Whiteoak Wildcats are state-bound!
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LANCASTER — Whether it is climbing the ladder rung by rung or "trusting the process," the Whiteoak Wildcats have done everything right thus far this season. That trend continued Friday, with the Wildcats defeating the Eastern Eagles by a 5-4 score in the Division IV Regional Finals.
That is correct – the Whiteoak Wildcats are state-bound, and with the regional final win at Beavers Field in Lancaster, they avenged one of their two regular-season losses as they dropped their first game of the season to the same Eagles team by a 5-3 score at VA Memorial.
This time around, the Wildcats flipped the switch and won the game that mattered the most, and they wasted little time by taking a multi-run lead in the top of the first inning.
The Wildcats (28-2) scored four runs in the top of the first inning, with Traeten Hamilton opening the game by taking first base on an infield error. Next was Chase Carraher smashing the ball past second base — on an 0-2 count — and into centerfield. Caleb West brought home Hamilton with a base hit to right field for the 1-0 lead.
West stole second base, and following the first out, Mason Lehr sent the ball to deep centerfield for a two-RBI double, scoring both Carraher and West for a three-run lead. Lehr finished 2-for-3, and West was 2-for-4 for the Wildcats.
The first inning continued when Casey Nace stepped to the plate with a two-out single to left field, scoring West for a 4-0 lead. In the second inning, the Wildcats’ plate presence forced the Eagles to make a pitching change with no outs, following a single past the shortstop by Ryan Roberts. That change resulted in a double play and a groundout to end the inning.
“We were ready to play, and that’s good to see. I really thought that we were. You’re never sure until it happens, but we talked about a lot of things that got us to this point and how they got us to this point, and the kids came out ready to play,” 27-year Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt said following his first regional championship win. “It’d be nice to do that two or three more times, but I think we all know that’s not the nature of the game, that’s not how it always happens. They brought their kid in relief (Coleman), and he did a great job keeping us off-balanced.”
Eastern scored their runs in the second, third and seventh innings.
The Eagles (27-3) scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the second when Nate Durst, who was hit by a pitch with one out, moved to second base on a base hit by Josh Brewer and scored off a double by Owen Arix. On that scoring play, the second inning ended with an 8-6-2 out at the plate as Hamilton threw the ball in from centerfield to cutoff man Carraher, who threw the ball home to catcher Billy Oliver for the inning-ending out.
In the bottom of the third, Eastern’s Christian Mattox walked to lead-off the inning. Mattox stole second and with one out scored off a base hit to left field by Ethen Richmond, cutting the Whiteoak lead to 4-2.
WHS had a two-out double to centerfield by Mason Lehr in the top of the third, but he was left stranded following a strikeout.
Whiteoak added one final run in the top of the fourth with Ryan Roberts keeping the inning alive with a two-out walk on six pitches. The next at-bat saw Hamilton double to centerfield, scoring Roberts for a then 5-2 lead.
The Eagles almost added runs in the bottom of the fifth with Austin Coleman and Richmond each drawing two-out walks, forcing the end of the day for Chase Butler as the WHS starting pitcher. In came Hamilton, with two outs, as he forced a pop up to first base to end the inning.
Butler was the winning pitcher, going 4.2 innings on the mound. Hamilton pitched in relief, and Trever Yeager gained his seventh save of the season, pitching the final 1.2 innings.
The sixth inning had some added stress for the Whiteoak faithful in attendance as well with the Eagles drawing a lead-off walk from Durst, but a strikeout by Hamilton put WHS two outs away from ending the inning. On the next at-bat, Brewer was hit by a pitch, ending the relief appearance of Hamilton.
Whiteoak then brought Trever Yeager — the WHS all-time saves leader in a season — to the mound, and he promptly struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches for a called strike three and the second out of the inning. Though the next batter walked on five pitches, Yeager forced a pop up to second base to end the inning with two runners stranded.
The Wildcats almost added to their lead in the top of the seventh with a two-out awakening as West singled to left field and Evan Brill gained a base hit to left field, moving West to third base. The bases were loaded on an intentional walk of Lehr, but all three were left on the bases following a ground out.
