District Final Preview: Whiteoak to face Waterford for district championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The turnaround from the Division IV SE District Semifinals to the District Final is less than 24 hours, but for the Whiteoak Wildcats, this is a game they’ve been waiting for all season long, as they now have a chance to advance to the regionals for just the second time in program history.
The district final game will be a battle between two Wildcats, as both Division IV No. 1 state-ranked Whiteoak and Waterford are both nicknamed the Wildcats, with the game having a 7:30 p.m. scheduled first pitch at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.
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No. 1 seeded Whiteoak advanced to the district finals with a late-night 12-3 win over Belpre on Tuesday night, improving to 25-2 overall record this season. Waterford defeated Green by a 3-1 score Tuesday to advance, as they now stand at 15-10 overall. Waterford this postseason has also defeated No. 7 seeded Symmes Valley, 5-4 in nine innings.
According to the Marietta Times, in their sectional final game, Waterford had a big game from Braden Bellville, who struck out 10 batters.
On Tuesday in the district semifinals against Green, Waterford had starting pitcher Noah Huffman strike out four batters with three walks.
Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt spoke about the fast turnaround from the Tuesday night district semifinal to the district final game Wednesday and the game itself.
“It is a quick turnaround. We’ll get a little rest tonight. Our kids are going to be able to sleep in and go late to school a little bit,” Veidt said Tuesday. “It’s a 7:30 p.m. game. It’s not who you play, it’s how you play. If we play like we played tonight offensively, defensively and on the mound, we’re going to be just fine.
“Waterford is battle-tested. They’ve been here before. They won the district last year and knocked us out of the tournament last year. It’s going to be an interesting ball game, but we’re going to just come and compete and have a lot of fun with it.”
Waterford scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning on Tuesday night in the district semifinals. They also battled out of a very tough jam in the top of the seventh inning as Green loaded the bases with two outs with a hit batter and two walks, but the game ended with a groundout to first base.
In common opponents this season, Waterford defeated the Eastern Meigs (Reedsville) Eagles by a 2-1 score on April 18, then lost to Eastern by a 6-0 score. Whiteoak’s first loss came to Eastern on April 27 by a 5-3 score.
This game is also a rematch from last season, though Whiteoak is a much different team than they were one year ago. In last year’s meeting against Waterford — in the district semifinals —Whiteoak lost by an 11-1 score, a game where they committed seven errors and totaled just one hit, a leadoff by Traeten Hamilton. Whiteoak’s lone run scored in the third with Hamilton scoring a run on an error after drawing a walk. In that district semifinal loss, Whiteoak forced six walks.
But that was last season, and this year the Whiteoak squad is a much more polished baseball team, a team that was aggressive on the bases Tuesday night vs. Belpre with seven steals and patient at the plate with nine walks as they were 8-of-24 from the plate with eight RBI. Whiteoak had two players in Chase Carraher and Casey Nace finish 2-for-3 vs. Belpre with Carraher totaling two RBI, two runs and three steals. Nace totaled one RBI, two runs and two steals.
This season, Whiteoak has over 200 steals, and that aggressive base running is something that Veidt and his team put great focus on. It was a difference maker this season, especially in the district semifinals.
"I think ultimately the thing that made the biggest difference tonight was our overall ability to apply pressure on the base paths. They threw out our first guy trying to steal, and I went to the dugout and said ‘guys, we’re going to have to do that about eight or nine more times if we’re going to keep going,’" Veidt told The Highland County Press. "We did, and I think that even played a factor in terms of them trying to hold runners, throwing balls away, throwing wild pitches and the like.”
The district final game will be a battle between two Wildcats, as both Division IV No. 1 state-ranked Whiteoak and Waterford are both nicknamed the Wildcats, with the game having a 7:30 p.m. scheduled first pitch at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.
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No. 1 seeded Whiteoak advanced to the district finals with a late-night 12-3 win over Belpre on Tuesday night, improving to 25-2 overall record this season. Waterford defeated Green by a 3-1 score Tuesday to advance, as they now stand at 15-10 overall. Waterford this postseason has also defeated No. 7 seeded Symmes Valley, 5-4 in nine innings.
According to the Marietta Times, in their sectional final game, Waterford had a big game from Braden Bellville, who struck out 10 batters.
On Tuesday in the district semifinals against Green, Waterford had starting pitcher Noah Huffman strike out four batters with three walks.
Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt spoke about the fast turnaround from the Tuesday night district semifinal to the district final game Wednesday and the game itself.
“It is a quick turnaround. We’ll get a little rest tonight. Our kids are going to be able to sleep in and go late to school a little bit,” Veidt said Tuesday. “It’s a 7:30 p.m. game. It’s not who you play, it’s how you play. If we play like we played tonight offensively, defensively and on the mound, we’re going to be just fine.
“Waterford is battle-tested. They’ve been here before. They won the district last year and knocked us out of the tournament last year. It’s going to be an interesting ball game, but we’re going to just come and compete and have a lot of fun with it.”
Waterford scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning on Tuesday night in the district semifinals. They also battled out of a very tough jam in the top of the seventh inning as Green loaded the bases with two outs with a hit batter and two walks, but the game ended with a groundout to first base.
In common opponents this season, Waterford defeated the Eastern Meigs (Reedsville) Eagles by a 2-1 score on April 18, then lost to Eastern by a 6-0 score. Whiteoak’s first loss came to Eastern on April 27 by a 5-3 score.
This game is also a rematch from last season, though Whiteoak is a much different team than they were one year ago. In last year’s meeting against Waterford — in the district semifinals —Whiteoak lost by an 11-1 score, a game where they committed seven errors and totaled just one hit, a leadoff by Traeten Hamilton. Whiteoak’s lone run scored in the third with Hamilton scoring a run on an error after drawing a walk. In that district semifinal loss, Whiteoak forced six walks.
But that was last season, and this year the Whiteoak squad is a much more polished baseball team, a team that was aggressive on the bases Tuesday night vs. Belpre with seven steals and patient at the plate with nine walks as they were 8-of-24 from the plate with eight RBI. Whiteoak had two players in Chase Carraher and Casey Nace finish 2-for-3 vs. Belpre with Carraher totaling two RBI, two runs and three steals. Nace totaled one RBI, two runs and two steals.
This season, Whiteoak has over 200 steals, and that aggressive base running is something that Veidt and his team put great focus on. It was a difference maker this season, especially in the district semifinals.
"I think ultimately the thing that made the biggest difference tonight was our overall ability to apply pressure on the base paths. They threw out our first guy trying to steal, and I went to the dugout and said ‘guys, we’re going to have to do that about eight or nine more times if we’re going to keep going,’" Veidt told The Highland County Press. "We did, and I think that even played a factor in terms of them trying to hold runners, throwing balls away, throwing wild pitches and the like.”