoes moved ahead 1-0 with a solo home run to center in the bottom of the frame.
Honaker looked to tie the game in the top of the second, and came tantalizing close to doing just that. Chad Nicholson singled to start the inning and Chandler Miller stroked a one-out single to center, but Nicholson was thrown out at the plate, trying to score off a ball hit by J. J. Eaton. Travis Hale singled, but was thrown out at second on a fielder’s choice play off the bat of MaKenzie Phillips to end the inning, keeping Honaker scoreless and setting the tone for the rest of the game.
Honaker scored a run in the top of the third to cut its deficit to 9-1. Jordan Hess singled and Jordan Dye drew a walk to get things rolling. Hess crossed the plate on a groundout by Peyton Ball. Nicholson also walked and John Ritchie singled, but both were left stranded on the bases.
Grottoes used the long ball with another solo home run in the bottom of the third inning to move ahead 10-1.
The fifth inning was the best of the day for the Tigers when they managed a pair of runs. Travis Price singled to right center and Nicholson doubled to left. Chandler Miller brought them both home with a single to center to make it a 10-3 game. Eaton and Blake Miller also singled in the inning, but were unable to score.
Grottoes scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
Alexandria jumped out to a commanding 10-1 lead after three innings on Saturday and cruised from there. Alexandria added four tallies in the fourth inning, one in the fifth and six in the sixth. The game was halted on the mercy rule after Honaker plated one run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 21-7 game. The Tigers also scored four runs in the fourth and one in the fifth.