By Court Wills
Correspondent
The Virginian Pilot
All Cape Henry Collegiate pitcher Tyler Ballard had to do was look into coach Ryan Morris’ eyes and say “stay with me, coach; I’ll get it done.”
Those words proved to be true as Cape Henry won its first Virginia Independent Schools Division II baseball championship with a 9-3 victory against the Covenant School on Saturday at Shepherd Stadium.
“He just looked at me right in the face and said stay with me, coach … and I said OK,” Morris said. “He’s one of my best competitors and, win or lose, I’m going to stay with him. I knew he would do it for me.”
It was a rough beginning, however, as the Dolphins pitcher gave up three runs in the first inning.
After three innings and still no runs for the Dolphins’ offense, it was time for Morris to huddle with his team on the mound.
“I just tried to tell them to relax and believe in themselves,” he said. “The kids never panicked.”
Cape Henry responded by scoring five runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by Jack Wynkoop’s three-run homer, to grab a 5-3 lead.
“That home run was key,” Morris said.
In the sixth inning, Ballard helped his cause by crushing a two-run home run to center field to bring in Adam Karides, who had doubled.
Reliever Sean Poppen closed out the victory, giving up only a leadoff hit to Sean Rutherford.
Ballard finished with six strikeouts in six innings.
Story and Any Photographs Copyright (c), The Virginian-Pilot. Reprinted with permission.
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