Valley League elects new leaders
Dave Biery and Jim Phillips, two long-time officers of the Valley Baseball League, are stepping down. Biery, who has served as League president since 1985, will be retiring from his post after the 2012 season. Don Lemish, the former athletics director at James Madison University and current commissioner of the Rockingham County Baseball League, will be taking his place. Lemish will serve as assistant to the president for the upcoming season.
“It’s been a great adventure,” says Biery, who cites the expansion of the league from six to 12 teams as a major accomplishment of his tenure because it doubled the opportunity for college players to improve their skills. He also views the change of the league’s status from profit to nonprofit as another significant achievement of his presidency. Continue reading “Valley League elects new leaders” »
Local writer releases new book
Austin Gisriel, author of Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley, the story of the 2009 New Market Rebels, has just released 3 Tales From the Grand Old Game, a collection of short stories about baseball. Tales has been published solely as an e-book and represents Gisriel’s first published foray into fiction.
“I’m very grateful that I have dedicated readers,” says Gisriel, “and I like talking to them, so to speak. That’s why this collection is priced at only $0.99.”
The first story is the tale of four friends bound together by a common love of baseball, and when one of them dies, the group takes one final road trip.
“The main character is based on longtime New Market Rebels’ coach Mo Weber,” says Gisriel.
“Mo has meant a great deal to many people over the years, and I thought that I could get at that better in a work of fiction than in an essay. I did record an interview with Mo, however, talking about his days in the semi-pro Basin League back in the ’50s, and the story contains a link to that interview. That way, everyone has a chance to meet the man behind the character,” adds Gisriel.
In the second story, Trent Tyler, Cleveland’s third baseman, must take an inner journey to discover why he suddenly can’t throw a baseball.
“Major leaguers are human, and they have their anxieties, just as the rest of us do,” says Gisriel. “It’s a subject that’s close to me, and I wanted to explore it in this story.”
“The third story, ‘A Baseball Fan’s Fairy Tale,’ is kind of an updated version of Damn Yankees,” comments Gisriel, “only this time the main character doesn’t play for the team, he buys the team, thanks to a little help from a lot of friends.”
Gisriel is familiar to many Valley Baseball League fans, not only from his writing, but also as part of the Rebels’ webcasting team.
The book may be obtained for any e-reader by typing the title into the search box at www.smashwords.comor go to www.amazon.com and type the title into the search box on the Kindle Page.
The AFP on WREL: Around the diamond
AFP editor Chris Graham talks baseball – Valley League, Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles – on WREL-1450AM’s “Online with JIm Bresnahan.”
Generals shut out – again – in Valley League honors
Waynesboro, at 15-10, has the second-best record in the Valley League.
We’re tied for the league lead in a category that you wouldn’t expect.
Fewest kids named to the Players of the Week list.
At zero.
Yep. It’s us, Luray (9-16) and Woodstock (9-18) still looking for our first honoree of 2011.
The tough thing is that the Players of the Week are being done this year on a division-by-division basis. Meaning there are six of them named each week – one position player and one pitcher.
We have the league’s fourth-best hitter (Jordan Walton, .364). Our closer, Andrew Reck, is tied for second in the league in saves (at five, with a 1.69 ERA and 12 Ks in 10.2 IP).
Tim Leather was 2-0 for us this week in three games (two starts), and beat Rockbridge twice, 2-1 on June 26 and 3-2 on July 2, with a two-scoreless-inning relief appearance on June 29 against Covington thrown in for good measure.
(His line for the week: 16 IP, 3 ER, 11 H, 11 K, 2 BB.)
Walton was 10-for-20 with seven runs batted in and a 5-for-5 line Sunday night at Covington.
Oh, and do I have to mention that we won six of seven last week?
In the Southern Division, Staunton has had one Player of the Week so far this year, Covington three, and Rockbridge, currently bringing up the rear in the Southern Division at 12-14, has had four.
Memo to the powers-that-be: We play in the Valley League, too.
Safe at Home now available as e-book
The New Market Rebels of the Valley Baseball League are pleased to announce that Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley, a non-fiction work about the 2009 Rebels’s squad, is now available as an e-book.
“I’m excited about offering Safe at Home in this format,” says author Austin Gisriel. “Publishing is changing rapidly and it is important for authors to change with it in order to offer their readers the best experience possible.”
Safe at Home is available for the Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Kobo readers among others and the book may be ordered through the Kindle Store or Smashwords.com. Amazon offers a free Kindle application for your PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, Android, or Windows 7 phone. The e-book retails for $2.99.
