by James Peters
Staff Writer
Sherwood High boasted the state’s best baseball program in the 4A this
past spring and for two good reasons – namely Will Bouey
and Ted Fletcher – the Warriors will likely be a serious contender again next
year.
The pair of right-handed pitchers won some key games during Sherwood’s
run to its first state crown, including Fletcher’s complete-game victory
against top-seeded
The Classic is a two-day affair that began with Friday’s combine that put
those nearly 200 high school players from Maryland, Virginia, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, D.C., through a variety of skills tests
– foot speed, arm strength, fielding, hitting for contact and power – and in
front of numerous college recruiters. A total of thirty different college
programs were represented this year at Joe Cannon Stadium in Harmans. The top 42 players were then selected to play in
Saturday’s 10-inning contest.
Fletcher, a senior who was primarily just a pitcher for Sherwood this
past spring, started the weekend with an impressive display at the plate to
earn the South squad’s award for hitting for power. He then drew a start at
third base and concluded his two days with an inning of work on the mound to
earn the victory, a 14-11 win by the South team.
Fletcher went hitless in three plate appearances but he recorded three
strikeouts and allowed a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to pick up the
victory as his squad erupted for five runs in the top of the sixth to take an
11-6 lead it never surrendered. Making Fletcher’s performance on the mound more
impressive was his ability to come back even stronger from a 20-plus minute
delay because of lightning in the area.
“I was just glad there was a rain delay because I wasn’t doing so hot,”
said Fletcher, who walked the first batter he faced before striking out three
of the next four after the delay. “I started heating up and getting a little
better.”
Bouey, who was
pulled up late for the junior varsity team to add pitching depth, also allowed
a run in his inning of work. He worked a strikeout looking and a groundout to
second before allowing back-to-back hits and a run in the bottom of the fourth.
Bouey ended his time on the mound with a flyout to left field.
“It’s been great,” Bouey said. “I’ve just been
blessed to get an opportunity like this. It’s got to help for the future. The
game plan was just to go out there and not worry about all the radar guns out
there. Throw strikes and get out of the inning with as little damage as
possible. I did all right.”
Kohn, Mates, Overmiller have strong showings
Of the county’s three pitchers to take the mound Saturday, Kohn, a
senior at Magruder High, threw the best, working a
scoreless seventh inning. The left-handed Kohn walked the first batter he faced
but came back with a strikeout, a flyout to right
field and a groundout to second base.
“I just went out there and cleared my mind and just threw strikes,” Kohn
said. “Did the best I could. I walked the first guy but I just put it out of my
mind and did the best I could.”
Kohn missed a good portion of this past high school season after
breaking his right arm while snowboarding. He did return in time to pitch 14
innings for the Colonels, going 1-2 with a 2.00 earned run average in four
games. Kohn returned in grand fashion, working a perfect game – no one reached
base by any means – for five innings against
Kohn played this summer with Sandy Spring Post 68 (13-17) and finished
the American Legion season with a 1-1 record and a 5.88 ERA in 16 2/3 innings
of work in six appearances, including three starts.
“I’ll probably be getting a lot of innings this next spring,” Kohn said.
“It’s going to me and maybe Drew Culver who are going to be our number one and
two pitchers.”
While Fletcher, Bouey and Kohn worked on
limiting the opposition’s scoring, Mates and Overmiller
helped spark the South’s offense by continuing their solid high school
performances. Mates, who saw action in numerous spots with Whitman (14-7), went
1 for 3 with two runs and a walk and played second base throughout the game. He
singled and later scored in the South’s four-run second inning and worked a
walk and scored in his team’s five-run sixth inning.
“[Friday] was just give it your all and if you make it, you make it,”
said Mates, who batted .353 (18 for 51) with 11 runs and eight runs batted in
this past spring. “And I made it and it was great. It was good pitching. It was
pretty much Division I, upper 80s.”
Overmiller produced a pair of doubles, knocked in a pair of runs and scored twice
in three at-bats as the South team’s designated hitter. The first team
All-Gazette catcher batted.418 with five home runs, eight doubles and 17 RBI
for Bullis last spring and fared even better with
Sandy Spring, collecting a .558 batting average (24 for 43) with five home
runs, 18 runs and 21 RBI in 14 games.