Pitch Count

MAUGANSVILLE - Right-handed pitcher Derek Herbert hit the target in more ways than one on Friday evening. Not only did the Maugansville Little League 11-12-year-old All-Star pitcher toss a five-hitter against West End, he struck out the last batter of the game on three pitches - finishing with exactly 85 pitches to cap a 6-4 victory. "Derek pitched well and the fact he didn't exceed the pitch count was very huge," Maugansville manager Rich Montgomery said. "That means we have our entire pitching staff available for Saturday.

SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va. - Even while the Battle of the Brandons was playing out Tuesday night, Martinsburg coach John Lowery Jr. had a feeling the war was over. Jefferson's Brandon Campbell struck out 15 Martinsburg batters in seven innings, pitching defending state champion Jefferson to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs and an injured Brandon King at Sager Field. "We had no chance against Campbell," Lowery Jr. said. "We struck out 15 times, (six) of them looking. We had no chance, regardless of the score.

All in good time for Suns By BOB PARASILITI bobp@herald-mail.com 2001 Suns season opener Hagerstown Suns Boof Bonser (1-4, 6.00 last season) at Hickory Crawdads Sean Burnett (2-1, 4.06) Time : 6:30 Radio : WHAG 1410 The time has come for the Hagerstown Suns to take a step on the wild side and do some things they have never done before. Today is the day the Suns go places they have never gone before for a period of time that is way past what used to be their curfew.

BOONSBORO - As Cam Shifler shut down North Hagerstown inning after inning Tuesday night, Boonsboro coach Max Shaffer continued to tell his players to support their senior pitcher. Finally, after Shifler had labored through nine innings and 140 pitches, Matt Byers came up with the support needed, a game-ending drive to deep center field that scored courtesy runner Craig Marshall from second base and gave the Warriors a 1-0 MVAL Antietam victory. "(Justin Weaver) threw me a fastball kind of belt high and I just wanted to put it in play," said Myers, who was hitless in his first four at-bats.

Billy Nutter didn't make up his mind until Thursday morning who would start for West End in its losers' bracket final against Hancock. Nutter had to choose between ace right-hander Airin Martin or a committee approach heading into the key Maryland District 1 11-12 contest a hot Hancock team at Hellane Park in the elimination game. "It really was 'no tomorrow' so I wanted to give Martin the ball," said Nutter. "It could also have been his last game on home turf. " Martin responded impressively and guided West End to a 6-2 victory over Hancock and a berth in tonight's championship game at Conococheague at 6. With a setup curveball backed up by a fastball that Hancock batters generally could not catch up with, Martin fashioned a two-hitter, struck out 12 and walked none before reaching his pitch count limit of 85 in 5 2/3 innings.

The Hagerstown Community College Hawks were hurt by big innings from the Monroe (N.Y.) Tribunes in both games of their softball doubleheader. The Hawks were swept 4-1 and 9-4 on Friday afternoon. "We gave them a couple of extra outs and a couple of extra pitches a few times and that came back to bite us," HCC coach Brian Beck said. "We're getting better each game. It is a long season, so we have a lot of games to play. ... Both teams are very similar teams. I thought we played very well today.

Basic math did what no Maryland Class 2A baseball team could: Beat South Hagerstown. And before I start going off on the Rebels' coaching staff, let me just say this: I feel terrible for the players. The Rebels had a great season, and this travesty does not, and should not, reflect on the players. So many of them had outstanding seasons, and a few will no doubt earn All-County and possibly All-Area honors. They played with heart -- their two come-from-behind victories over Century and Liberty in the 2A West regional playoffs showed it -- and they played with pride, passion and skill.

BOONSBORO - Williamsport baseball coach Rod Steiner and Boonsboro coach Fred Kreiger were on the same wavelength. In their season opener Thursday, both coaches had an almost identical gameplan: Get the opposing pitcher up in the pitch count and hit him when he's tired. cont. from sports page The plan worked for both, but to differing degrees. Brad Anders threw 125 pitches for Williamsport, but worked his way out of several jams as the Wildcats took a 3-1 Monocacy Valley Athletic League win from the Warriors.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Though he fell one pitch short of an ideal outing, Martinsburg's Brandon King had a much easier time on the mound Friday night than he did the week before. King came one out shy of a shutout and added a two-run home run at the plate in the No. 5 Bulldogs' 6-0 win over Hedgesville on Friday at P.O. Faulkner Park - seven days after taking the loss in a 10-inning marathon against Jefferson, during which King threw 151 pitches. Through the week, King rested his arm and ran a little more than usual in order to rebound from the 3-1 loss, and the Eagles (9-12)

koelble@herald-mail.com Looking for positives from the Hagerstown Suns' game against Lake County on Sunday? Skip right past the Suns' lockerroom, because no positives could be found there after the Captains put down a 9-2 crunching on Hagerstown. Manager Gene Richards probably held his quickest postgame meeting of the year - 30 seconds. "I asked the players as a team, 'Are you giving it your best,' and as a team they said, 'Yes,'" said Richards after watching his team fall for the third time in its last four outings, all against Lake County, and drop to 10-18 in the second half of the South Atlantic League season.