None of those missed opportunity runs came into the play in the bottom of the seventh inning, even though the game situation was at an all-time importance with the Eagles leading off with a single to right field — on the second pitch of the inning — by Coleman. Next came a single to centerfield, followed by an error from the outfield to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Before the next batter, the Wildcats had a mound visit from Coach Veidt. After the short talk, a sacrifice fly from Kaleb Hill scored Coleman from third base to make it a two-run game at 5-3. Next came a five-pitch walk. The Eagles’ fourth run scored on a passed ball with one out.
Veidt talked about what was said while on the mound with his pitcher and infield.
“We went through the order, and we went through the situation,” he said. “Basically, at that point in time, we were trading runs for outs. We told him who was up and how we were going to pitch him.”
Also during the mound visit, Veidt spoke about how Yeager likes to pitch in tense situations, and that he likes to give Yeager “a hard time.”
“I always say ‘Trever, picture the hairiest, ugliest, most nasty situation you can be in, and that’s the situation you’re going to be in,’ and that’s what we’ve been telling him all year,” Veidt said. “So as I’m walking away, I say ‘Hey, Trever’ and he looks at me and goes ‘What?’ I said, ‘Is this hairy enough for you?’ He said, ‘I think so!’
“That was pretty cool. He’s a cool customer, man. That’s part of his personality – who knows what was going on inside, but outside, he looked pretty cool.”
Whiteoak still didn’t blink, as they continued to stay clutch in tense moments by having Lehr catch a hard two-strike line drive at third base for the second out, putting WHS one out away from the state semifinals.
The Eagles brought a pinch hitter to the plate with two outs, and on the first pitch he saw, he sent the ball down the right field line just foul. Next came strike two from Yeager, followed by two balls out of the zone. Having a 2-2 count, Yeager took a breath and let go of a pitch that was a swing and a miss for Eastern, sending the Wildcats to the State Final Four and the one-run win.
“When it starts getting crazy, you just start thinking about ‘what am I doing next, who’s the next hitter, who am I pitching, where am I putting the defense.’ It’s so hard, but I can tell you that – and on the radio, they asked me a question and they said, ‘when you put Trever, a 17- or 18-year-old kid in, now you know why people make millions of dollars to do that.’
“I mean, think about it. You prepare them for those moments mentally, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Just a tremendous job by Trever. That’s kind of part of our root system. We’ve been growing this tree for four years, and he’s been the guy that we bring in, in relief. That’s his seventh save, and offensively today, Mason was solid, Caleb West was solid, Chase Butler had another good game offensively and defensively. That relay throw that Chase cut the guy down at the plate by about 15 feet was a great throw by Chase.”
Once Veidt was able to reflect on reaching the state semifinals for the first time in his coaching career, emotions came to the forefront as he discussed how special this moment really was for the longtime head coach of the Wildcats.
“You know, when you’re younger, you sit there and you see games and stuff on TV, and you’re like ‘what are these guys crying for? How’d they get so emotional?’ I know now,” an emotional Veidt said. “Things go through your mind – the work, the people and the sweat and the tears – and it’s always your goal, but you’re never really sure if it’s going to happen to you.
“Nobody deserves it to happen to them – it just does. It’s not me. It’s me with two great assistant coaches and great kids and parents and administrators, in a great place to live and prosper in southern Highland County. I’ve been there 27 years for a reason. I love it. I love the people. I love the kids. It’s pretty emotional. It really is.”
Whiteoak will face the Hicksville Aces in the state semifinals, as the Aces won 11-1 over Plymouth in five innings in their regional final game Friday.
“The final four, everybody’s excited about that. We’ve got some days off here and we’ve got some time, so we’ve got the weekend to enjoy this and celebrate this,” Veidt said. “I think something we need to keep in mind, and the kids have been great about this all year, is ‘we didn’t come this far to come this far.’ That’s what we talked about today in the dugout.
“We talked about the ladder and the process and the steps up the ladder, and we numbered them, from Peebles on to now. It’s sure a lot nicer looking up and seeing just two more steps as opposed to looking up and seeing seven. Seeing two up is a lot easier than seeing seven. It’s there. The carrot’s dangling. We’ve just got to trust the process, have each other’s back, flush the negative, embrace the positive and keep doing what we’re doing.”
