A Bison three-feat

GREENVILLE – Chad Coffey got his Gatorade shower. It has become old hat to the Buffalo Gap baseball and girls basketball coach.

Coffey, who led the Bison to their second straight Group A, Division 1 basketball title back in March, watched as Gap broke open a close game with seven runs over the final three innings to take an 11-2 win over Riverheads and, more importantly, giving the Bison their third straight Shenandoah District crown.

It comes with some perks, namely a first-round bye in the district tourney and a coveted Region B berth.

“[Winning] never gets old,” said Coffey, still dripping wet from his on-the-field shower.

The two teams exchanged runs in the first inning with Gap scoring a quick run off a Boone Jones RBI triple, which plated Hunter Sandridge. And Riverheads answered back with a home run from Miles Wade off the first pitch thrown at him, his third homer of the season.

After the first inning, it all went down hill for the Gladiators.

The Bison came up in the second inning hitting hard as Travis Ashby led off with a line drive past the second baseman. Josh McDevitt followed up with a hit to left field, but Ashby’s attempt to score was taken out by Riverheads’ left fielder Taylor Yeago’s strong arm.

T.J. Cupp then made it to first off of a Gladiator error, which plated McDevitt. Preston Woods hit a high fly ball to right field, with Riverheads missing the catch and putting Cupp at third. With Ryan Sheridan thrown out at first, Sandridge stepped to the plate and sent a high flyer to right field, with the Gladiators missing the catch again and having Cupp and Woods score for the Bison, putting the score at 4-1.

“We made some early mistakes,” said Riverheads coach Rodney Painter. “But we were still in the game.”

Riverheads attempt at playing small ball in the bottom of the second was squashed by Gap’s defense.

“The guys had confidence at the plate,” Buffalo Gap coach Chad Coffey said. “The first inning set the tone for the second.”

The Gladiators came back in the third inning and put the score at 4-2 off of a sacrifice fly from Brian Wright, which scored Cody Montgomery, but Riverheads wouldn’t score again for the rest of the game.

“We had some missed opportunities,” Painter said. “We just didn’t make the plays that we needed to and it just snowballed from there.”

The fourth inning went scoreless for the Bison, but they made up for in the final three innings.

“We didn’t have any mental mistakes out there,” Coffey said.

The top of the fifth started with Ashby leading off with a double to right field, followed up by McDevitt who made it to first off a dropped third strike. Ashby scored off a Cupp RBI and a home run from Woods, putting the Bison up 7-2.

The sixth saw two more Bison runs, one coming from Nick Corbin who scored off a Gladiator throwing error, the other coming from Ashby who scored off of a Cupp RBI. Gap also added two more runs to the board in the seventh from Sandridge scoring off of a hit from Jones and Jones scoring off of yet another Gladiator throwing error.

“When you hit the ball, and you’re smart on the bases, then the game takes care of itself,” Coffey said.

Riverheads and Wilson Memorial are tied with a 6-4 district records and have to wait for tonight’s unfinished game between Luray and Page County to see where they fall into the tourney mix.

“You’ve got to score more than two at this point,” Painter said. “We’ve got to move on though, this is just one game. It’s done and we got to look forward.”