Jordan Zimmermann watched Gio Gonzalez pitch a gem for Washington, and just followed his lead. Zimmermann was terrific in his first career shutout and the Nationals limited the Cincinnati Reds to one hit for the second straight game in a 1-0 victory on Friday night. Zimmermann (4-1) struck out four and walked one while improving to 3-0 with a 1.36 ERA in five career games against Cincinnati. The right-hander needed only 91 pitches to record his second complete game of the season and No. 3 for his career.

Dennis Douglas is in high demand right now. But that's all right. So is his Hancock Junior League All-Star team. Douglas is in Little League baseball's version of a tug-of-war. He is managing Hancock's 11-12 and Junior All-Star teams this summer. "There's not much time for rest," Douglas said. That might make Douglas an adrenaline junkie. This week alone he will be guiding the 11-12 team at National's Thomas Evans Memorial. It is a warm-up to the weekend when he adds duties of managing the Juniors in the Maryland State Tournament, which will be played at the Valley Little League complex.

Billy Nutter didn't make up his mind until Thursday morning who would start for West End in its losers' bracket final against Hancock. Nutter had to choose between ace right-hander Airin Martin or a committee approach heading into the key Maryland District 1 11-12 contest a hot Hancock team at Hellane Park in the elimination game. "It really was 'no tomorrow' so I wanted to give Martin the ball," said Nutter. "It could also have been his last game on home turf. " Martin responded impressively and guided West End to a 6-2 victory over Hancock and a berth in tonight's championship game at Conococheague at 6. With a setup curveball backed up by a fastball that Hancock batters generally could not catch up with, Martin fashioned a two-hitter, struck out 12 and walked none before reaching his pitch count limit of 85 in 5 2/3 innings.

Mitchell Wilson and Chandler Penn combined on a one-hitter to help National eliminate Maugansville 6-3 Wednesday night in a Maryland District 1 9-10 Tournament losers' bracket game. National will return to action Friday when it will host the winner of the losers' bracket game between Federal and Halfway. That game was suspended in the first inning Wednesday with Federal leading, 3-2. The game will be completed today. Wilson retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced and finished with 10 strikeouts to set the tone for the game.

SMITHSBURG -- Josh Conway threw a three-hit complete game with 11 strikeouts, and No. 5 Smithsburg scored at least one run in each of the first five innings to defeat Catoctin 6-2 in a key MVAL Antietam baseball battle Wednesday. "Overall, a great effort," Leopards coach Trey Cobb said. "It was very close to us playing a solid seven-inning effort, and that's what we want. We had good intensity in the dugout. " Conway walked five -- all in the last three innings -- and the only two runs he allowed came in the third and were both unearned thanks to two errors, one his own. Conway walked Zack Kreitz to lead off the seventh, but as his pitch count climbed to 111, he bore down and retired the last three batters he faced on a flyout, popout and a called strike three to end the game.

EASTON, Md. - The Federal Little League 11-12 All-Stars are one win away from being crowned Maryland state champions. Federal took a 6-0 lead through three innings against Easton on Tuesday, then had to hold on as Easton mounted a sixth-inning rally that came up just short as Federal advanced to the championship round of the Maryland State Tournament with a 6-4 victory in the winners' bracket final. "Our goal was to try to stay in the winners' bracket, it takes some pressure off our pitching staff," Federal manager Bill Abeles said.

MAUGANSVILLE - Right-handed pitcher Derek Herbert hit the target in more ways than one on Friday evening. Not only did the Maugansville Little League 11-12-year-old All-Star pitcher toss a five-hitter against West End, he struck out the last batter of the game on three pitches - finishing with exactly 85 pitches to cap a 6-4 victory. "Derek pitched well and the fact he didn't exceed the pitch count was very huge," Maugansville manager Rich Montgomery said. "That means we have our entire pitching staff available for Saturday.

Basic math did what no Maryland Class 2A baseball team could: Beat South Hagerstown. And before I start going off on the Rebels' coaching staff, let me just say this: I feel terrible for the players. The Rebels had a great season, and this travesty does not, and should not, reflect on the players. So many of them had outstanding seasons, and a few will no doubt earn All-County and possibly All-Area honors. They played with heart -- their two come-from-behind victories over Century and Liberty in the 2A West regional playoffs showed it -- and they played with pride, passion and skill.

SMITHSBURG - If pitching really is an art form, then Clear Spring senior John Kehr played the part of Picasso on Wednesday night. Displaying a hard slider that ran away from right-handed hitters, a two-seam fastball running into them and a changeup with late downward movement, Kehr no-hit Smithsburg and made it look easy in the Blazers' 10-0 shutout in both teams' MVAL Antietam opener. "About the third inning, I was starting to think I might do this," said Kehr, who needed just 79 pitches - 53 for strikes - to turn away the Leopards.

SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va. - Even while the Battle of the Brandons was playing out Tuesday night, Martinsburg coach John Lowery Jr. had a feeling the war was over. Jefferson's Brandon Campbell struck out 15 Martinsburg batters in seven innings, pitching defending state champion Jefferson to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs and an injured Brandon King at Sager Field. "We had no chance against Campbell," Lowery Jr. said. "We struck out 15 times, (six) of them looking. We had no chance, regardless of the score.