NEVILLE: Prep sports season ends

BY MIKE NEVILLE
FOR THE STAFFORD COUNTY SUN
Published: June 11, 2008

The high school sports season came to an end Saturday. The Colonial Forge High School baseball team advanced to the Group AAA state tournament for the third time in school history. This year’s team advanced to the state championship game at Westfield High School where they met the defending champ, James River High School. Colonial Forge beat Cosby in the quarterfinal round in a game that was halted after five innings because of rain and lightning, with Colonial Forge leading 3-1.

Up next for the Eagles was a semi-final contest with Lake Braddock High School, winners of 20 straight. Colonial Forge jumped in front 2-0 after the first inning thanks to senior Shayne Paskanik. Colonial Forge added two more runs in the second inning to move in front 4-0. Lake Braddock rallied with five runs in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead and then increased its lead to 6-4 on Brendan Daley’s solo home run in the fifth. All season the sixth inning has been a magical inning for the Eagles and this game was no different. Junior Taylor Guinn delivered a clutch two out single to score Jason Kittell and Levi Hyams to give Colonial Forge a 7-6 lead. Guinn battled in his at bat, falling behind 0-2 in the count before striking his game winning hit.

“I was just fouling off and fouling off and got one I could drive up the middle. I was so happy it got through,” said the first baseman.

It was up to senior Jimmy Buel, who came on to pitch in the sixth, to shut down Lake Braddock in the seventh. He retired the first two battlers and then enticed the Lake Braddock hitter to hit a foul ball to right that senior Shayne Paskanik made a sliding catch and lifted Colonial Forge into the state championship game with the 7-6 win. Buel, who is the team’s starting catcher, just trusted his defense.

“We have a pretty solid defensive team. If I put it over the plate and they put it in play, we had a good chance of getting out of the inning with no runs scored,” he said. 

Colonial Forge is the first Stafford County team to advance to a baseball championship game.

“We just kept telling them be patient, be patient,” Coach Shawn Szakelyhidi said of he and his staff. “We got a couple of more outs and they just came through. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”

The state championship game was all James River High School. The school scored in every inning but one in posting a 10-0 win.
Congratulations to all of the teams that competed this school year. Good luck to the seniors on their future endeavors and thanks for reading this column each week. Have a great summer!   

Mike Neville is sports director at the local Comcast cable channel. Contact him at info@stafford countysun.com.