Baseball: Woodbridge Outlasts Hylton for 11th Inning Win

Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated that the Hylton High School shortstop made the throwing error in the 11th inning, rather than the second baseman. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.

In a tough game between two teams that were evenly matched all season, the Woodbridge Vikings baseball team took 11 innings to defeat the Hylton Bulldogs 7-6 Tuesday night in the Cardinal District Semifinals.

Hylton and Woodbridge had the same 9-3 record in the district during the regular season, putting them at the second and third seeds for the district tournament.

Hylton jumped out to a lead in the first inning, but not without a controversial call that could have ended up changing the game.

On a ground ball with runners at first and second and no outs, the umpires ruled that the runner advancing to second slid in such as way as to try to influence the throw to first, which is illegal under Virginia high school rules. The runner at first was called out without a throw to the base.

On the next at-bat, Miguel Oliveras hit a two-run home run—which would have scored three runs if not for the previous call.

That single run ended up being the difference in the game. Hylton took a 6-4 lead into the seventh inning, until a two-run double for Woodbridge tied the game, sending it to extra innings, where Woodbridge was able to outlast the Bulldogs.

Hylton coach Craig Flesher did not like the call, but stressed that the game was not won or lost by the umpires. “The credit goes to [Woodbridge],” he said.

Neither team scored in extra innings until the bottom of the 11th, when Woodbridge got runners on first and second. With one out, the Hylton second baseman bobbled a grounder, then made a quick throw to first base which went wide of the bag, allowing the runner from second to round third base and score.

Flesher said he told his players that he was proud of their season and the way they fought in the marathon 3-hour game. “We competed the entire game,” he said. “If you talk about going punch for punch like a boxing match, that’s what we did.”

With the win, Woodbridge will advance to the district final on Thursday against Forest Park, who defeated Osbourn Park 6-4 in the other semifinal game Tuesday.