That is correct – the Whiteoak Wildcats are state-bound, and with the regional final win at Beavers Field in Lancaster, they avenged one of their two regular-season losses as they dropped their first game of the season to the same Eagles team by a 5-3 score at VA Memorial.
This time around, the Wildcats flipped the switch and won the game that mattered the most, and they wasted little time by taking a multi-run lead in the top of the first inning.
The Wildcats (28-2) scored four runs in the top of the first inning, with Traeten Hamilton opening the game by taking first base on an infield error. Next was Chase Carraher smashing the ball past second base — on an 0-2 count — and into centerfield. Caleb West brought home Hamilton with a base hit to right field for the 1-0 lead.
West stole second base, and following the first out, Mason Lehr sent the ball to deep centerfield for a two-RBI double, scoring both Carraher and West for a three-run lead. Lehr finished 2-for-3, and West was 2-for-4 for the Wildcats.
The first inning continued when Casey Nace stepped to the plate with a two-out single to left field, scoring West for a 4-0 lead. In the second inning, the Wildcats’ plate presence forced the Eagles to make a pitching change with no outs, following a single past the shortstop by Ryan Roberts. That change resulted in a double play and a groundout to end the inning.
“We were ready to play, and that’s good to see. I really thought that we were. You’re never sure until it happens, but we talked about a lot of things that got us to this point and how they got us to this point, and the kids came out ready to play,” 27-year Whiteoak head coach Chris Veidt said following his first regional championship win. “It’d be nice to do that two or three more times, but I think we all know that’s not the nature of the game, that’s not how it always happens. They brought their kid in relief (Coleman), and he did a great job keeping us off-balanced.”
Eastern scored their runs in the second, third and seventh innings.
The Eagles (27-3) scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the second when Nate Durst, who was hit by a pitch with one out, moved to second base on a base hit by Josh Brewer and scored off a double by Owen Arix. On that scoring play, the second inning ended with an 8-6-2 out at the plate as Hamilton threw the ball in from centerfield to cutoff man Carraher, who threw the ball home to catcher Billy Oliver for the inning-ending out.
In the bottom of the third, Eastern’s Christian Mattox walked to lead-off the inning. Mattox stole second and with one out scored off a base hit to left field by Ethen Richmond, cutting the Whiteoak lead to 4-2.
WHS had a two-out double to centerfield by Mason Lehr in the top of the third, but he was left stranded following a strikeout.
Whiteoak added one final run in the top of the fourth with Ryan Roberts keeping the inning alive with a two-out walk on six pitches. The next at-bat saw Hamilton double to centerfield, scoring Roberts for a then 5-2 lead.
The Eagles almost added runs in the bottom of the fifth with Austin Coleman and Richmond each drawing two-out walks, forcing the end of the day for Chase Butler as the WHS starting pitcher. In came Hamilton, with two outs, as he forced a pop up to first base to end the inning.
Butler was the winning pitcher, going 4.2 innings on the mound. Hamilton pitched in relief, and Trever Yeager gained his seventh save of the season, pitching the final 1.2 innings.
The sixth inning had some added stress for the Whiteoak faithful in attendance as well with the Eagles drawing a lead-off walk from Durst, but a strikeout by Hamilton put WHS two outs away from ending the inning. On the next at-bat, Brewer was hit by a pitch, ending the relief appearance of Hamilton.
Whiteoak then brought Trever Yeager — the WHS all-time saves leader in a season — to the mound, and he promptly struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches for a called strike three and the second out of the inning. Though the next batter walked on five pitches, Yeager forced a pop up to second base to end the inning with two runners stranded.
The Wildcats almost added to their lead in the top of the seventh with a two-out awakening as West singled to left field and Evan Brill gained a base hit to left field, moving West to third base. The bases were loaded on an intentional walk of Lehr, but all three were left on the bases following a ground out.
