Blue Devils chasing after Battlefield

The Culpeper County High School baseball and softball teams enter their respective Cedar Run District tournaments this week with a common nemesis: those pesky Bobcats from Battlefield.

Both the Blue Devils and Devilettes would love to get another shot at Battlefield, which swept Culpeper in the regular season in both sports, winning the four games by a total of four runs.

In baseball, the Bobcats used a seven-game winning streak in the middle of the season to propel themselves toward the top of the district standings. The streak included a 7-6 win against CCHS on April 2 and a 6-5 triumph on April 22. Both times the 10-10 Blue Devils played one of their best games of the season, but couldn’t quite get over the hump against the district’s regular season runners up.

The softball team lost a pair of 1-0 heartbreakers to Battlefield and those victories lifted the Bobcats to their first Cedar Run title in program history. The Blue Devilettes settled for a second-place tie with Loudoun Valley after the losses and the Cats are the only team on the CCHS schedule the Devilettes haven’t beaten this year.

So both CCHS teams not only see themselves in situation where they might advance in tournament play and have an opportunity to beat a team that’s haunted them this year, they can also secure spots in the Northwest Regional tournaments if they do.

And both squads are capable. The Devilettes have been crushing the ball since their loss to the Bobcats earlier this and Battlefield is the only team to score on Culpeper in the past six games. The teams are fairly evenly matched and right now are clearly the two best in the district. If they meet in the district finals it will be tough for the Cats to knock off Culpeper for a third time.

The CCHS baseball team is playing with more confidence after closing out the regular season on a three-game winning streak. The Devils are playing their best ball since traveling to Florida for a spring break tournament in late March. Considering how difficult it can be to beat a team three times in one season, the Bobcats boys might not want to face Culpeper either.

Good day for U.Va.
Saturday’s victory over Maryland in the NCAA men’s lacrosse quarterfinals was a big victory for Virginia, which has had a little bit of a rough time in major sports this season.

The Cavaliers football team overachieved much of the year, but ended the season with yet another disappointing loss to rival Virginia Tech and a loss to Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl. The Wahoos hoops team came into the season with high expectations in All-America guard Sean Singletary’s senior season. But U.Va. struggled and missed out on both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.

This spring the Virginia baseball team was expected to be one of the top teams in the country, but finds itself on the bubble of making the NCAA tourney. But now there is joy in Hooville. The U.Va. lax team has a berth in the Final Four.

High times for Hawks
The Highland School softball team won its second straight VISAA Division II state softball championship Saturday in Richmond, solidifying Culpeper native Donald O’Meara’s spot as one of the top high school coaches in the state.

In just a few short years at the Warrenton private school O’Meara has turned the Hawks into a powerhouse in both softball and girls basketball — the Highland hoops team has also been to the state title game in back-to-back seasons. O’Meara will lose some top players from both the softball and basketball teams to graduation, so another repeat trip to the finals could be tough, but O’Meara has certainly put himself in elite company.

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 127 or