Messick Dazzles, Mountaineers Advance to Semis

By Nolan Potts
Kirk Messick threw 130 pitches in a Game 1 victory on Wednesday night, and in a game where the winner advances and the loser sees their season ends, the veteran left-hander turned in quite a performance.

The 2021 and 2023 RCBL Pitcher of the Year threw a complete game and allowed just one run as Massanutten knocked off Stuarts Draft 2-1 to move onto the semifinals where they will take on Clover Hill.

Messick threw 127 pitches on this night, scattering ten hits (only one extra base hit) and striking out eight while allowing his defense to make plays behind him.

Massanutten had some prime opportunities to score early, but great defensive plays by Stuarts Draft prevented any from scoring. The Mountaineers loaded the bases with no one out in the third, but a nice play by Ryan Jones on a bullet off the bat of Matt House resulted in a double play, which led to no runs scoring in the inning.

In the fourth with men on first and third and one out, Colin Trolio ripped a ball to first base, but Caden Richter laid out to stop the ball, threw it to shortstop Grayson Bush at second for an out, and then Bush fired it to pitcher Colton Harris who was covering first to complete the double play and get out of the inning.

Massanutten got their only two runs in the fifth inning. Nick Arnold led off with a single and stole second, the throw from the catcher went into the outfield and allowed Arnold to go to third. Haden Madagan followed with a walk. Dawson Russell hit a ball to first, and Richter threw home and got Arnold trying to score for the first out. The next batter was Connor Houser, and he hit a double into the left-center gap to score Madagan and courtesy runner Andrew O’Brien.

From there, it was up to Messick to keep the Diamondbacks off the board. Stuarts Draft collected ten hits in the game as a team and drew two walks, but they were never able to get a run across against Messick.

Eight of the nine Diamondback hitters had at least one hit, with Zach Roberts and Ryan Jones each collecting two.

Colton Harris pitched very well for Stuarts Draft but was the tough luck losing pitcher after allowing six hits and two runs over seven innings of work.

For Massanutten, Haden Madagan and Harrison Madagan each had two hits.

Game 1 between the Mountaineers and Bucks will be Monday night at Buck Bowman Park at 7:45 PM.

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