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Broad Run repeats as state softball champs
RADFORD -- Each year in Virginia high school softball, only one team per classification gets to end its season with a win. For the second straight year, the Broad Run Spartans earned that distinction in Group AA.
Broad Run traveled to Radford University and brought back the VHSL Group AA state championship trophy, capping the team's undefeated season with a 4-0 victory against the Tunstall Trojans June 7 at the Dedmon Center Athletic Complex.
The matchup in the pitcher's circle, Tunstall's Brittany Arnn and Broad Run's Caitlyn Delahaba, was the same that produced a nine-inning gem in the 2007 state semifinals that resulted in a 1-0 Spartan victory.
This time, the Spartans batted home two runs in the first inning and one in the second to provide a cushion for Delahaba, who cruised to a 15-strikeout shutout performance.
The Trojans managed a walk in the first inning and an infield hit in the last inning for their only runners of the championship game.
Karla Powell's infield hit delivered Ashley Kramer in the first inning, with Kramer taking a knee to the face while sliding into home, just ahead of the first baseman's throw. Kramer lay prone momentarily as blood drizzled over the plate, but the Spartan shortstop stayed in the game sporting a fat lip.
A few pitches later, Powell came around from second base to score on a misplayed fly to center off Haley Johnson's bat, defying the Trojans' timely relay by executing an athletic headlong slide around Tunstall catcher Emily Atkinson, then instantly regrouping to slap home with her right hand before Atkinson's lunge.
"People were saying that this game was going to go into extra innings, so getting that first run right off the bat just put a seal on it," Powell said. "Knowing that Caitlyn was pitching and Haley's behind the plate, I knew that one run, possibly two, the game was over."
Kramer, who had previously doubled and knocked in a run, provided insurance with a seventh-inning triple to deep right-center, scampering home on an errant relay throw.
Powell fielded a grounder to first and made the unassisted putout to end the game, then released a scream of joy into the warm afternoon air as the Spartans congregated with hugs and tears along the first-base line, champions again.
"Oh, it's exciting," Powell said after the trophy presentation. "Especially going undefeated two seasons in a row. Most teams can't say they've ever gone undefeated one season, let alone two. It's just a dream come true."
The title game was the final game in Broad Run maroon for Delahaba, Powell, Kramer, Michelle Clohan and Kaitlyn Tiplady -- a group Powell called "our fab five."
"It's rare that you'd have a group of five kids that like each other as much as they do," said Spartan coach Ed Steele with slightly dewy eyes. "They're a special group of kids -- their attitude, their behavior -- and you're just proud to know them."
Each senior hit safely at least once in the title contest, except Delahaba, who contributed in other ways.
Delahaba extended her streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to 160, and her streak of consecutive shutouts to 17, the last eight of which occurred in postseason play.
"I just go out there and throw my game and try to have confidence that no one is better than me," said Delahaba matter-of-factly when asked about her consistency in the circle. "As long as I do that, then usually I come out on top."
Delahaba reported that she mostly used her curveball and riseball in the championship game, consciously working both sides of the plate. She and catcher Johnson have the unusual privilege of selecting their own pitches, as opposed to executing calls from the dugout as is more standard at the high school level.
"Haley's really good behind the plate," complimented Delahaba of her batterymate. "Even if I throw a pitch that's not that great, she can make it look good."
The state title is the third in Steele's illustrious career. He guided the 2000 title squad and finished twice as a state runner-up.
"That's kinda special, that they're going to come back in 25, 30 years to a reunion and maybe they're still the only team that's done it back-to-back with undefeated seasons," said Steele, Broad Run's head softball coach since 1992. "I think it's quite an accomplishment."
His star pitcher agreed.
"It's one thing to win state titles back-to-back, but it's another to go undefeated two years in a row," Delahaba said. "It's a really hard thing to do, to win every single game. I think that's a really big thing that we've done, and we're all really proud of that."
James Madison High School in Vienna is the only other Virginia school whose softball program has produced consecutive undefeated state-championship seasons (1988-1989).
The Spartan softballers have not lost a game since the quarterfinal round of the 2006 state tourney, a 1-0 squeaker to Powhatan that was Broad Run's only setback of that season.
Next spring may not bring much if any diminution for Broad Run, as a host of talented, experienced players return, such as Johnson, Reagan Doiron, Anna Blessing and Jenn Soroka. Left-fielder Judy Betz has been called by Steele the district's second-best pitcher, and she will likely assume Delahaba's spot in the circle.
Steele was asked how he intends to sustain the habit of excellence for the Spartans.
"The same work ethic -- work, work, work," he responded without hesitation. "People can be smarter than you or more athletic, but they can't outwork you unless you let them. That's our attitude."
Broad Run bewitches Salem
The Spartans of Broad Run dominated their namesakes from Salem 8-0 in the semifinals of the Group AA state tournament June 6 at Radford University.
Under a baking sun, Caitlyn Delahaba mowed down the opposition, earning 19 of the 21 outs via the strikeout, 18 of them swinging, 11 of them in the final four innings. She permitted only one baserunner, a first-inning looping single to left by Katie Stauffer.
Broad Run collected five first-inning runs, more than Delahaba has allowed all season. An unusually emphatic Karla Powell drove in two on two hits, banging her hands and releasing a gratified yell while standing on second base after clubbing a long RBI double in the first.
Reagan Doiron and Anna Blessing each knocked in a pair of runs. Ashley Kramer added insurance with a steal of home in the fourth on the front end of a double-steal.
Having his team in a positive rhythm was important to Broad Run's veteran head coach Ed Steele.
"You could tell that [they were in a rhythm] in the first inning," said Steele, referring to his team's most productive offensive frame, in which five hitters reached base.
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