Softball: Briar Woods Clinches Second Straight Trip to States on Macy Jones No-Hitter

By Chris Starke
Special to VivaLoudoun

Orange (June 3, 2011) - Junior Macy Jones fired her second no-hitter of the season with 16 strikeouts and drove in a pair of runs to lead Briar Woods to a 3-0 win at Orange County in the semifinals of the Virginia High School League Group AA Region II Tournament Thursday night.

The Falcons will host Dulles District rival Woodgrove in the Region II championship game Friday at 6 p.m. in Ashburn. Woodgrove defeated Goochland 4-1 in Thursday’s other region semifinal contest.

Both Briar Woods and Woodgrove will also advance to the VHSL Group AA state tournament that starts with quarterfinal action Tuesday, June 7. The Falcons will be making their second straight appearance in the state tournament.


Friday night’s region championship game will be the fourth meeting between Woodgrove and Briar Woods this season. Woodgrove claimed a 4-3 home win March 22, but Briar Woods won the last two games, 5-1 at home May 2 and 4-1 in the Dulles District Tournament championship game May 26.

With Thursday night’s victory over Orange, Briar Woods improved to 22-3 overall, extending its school-record winning streak to 15 games while also setting a school record for wins in a season (surpassing last year’s 21 victories).

After two scoreless innings, Briar Woods took a 1-0 lead in third against the Hornets. Freshman Casey Forbes drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Jones laced a triple to plate Forbes with the game’s first run.

Jones was perfect through 3 1/3 innings, striking out 10 out the first 13 batters she faced, before allowing a one-out walk in the fifth. After another strikeout, an error gave Orange (22-2) runners at first and second. However, Jones slammed the door shut with another strikeout to end the inning.

The Falcons got some breathing room with two more runs in the top of the seventh. Forbes again walked to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice by senior Jillian Olson. Jones followed with her second RBI-double of the game to score Forbes, and senior Kristina Karagiorgis added an RBI-single to plate Jones.

Jones then set down the Hornets in order in the seventh. Sophomore Lynn Brantley made a beautiful running catch in foul territory down the left field line for the first out, and Jones fanned the next two batters to close out the game.

Jones finished with two walks, a double, a triple and two RBIs, while Forbes walked three times and scored twice.