Panthers Take 2009 “Let’s Play 2” Tournament Crown

Prince William Content Editor

Click here to view photos and click here to view video highlights from Potomac’s win over Woodbridge.

Potomac’s Edgar Quinones entered the “Let’s Play 2” spring break tournament with a .154 batting average. He ended it with a Most Valuable Player medal hanging around his neck.

“This is the first time that I ever got anything in anything,” said the Panthers’ catcher after a 3-for-4 performance on Wednesday afternoon helped Potomac beat Woodbridge, 7-5, in the tournament’s championship game. Quinones drove in three runs to help the Panthers cap a 3-1 run in the tournament and establish themselves as one of the hottest teams in the area.

“That’s baseball,” said Potomac head coach Mike Covington of Quinones’s turnaround. “He has been on fire.”

Quinones got things started for the Panthers against Woodbridge, knocking a bases-loaded two-run single in the first inning and then added another RBI single in the second to put the Potomac up 5-2 after two.

“I wasn’t swinging the bat really well,” said Quinones of his early performance. “Today I was seeing the ball really well.”

With Quinones leading the way on offense, Potomac pitcher Tyler Vieira took control from the mound. The submarine pitcher came in to relieve starting pitcher Patrick Moriarty in the first inning and induced 12 grounders to pick up the victory.

“We would be hurting right now if it wasn’t for him,” said Covington of Vieira, who has appeared in all but one game for the Panthers this year.

Vieira utilized a slow-moving sinker to induce inning-ending groundouts in the first, third, fourth and fifth.

“The point is to let them hit it,” said Vieira, who still recorded four strikeouts in the game, including a game-ending strikeout with the tying run at the plate in the seventh.

With non-district wins over Forest Park and Woodbridge in the tournament, the Panthers ended the week with plenty of momentum.

“This is a chance to make statement a little bit, at least put it in their mind that we are still the top dogs until somebody takes it away,” said Covington. “I felt like we played with a little more edge today, with a little more excitement.”

Click here to view photos and click here to view video highlights from Osbourn Park’s win over Forest Park.

After a disappointing 11-10 loss to Woodbridge on Monday, the Osbourn Park Yellow Jackets came back with a vengeance on Wednesday afternoon in the “Let’s Play 2” consolation game, beating Forest Park, 11-0, in a mercy rule five-inning contest. Osbourn Park pitchers Nick Walker and Zach Bargeron combined to no-hit the Bruins as the Yellow Jackets scored seven times in the first inning to earn the dominating victory.

“You gotta tip your hat when you see that kind of stuff going on,” said Osbourn Park head coach Rod Hodgson of his two pitchers, who combined for for 12 strikeouts on the day, including six consecutive to finish the game.

Against Woodbridge, the Yellow Jackets came back from an early 7-0 deficit, only to watch their three-run lead falter late.

“They were bummed out,” said Hodgson. “[It’s] our first loss of the year. Losing is never a good thing, but maybe that was.”

Hodgson said that he saw much better discipline at the plate against the Bruins. The Yellow Jackets’ earned four walks in their seven-run first inning against Forest Park, compared to six strikeouts against Woodbridge in their first time through the lineup on Monday.

“We addressed our game with Woodbridge, how we were flat,” said Hodgson. “We looked like we lost a bit of our discipline as the plate. It seemed like everybody wanted to hit it over the left field fence. It looks like they changed their approach today, didn’t it?”

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