THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 13, 1996 TAG: 9606120140
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: 88 lines
WHEN NANSEMOND RIVER assistant baseball coach J.B. Varney saw Grayson Craun pitch as a freshman, he told himself this kid was going to help lead his talented classmates to a state championship.
And Saturday the Warriors came within one game of making Varney's prediction come true. But Virginia High, which has won five state baseball titles and three in the last five years, spoiled the Warriors' first Group AA baseball championship game 7-2.
The loss ended an improbable run at the championship for the Nansemond River. Not because the team lacked talent - most Bay Rivers District coaches tabbed the Warriors as favorites in preseason - but because the team seemingly fell apart near the end of the year.
Those dark days:
May 21 - Nansemond River, the regular season champion, lost in the opening round of the Bay Rivers District tournament 11-8 to No. 4 York. Warriors pitcher Chip Runyon, who had been solid all season, gave up six runs in the sixth inning.
May 22 - Craun sprained an ankle sliding into second base during practice. Coach Phil Braswell said he would probably miss the rest of the season. Craun's doctor said the same.
``The day it happened I laid there and wasn't concerned with the pain,'' said Craun during the Region I tournament. ``I was thinking about what was to come: I'd be sitting out for the rest of the year. My doctor told me he had someone else with the same injury as mine and he was out two months.''
Craun started going to physical therapy, while the Warriors prepared for the region tournament without him. One win in the region tournament would get them to the state playoffs, and give Craun another week to heal.
``The rest of the team was coming up to me in class, saying, `We're going to give you another week for the state tournament,' '' said Craun, who signed with VMI. ``By the way they were telling me, I knew they were going to do it.''
The Warriors did. Runyon rebounded to pitch a complete game with 11 strikeouts for a 4-2 victory over Park View in the Region I semifinals on May 30, which appeared to be the spark Nansemond River needed.
The Warriors got revenge against York less than a week later with a 9-3 region final win for the right to host a state quarterfinal.
``When you get banged up like that (in the district tournament)
and then your No. 1 pitcher goes down . . . Things didn't look too good,'' said Braswell after the win over York.
Craun, after two weeks of rehab and very little throwing, returned for the state quarterfinal against Western Albemarle and dominated. He struck out 13 and Runyon hit a game-winning double in the sixth for a 1-0 victory and berth in the state semifinals, where last year the Warriors lost to eventual champion Courtland.
A 12-1 blasting of Broad Run put Nansemond River in the championship game against Virginia in Bristol and Varney's prediction looked like a sure bet.
But the final two weeks caught up with the Warriors in the title game. As rain drenched the field on and off for seven innings, Nansemond River's title hopes were washed away. The Warriors' adrenaline, which carried them through other games in the state tournament, couldn't get them through one more against a solid Bearcats team.
Virginia was waiting for Craun's fastball, which blew away Western Albemarle. Craun walked the first two batters of the second inning and five hits and an error later the Bearcats led 7-0.
Maybe the rain hindered the Warriors - Braswell said Craun had trouble pushing off the wet mound with an ankle that was still sore - or maybe the 600-mile journey from Suffolk to Ashburn to Bristol in three days wore them down. These were probably factors, but no Nansemond River players or coaches made excuses, especially Craun.
``They earned everything they got,'' he said. ``It looked like they had seen a lot of fastballs. They were ready and it showed. They got some good hits tonight.''
Said Braswell, whose team will move with Lakeland into Group AAA next year, ``It's a sour way to end. It's a shame they didn't see what (Craun) could do.''
But the Warriors had already shown they could do plenty, with and without Craun. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
Nansemond River's J.C. Caperton slides under the tag Saturday at the
state baseball finals while Virginia High's second baseman leaps for
the stop.
Coach Phil Braswell consoles a player following the state title
loss.
Fans' umbrellas dot the stands Saturday at the state championship
game. by CNB