Thanks to AP Sports Writer Ben Nuckols for the following recap.
Once Justin Rosi got his bat going, the Fairfax Juniors tournament team was unstoppable.
Justin drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the fourth inning, and Fairfax never trailed again as it completed a two-game sweep of Annandale-North Springfield for the District 10 title.
The cleanup hitter for Fairfax, Justin hit the ball hard in his first at-bat of the tournament, lining out to right field. ANSLL never retired him again. He went 5-for-6 in the two games with a triple, four runs scored and two RBIs as Fairfax won 11-6 and 6-1.
Fairfax had some shaky defense as it fell behind 5-1 through three innings in the series opener on Thursday, June 27 at Providence Elementary. ANSLL got two runs on an error and a passed ball in the second inning and scored three more in the third, two of those on an error. But starting pitcher Braedon Zamfino got out of that jam and gave his offense a chance to rally.
With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Matthew Mandeville fouled off three straight pitches before he lined a single to right to bring in two runs. Avi Kayshap lined the next pitch to center for a double that got Fairfax within 5-4, and Braedon tied it with an RBI grounder.
Justin followed with his hard grounder through the right side of the infield, and Silas Woodburn brought him home with a double.
Fairfax added a run in the fifth on an error and three more in the seventh on Justin’s RBI triple and Tillman Abeyta’s two-run single.
Braedon worked out of trouble in the fourth and fifth, and relief pitcher Philip Slawski closed it out with two innings of one-run ball, helping his cause by picking off the leadoff batter in the sixth and then striking out the next two.
Avi and Silas each finished with two hits, and Fairfax got two RBIs apiece from Matthew, Avi, Justin and Tillman.
Pitching was the key for Fairfax in the rematch two days later at Providence, with John Dillenseger battling through 5 1/3 innings, throwing 96 pitches and allowing one run on four hits and three walks. He struck out seven.
Fairfax made it 1-0 in the second inning when Justin led off with a single and later scored on a passed ball. The opportunistic Fairfax offense added four runs in the fifth when Avi led off with a walk, Braedon singled and Avi scored on a passed ball with Justin batting. Justin then singled, and he and Braedon later came in to score when John hit a grounder and reached on an error. John came in on a passed ball to make it 5-0.
With one out and the bases loaded in the sixth, Philip relieved John and issued a walk to give ANSLL its only run. Then he escaped further trouble when second baseman John snagged a line drive and worked with shortstop Jeremy Kane to double off the runner at second.
John and Jeremy were there again defensively in the bottom of the seventh, when John caught a liner to second and Jeremy took care of the final ANSLL batter by fielding a routine grounder at short.
Fairfax Juniors advanced to the state tournament in the southwest Virginia, with games in Wise and Big Stone Gap.