It’s not supposed to happen this quickly. Building a championship team takes time, right? Freshmen come in and learn to play, grow as sophomores, compete as juniors and then comes the magical senior year with a Northern Region title and maybe a state tournament run.
But South County’s baseball team decided to blow that template up right away when they took the field for the first time last spring. The Lorton school opened its doors in September 2005 and by May was celebrating a Patriot District championship without a senior on the roster.
It’s not that the Stallions weren’t talented. It just usually takes that talent time to gel. Instead, they came back and topped themselves, winning the Patriot District tournament for the second time and reaching the region final, a 5-3 loss to No. 9 Oakton on Friday.
“That we’re actually sitting here talking about us playing in the region championship and getting ready for states is unreal to me,” said senior pitcher Kyle Hald, a 5-foot-11 lefthander with a 6-2 record and a 1.20 ERA. “I guess I’m still in shock. But now that we’re here we might as well do something big.”
Hald and junior pitcher Jesse Beale give South County a formidable one-two punch on the mound. Beale is 8-3 with a 1.25 ERA. Hald struck out 11 batters in a dramatic region semifinal victory over Langley. They needed to be that good once senior Mike Graham suffered an arm injury during preseason practice. That deprived the Stallions of a third potential ace, a 6-foot-6 intimidator with stuff as good as anyone in the region.
Instead, Graham ended up at first base and in the No. 5 spot in the batting order, part of an offense that definitely can’t be called intimidating with just 15 home runs all season. But South County finds a way, ledby leadoff batter and shortstop Brent Frazier, the junior has 38 hits and a .475 batting average. He had the go-ahead home run against Langley in the 3-1 region semifinal win. Beale was even moved into the cleanup spot this season, where he has two home runs and 15 RBI. It is a lineup based on depth and clutch hitting, not overwhelming force.
“Even before the season we hoped, we believed that we’d find ourselves still playing at this time of year,” said South County coach Mark Luther, who left that same position at Hayfield to build a program from scratch. “We certainly felt like the talent was here. But baseball doesn’t always work that way.”
Riding high
» South County senior pitcher Kyle Hald will play baseball at Old Dominion next year.
» In the Northern Region tournament, the Stallions almost saw a repeat of last year when they were knocked by Langley, 5-3, in the first round. They trailed Westfield, 2-1, in the bottom of the seventh before rallying.
