By Tray Mason

Correspondent

Riding high after last week’s comeback win to clinch the Southeastern District title and playing in the comfort of its home field, Nansemond River had a great opportunity on Tuesday to advance to the SED tournament final for a second straight year.

But that opportunity disappeared in one dismal inning against Great Bridge High School, which won the game 9-4.

It was a rematch of last season’s SED Tournament Championship game, which Nansemond River won. But this year, a six-run fifth inning for the fourth-seeded Wildcats proved to be too much for the Warriors to handle.

With the score tied at 3-3, the bases loaded and no outs, Great Bridge’s Steven Dudley ripped a 1-2 pitch into the trees behind the left field wall for a grand slam, giving Great Bridge a 7-3 advantage.

Zach Rice, who had started the game on the mound for Nansemond River, had been taken out just before the grand slam.

Rice had just put the previous three Wildcat batters on base, first giving up a single, and then a walk before finally hitting the last batter.

First baseman Travis Johnson was brought in to relieve Rice. The grand slam came on just his second pitch of the game.

After allowing two more hits, he was quickly taken out, having recorded one out in the inning.

“Travis is a good groundball pitcher,” Warriors’ head coach Mark Stuffell said. “He’s the right guy for that situation every time; he just left it up, and when he leaves it up he’s hittable.”

The nightmare inning continued for the Warriors when they brought in Colin O’Brien.

Great Bridge loaded the bases again and scored two unearned runs on a walk and hit batter, giving them a 9-3 lead.

The Warriors trailed early in the game, falling 3-0 in the first inning.

But Zach Vann and Kyle Moore brought teammates home and tied the game in the third inning, and Nansemond River seemed ready for one of their signature comebacks before that terrible fifth inning.

The season, however, is not over for the Warriors.
 Their first-place finish in the SED during the regular season guaranteed them a top seed in the Eastern Regional Tournament, which begins Monday at Old Dominion University.

Although the loss was meaningless from an overall perspective, it was still a win the team wanted badly.

“We just don’t want to lose,” Stuffell said. “Losing sucks, no matter when it is.”