Day #67 of Around The Valley in 60 Days- Ten Minutes with Jacks Skipper Andy Chalot
Following game 2 of the VBL Championship Series I was able to catch-up with Andy Chalot and Andy was kind enough to share a few minutes of his time with me. Here are some of the notes from that conversation:
To say that this year has been a successful one for Andy might be a bit of an understatement. The baseball program at Alleghany High School in Covington reached the State Championship game before seeing their season end in the Class AA Finals. The final record for Andy and the Mountianeers 25-2!
Fast forward to the VBL regular season where Andy's Lumberjacks played host to the VBL All-Stars back on Sunday July 6TH. The Lumberjacks flirted with the Southern Division crown until a number of pitching injuries dropped them to the six seed in the playoffs. Covington lined the ball all over the park and swiped bases at a record pace but their 1ST round opponent would be pitching heavy Fauquier (#3 seed).
Here is how Andy walked me through the impressive 4 game sweep over Fauquier and Waynesboro that once again landed his 2008 team on the brink of a title:
Andy- "We were in the fourth inning of game 1 at Fauquier and leading 3-2 but the Gators had the bases loaded with no out. The next Gator hit a line shot back to the box at our pitcher (Noah Garza). At first when the ball when hit Noah I thought it deflected off his glove but later I found out the ball made direct contact.
The ball glanced off Noah and our first baseman picked it up and fired it home and we got the force out. Noah stayed in the game and struck out the next two hitters to protect the lead. It wasn't until the Doctor's office the next day that I found out he had a fractured bone in his face. The team was so pumped after watching him finish the inning. We broke the game open right after that and won game #1 10-3."
The Jacks returned home and smoked the Gators on night 2 by a final score of 9-1 to complete the two game sweep...
Andy-" In game two we had Mike Pierce (Kansas State) pitching and we were up big so we only had him pitch into the fifth inning and the offense took care of the rest. The next game was at Waynesboro and Turner Phelps (James Madison) pitched a complete game for us. We won the game at their place by a final score of 4-2."
The win was the first victory of the season for Phelps!
Andy- "We pitched Jeremiah Meiners (Francis Marion) in the fourth game and Meiners had pitched 10.2 innings for the entire summer and he went 9 innings without allowing a run. We won four straight games and in the two of the four games we pitched non-starters. The start for Meiners was his first since back in high school."
We are just hours away from the first game that could be the last game of the VBL season but Chalot remains confident despite the 2-0 deficit his Lumberjacks face.
"We have Garza, Phelps and Meiners set up for games 3,4 and 5. It would be that UN-usual to see us go on a 3 game winning streak here at the end."
The season could end for Andy on a sad note on Tuesday or Wednesday. It could end in a big way on Thursday but here is what we know for sure- Andy and his two teams have enjoyed quite a ride in 2008!
To say that this year has been a successful one for Andy might be a bit of an understatement. The baseball program at Alleghany High School in Covington reached the State Championship game before seeing their season end in the Class AA Finals. The final record for Andy and the Mountianeers 25-2!
Fast forward to the VBL regular season where Andy's Lumberjacks played host to the VBL All-Stars back on Sunday July 6TH. The Lumberjacks flirted with the Southern Division crown until a number of pitching injuries dropped them to the six seed in the playoffs. Covington lined the ball all over the park and swiped bases at a record pace but their 1ST round opponent would be pitching heavy Fauquier (#3 seed).
Here is how Andy walked me through the impressive 4 game sweep over Fauquier and Waynesboro that once again landed his 2008 team on the brink of a title:
Andy- "We were in the fourth inning of game 1 at Fauquier and leading 3-2 but the Gators had the bases loaded with no out. The next Gator hit a line shot back to the box at our pitcher (Noah Garza). At first when the ball when hit Noah I thought it deflected off his glove but later I found out the ball made direct contact.
The ball glanced off Noah and our first baseman picked it up and fired it home and we got the force out. Noah stayed in the game and struck out the next two hitters to protect the lead. It wasn't until the Doctor's office the next day that I found out he had a fractured bone in his face. The team was so pumped after watching him finish the inning. We broke the game open right after that and won game #1 10-3."
The Jacks returned home and smoked the Gators on night 2 by a final score of 9-1 to complete the two game sweep...
Andy-" In game two we had Mike Pierce (Kansas State) pitching and we were up big so we only had him pitch into the fifth inning and the offense took care of the rest. The next game was at Waynesboro and Turner Phelps (James Madison) pitched a complete game for us. We won the game at their place by a final score of 4-2."
The win was the first victory of the season for Phelps!
Andy- "We pitched Jeremiah Meiners (Francis Marion) in the fourth game and Meiners had pitched 10.2 innings for the entire summer and he went 9 innings without allowing a run. We won four straight games and in the two of the four games we pitched non-starters. The start for Meiners was his first since back in high school."
We are just hours away from the first game that could be the last game of the VBL season but Chalot remains confident despite the 2-0 deficit his Lumberjacks face.
"We have Garza, Phelps and Meiners set up for games 3,4 and 5. It would be that UN-usual to see us go on a 3 game winning streak here at the end."
The season could end for Andy on a sad note on Tuesday or Wednesday. It could end in a big way on Thursday but here is what we know for sure- Andy and his two teams have enjoyed quite a ride in 2008!