None of those missed opportunity runs came into the play in the bottom of the seventh inning, even though the game situation was at an all-time importance with the Eagles leading off with a single to right field — on the second pitch of the inning — by Coleman. Next came a single to centerfield, followed by an error from the outfield to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Before the next batter, the Wildcats had a mound visit from Coach Veidt. After the short talk, a sacrifice fly from Kaleb Hill scored Coleman from third base to make it a two-run game at 5-3. Next came a five-pitch walk. The Eagles’ fourth run scored on a passed ball with one out.
Veidt talked about what was said while on the mound with his pitcher and infield.
“We went through the order, and we went through the situation,” he said. “Basically, at that point in time, we were trading runs for outs. We told him who was up and how we were going to pitch him.”
Also during the mound visit, Veidt spoke about how Yeager likes to pitch in tense situations, and that he likes to give Yeager “a hard time.”
“I always say ‘Trever, picture the hairiest, ugliest, most nasty situation you can be in, and that’s the situation you’re going to be in,’ and that’s what we’ve been telling him all year,” Veidt said. “So as I’m walking away, I say ‘Hey, Trever’ and he looks at me and goes ‘What?’ I said, ‘Is this hairy enough for you?’ He said, ‘I think so!’
“That was pretty cool. He’s a cool customer, man. That’s part of his personality – who knows what was going on inside, but outside, he looked pretty cool.”
Whiteoak still didn’t blink, as they continued to stay clutch in tense moments by having Lehr catch a hard two-strike line drive at third base for the second out, putting WHS one out away from the state semifinals.
The Eagles brought a pinch hitter to the plate with two outs, and on the first pitch he saw, he sent the ball down the right field line just foul. Next came strike two from Yeager, followed by two balls out of the zone. Having a 2-2 count, Yeager took a breath and let go of a pitch that was a swing and a miss for Eastern, sending the Wildcats to the State Final Four and the one-run win.
“When it starts getting crazy, you just start thinking about ‘what am I doing next, who’s the next hitter, who am I pitching, where am I putting the defense.’ It’s so hard, but I can tell you that – and on the radio, they asked me a question and they said, ‘when you put Trever, a 17- or 18-year-old kid in, now you know why people make millions of dollars to do that.’
“I mean, think about it. You prepare them for those moments mentally, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Just a tremendous job by Trever. That’s kind of part of our root system. We’ve been growing this tree for four years, and he’s been the guy that we bring in, in relief. That’s his seventh save, and offensively today, Mason was solid, Caleb West was solid, Chase Butler had another good game offensively and defensively. That relay throw that Chase cut the guy down at the plate by about 15 feet was a great throw by Chase.”
Once Veidt was able to reflect on reaching the state semifinals for the first time in his coaching career, emotions came to the forefront as he discussed how special this moment really was for the longtime head coach of the Wildcats.
“You know, when you’re younger, you sit there and you see games and stuff on TV, and you’re like ‘what are these guys crying for? How’d they get so emotional?’ I know now,” an emotional Veidt said. “Things go through your mind – the work, the people and the sweat and the tears – and it’s always your goal, but you’re never really sure if it’s going to happen to you.
“Nobody deserves it to happen to them – it just does. It’s not me. It’s me with two great assistant coaches and great kids and parents and administrators, in a great place to live and prosper in southern Highland County. I’ve been there 27 years for a reason. I love it. I love the people. I love the kids. It’s pretty emotional. It really is.”
Whiteoak will face the Hicksville Aces in the state semifinals, as the Aces won 11-1 over Plymouth in five innings in their regional final game Friday.
“The final four, everybody’s excited about that. We’ve got some days off here and we’ve got some time, so we’ve got the weekend to enjoy this and celebrate this,” Veidt said. “I think something we need to keep in mind, and the kids have been great about this all year, is ‘we didn’t come this far to come this far.’ That’s what we talked about today in the dugout.
“We talked about the ladder and the process and the steps up the ladder, and we numbered them, from Peebles on to now. It’s sure a lot nicer looking up and seeing just two more steps as opposed to looking up and seeing seven. Seeing two up is a lot easier than seeing seven. It’s there. The carrot’s dangling. We’ve just got to trust the process, have each other’s back, flush the negative, embrace the positive and keep doing what we’re doing.”