Banner Night for Dulles District Teams: Briar Woods Softball, Broad Run Baseball and Girls Soccer Claim Tournament Titles; BR and PF Boys Soccer Settle for Tie

Briar Woods Softball Wins Second Straigtht

Dulles District Title

Broad Run Girls Soccer Wins 4th Straight

Dulles District Tournament Title

Broad Run Baseball Weathers the Storm for 

Dulles District Title

Photos courtesy: Briar Woods softball by Michele Jones; Broad Run girls soccer by Kristie Brady; Broad Run baseball by Tim Small

(May 28, 2010) - Thursday night at Freedom High School had four Dulles District championships games but only two champions crowned in complete contests as one hellacious  storm slammed into South Riding ending Loudoun County baseball's hopes of a comeback against Broad Run and creating a unique co-championship between Broad Run and Potomac Falls boys soccer.

Before the storm, however, Briar Woods claimed its second straight district tournament title with a 1-0 win over Park View on Macy Jones' 1-hitter, and Broad Run won a fourth straight district title with a 4-0 win over Loudoun County. Broad Run baseball was ahead of LC, 11-6, in the bottom of the fifth inning when lightning halted the game for good and the Spartans and Panthers boys soccer teams were stuck in a scoreless game in the second half. While the baseball was official since 4.5 innings had been played, district officials had to be granted permission from the VHSL to allow the soccer game end as a tie rather than continuing it Friday or Saturday.

Softball: Briar Woods 1, Park View 0

Sophomore Macy Jones fired her second straight one-hitter and struck out 15, and junior Alex Fierszt singled home the only run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the second as top-seeded Briar Woods edged third-seeded Park View 1-0 in the Dulles District Tournament championship game Thursday at Freedom High School in South Riding.

Briar Woods captured its second straight district tournament crown after edging the Patriots 4-3 in last year's title game. The Falcons improved to 19-2 overall and set a program record for wins in a season, surpassing last year's 18-5 finish.

Jones, who held Loudoun County to just one hit and set a school record with 18 strikeouts in a 3-0 win in Tuesday's district semifinals, was once again stellar in the circle. She limited the Patriots to just two base runners all evening on a two-out error in the first and a two-out single in the third.

Jones opened the game by striking out the first two Patriots before junior pitcher Robin Heironimus reached on an error. Jones was unfazed and struck out Rebecca Patton to end the inning.

The Falcons threatened in the bottom of the first when senior Holly Dominguez drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior Kristina Karagiorgis. However, Heironimus got a flyout and a foul popup to end the inning.

After Jones struck out the side in the top of the second, the Falcon offense went back to work in the bottom of the inning. Junior Jillian Olson hit a one-out single and freshman Lynn Brantley followed with a grounder to second. The Patriots tried to get the force out of Olson at second, but the throw was high and wide for an error and gave the Falcons runners at first and second.

Senior Hayley Olson looked to advance both runners with a sacrifice bunt, but Heironimus pounced on Olson's attempt and fired to third to nab Jillian Olson for the second out.

Fierszt, who also drove in the winning run against Heironimus in last year’s district tournament championship game, came through in the clutch again, dumping a single into right center field to plate Brantley with what proved to be the game’s only run.

Park View had its best chance to score in the top of the third but came up empty. Sam Thomas rolled a two-out single up the middle just out of the reach of a diving Dominguez, and Thomas then stole second and took third on an error. However, Jones buckled down and got Sam Gleason to ground out to second to end the threat.

The Falcons continued to put the ball in play the rest of the game but couldn’t increase their lead. Senior Kate Fowler looped a two-single in the third but was stranded when a ground out ended the inning. The Falcons also put two runners on in the sixth when junior Kasey Ball singled with two outs and Jillian Olson followed with a walk. However, Heironimus got Brantley to pop up to end the inning.

Jones had to face the heart of the Patriot order in the top of the seventh and came through impressively. She got Heironimus on a foul pop up to Olson behind the plate and then fanned Patton and Brittany Griffin to end the game.

Heironimus took the loss despite a fine effort in the circle for the Patriots, allowing one unearned run and scattering four hits. She struck out three and walked two.

Both Briar Woods and Park View will represent the Dulles District in next week’s Region II Tournament. The Falcons, the region’s second seed, will host Northwestern District runner-up Skyline in the quarterfinals Monday at 4 p.m. The Patriots will travel to Northwestern District champion Sherando Monday.

Girls Soccer: Broad Run 4, Loudoun County 0
Broad Run High School suffered a blow when starting keeper Emily Myerson went out with an injury early in this title game but freshman Haley Casanova stepped in and did a great job in goal making five saves to earn the shutout.


Played in the stifling heat, this game was 0-0 at the half, but the Raiders, with two starters in the midfield out, wilted a bit as soon as the second half started and Broad Run fired away with two goals in an 86 second-span in the 52nd and 53rd minutes, the first from Rachel Tharp unassisted and then from Cassie Smith from an Erin Brady assist. In the 62nd minute, Kathy Tyalor made it 3-0 on an assist from her sister, Jenny, and Whitney Church finished the scoring with a long goal in the 66th minute.

Baseball: Broad Run 11, Loudoun County 6 (halted in 5th inning)
Loudoun County no doubt would have like to have had their final six outs in this championship game but the weather would not allow a restart after Broad Run was leading 11-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Broad Run, improving to 18-4, moves onto the regional tournament while LC has their season finished.

Spartan senior Captain Shane Vlasic took the mound with the team's post-season hopes on the line. Vlasic earned the win on the mound for the Spartans going four innings striking out 8 batters, allowing 3 hits, and 3 unearned runs. With the win, Vlasic improves to 7-1 on the mound on the season.

Offensively, the Spartans got things going early with three runs in the first inning. They added two more runs in the third inning, and tacked on six more in the fourth inning to break the game open. Junior Ryan Johnston had the biggest night offensively with three hits (triple, 2 singles) and 4 RBI. Junior Nick Richardson had a single, scored two runs, and drew a walk, Junior Zach Rawson singled, walked, and scored two runs, Freshmen AJ Powell had a hit, a walk, and 2 RBI, and Senior Tyler Small had 2 singles and 2 RBI.

With the win, the Spartans have now earned either the Dulles District regular season championship or tournament championship in three of the last four years. The victory also earns the Spartans their fourth consecutive Region playoff appearance in the last four years.

Broad Run will travel to Sherando High School on Monday night to take on the Warriors. First pitch is scheduled for 6 pm.

Boys Soccer: Broad Run 0, Potomac Falls 0 (halted second half)
There wasn't much offense in this title game as both teams were held without a shot on goal in the first half and then the game was halted 10 minutes into the second half. Broad Run advances as the top seed as regular season champ and Potomac Falls also moves onto regionals.