After falling in last year’s state tournament due to the lack of a deep pitching rotation, Mechanicsville Senior baseball manager Steve Townsend decided that this year he would remedy that situation. Little did Townsend realize that it would be the strong arms at the plate rather than the arms on the mound that would bring Mechanicsville home with the state title this year.

  In their five state tournament contests, the Mechanicsville Seniors average nearly 11 runs a game and in turn, ran away with the Virginia state title.

  “They hit the ball like crazy the entire tournament,” Townsend said. “I absolutely expected the other teams to be good ball teams and they were, but I never expected our team would go down there and average 11 runs like we did. It’s just phenomenal the way we hit the ball. It’s just hard to beat a team when they’re scoring 11 runs a game.”

  In the tournament, Mechanicsville’s Matt McClane went 7-for-12 with three home runs and eight RBI. Hank Parsley was 8-for-12 with one home run and eight RBI while Brandon Angus went 8-for-13 with one home run and six RBI. Mitch Keeler was 6-for-11 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI. And though known for his pitching, Daniel Burroughs went 4-for-8 with two RBI.

  Pitching did play into Townsend’s plans but not as he expected going into the tournament. “We pitched well enough, early enough in games, to allow our batters to take over and get enough runs where we seemed to put teams away early,” he said. “We kind of broke their spirit. Then I could take out my better pitchers and put in my kids that throw strikes and are good at closing out games when you’ve got a lead.”

  Mechanicville opened the state tournament with an 11-5 win over Hampton-Wythe and followed that up with a 16-3 over Big Stone Gap.

  The Seniors closest game came against District 1 Bristol when they eked out a 5-3 win. In the contest Logan Heckman went 3-for-4 with an RBI; Matt Maxey 2-for-3, RBI and McClane 1-for-2 with a home run and a RBI.

  In the semifinals, Mechanicville was back to form in a rain-delayed 12-3 win over Dumfries/Triangle/Quantico of District 9.

  The victory earned the Seniors a state championship date with Grottoes, a team they knew well from last season.

  “They were the team that put a damper on our tournament last year,” Townsend said. “We were 2-0 and looking pretty strong last year and they were the ones that gave us our first loss.”

  Therefore Mechanicsville looked at the Grottoes differently going into the game this season. “Our kids, I wouldn’t say were intimidated by that team but they respected that team and knew it was a well-coached team and we were going to have a tough time with them,” Townsend said.

  When Mechanicsville came away with a hard fought 10-7 win, the reaction was emphatic. “When we won that game and beating that particular team, it was just a huge release for the boys,” Townsend said. “They were so over-whelmed by the victory, it was quite emotional. A lot of guys were crying.”

  But the tears of joy will now carry the Mechanicsville team to Florida’s east coast and Melbourne for the Southeast Regional Tournament starting August 7.

  Townsend said he has no worries about his players having peaked too early. Right now his greatest concern is actually getting his complete team to Florida. “My worry is, going to regional, getting everybody to go,” he said. “I’ve got 14 players and I don’t know what the parents have planned as far as vacation and that sort of thing.” Townsend said it is asking a lot of the parents to take another week off after just doing so for the state tournament.

  “If I can get all the boys back and we can go down there I think we’ll do fine,” Townsend said. “I know as long as I’ve got both my aces, Brandon and Daniel to start, the sticks are good. I’m not worrying about the bats. We’re going to keep hitting the ball and scoring plenty of runs.” 
 
Chuck Davis contributed information for this story.