By Laurie Dornak, Seahawks Sports Boosters
photos by Rei Linam and Randee Witkopf
South Lakes Baseball went 20-8 overall and have had the adjective “resilient” tagged to them all season long. Finishing as the Concorde District Finalist, the Seahawks brought home championship Northern Region hardware defeating McLean 8-5, which advanced the tight-knit squad to the VHSL Class 6 State tournament as a top seed. Seahawks were recognized as All-District and All-Region players; and were delighted to have Head Coach Morgan Spencer recognized as the Concorde District Coach of the Year and Northern Region Coach of the Year.
At the state tournament quarterfinal game, the Seahawks defeated West Potomac 13-6 to advance to the semi-final game. In the semi-final game against Western Branch, the Seahawks continued to show their resilience and had a walk-off game winner. Down 3-0 at the bottom of the seventh, senior Chris Downs doubled into the right-center field gap. With that inspiration, the Seahawks brought in three runs to tie it up with a hit to right field and a pair of bunts down the first base line.
Western Branch intentionally walked the next batter. Leftie Junior Christopher Kemmerer walked it off with an RBI single up the middle into center. Four quick runs at the bottom of the seventh gave the Seahawks the win 4-3 over a strong Western Branch Bruins team.
South Lakes met McLean again in the title game on Saturday, June 8. Junior Kameron Johnson hit a long two-run homer putting the Seahawks on the board first in the first inning. McLean scored over the next three innings going up 5-2 by the middle of the fifth inning. A seven-run inning by McLean followed in the sixth. The teams continued to play through the full seven innings, but South Lakes finished the season as the VHSL Class 6 runner-up in the program’s first state title appearance and their first region title in 27 years, and Coach Morgan Spencer went on to be voted the Virginia State Coach of the Year.
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