Each chapter contains a link to the Safe at Home on-line photo album where Melissa Dodge’s outstanding photographs that appeared in the printed version may be viewed in full color.
The book was printed in paperback form by Augusta Free Press Publishing LLC, the parent company of AugustaFreePress.com.
Gisriel’s next e-publishing project also involves the Valley League. A 30 year retrospective tentatively entitled “The Glorious Summer,” the lengthy article focuses on the 1981 season in which New Market and the Winchester Royals battled for the Valley League crown. The Rebels boasted three future major leaguers that year in Tom Browning, John Kruk, and Dan Pasqua, but it was Winchester that had the season of a lifetime. Plans currently call for this e-article to be offered at no charge.
Former Generals aiming for spot in College World Series
A pair of former Waynesboro Generals will play key roles for the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers as they face off with Cal-Irvine this weekend for a spot in the College World Series.
“It will definitely be a good weekend of baseball. Two really good teams. It’s golng to come down to who can execute. This time of year, it’s all about who can execute when they have the chance to. The #1 seed doesn’t mean anything in this. Everyone just has to play great baseball now to win. Teams made it this far for a reason,” said Justin Thompson, a relief pitcher for the Cavs this spring who credits his experience in Waynesboro in 2010 with getting him ready for college baseball this year.
Thompson and teammate Jared King, the starting first baseman at Virginia, attended the Waynesboro-Rockbridge game at Kate Collins Field Wednesday night to check in on their old stomping grounds. Virginia and Cal-Irvine will begin their best-of-three Super Regional series on Saturday at 1 p.m. Game 2 is set for Sunday at 1 p.m., with Game 3, if necessary, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday.
Thompson has been the eighth-inning setup man for coach Brian O’Connor in 2011, compiling a 3-1 record and 2.97 ERA in 20 appearances.
“I came into last year here not having thrown too much for Virginia, and then I came to the Valley League and got time to work on different stuff,” Thompson said. “It really helped me going into fall ball, and I was able to win a position going into spring season. The Valley definitely helped for the experience and picking up stuff from different schools and guys you played with.”
King’s summer in Waynesboro in 2010 followed a redshirt season at UVa. following shoulder surgery.
“This gave me the opportunity to go out and play every day. With my throwing program last summer, if I wasn’t playing in the field, I was going to DH, and that was the biggest thing for me, was just getting at-bats,” said King, who is hitting .324 for a homer and 25 RBI for Virginia in 2011.
Three of their teammates – first baseman/catcher Ryan Levine, pitcher/outfielder Shane Halley and pitcher Ryan Ashooh – will join the Generals this summer once the UVa. season is done. Thompson said he and King have given the trio a scouting report on the Valley League.
“We told them the coaching staff here is great. They help all the players get better, let us play loose and just have fun playing. You’re trying to get better. And told them that traveling around the Valley League is nice. The bus trips aren’t bad, so it’s not like it’s going to beat you down most trips. Mainly just trying to get better every day, and the Valley League is the place to do it, because you’re playing every day,” Thompson said.
Generals pitch in at Wenonah Field Day
Friday is get-down-to-business time for the Waynesboro Generals, who open their season on the road at Rockbridge. Thursday was a break from the preparations for the 2011 Valley League season for several members of the team who helped Wenonah Elementary School with its annual Field Day.
“We’re just playing around with the kids, just having a good time,” said Michael Davis, a catcher from Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tenn.
For Joseph Lucas, a Bridgewater College product and Waynesboro native, the day was also about reconnecting with people who watched him pitch for Waynesboro High School a few years ago.
“I remember looking up to the Generals as being big-name baseball players. Now to fill that role is an honor,” Lucas said.
Chris Graham joins ‘Baseball in the Valley’ podcast
Chris Graham was a guest on the debut installment of “Baseball in the Valley,” a podcast hosted by Austin Gisriel covering Valley League Baseball.
“Baseball in the Valley” is broadcast live on Blog Talk Radio on Thursdays at 6 p.m. You can access archived podcasts at www.blogtalkradio.com/seamheads .
Graham, play-by-play broadcaster for the Waynesboro Generals, will be a regular guest on the summer podcast series.
Gisriel is the author of A Season in the Valley, a book chronicling a season behind the scenes with the Valley League’s New Market Rebels. A Season in the Valley was published in 2010 by Augusta Free Press Publishing.
The 2011 Valley League season begins Thursday, June 2. The Generals open play on Friday, June 3, on the road at Rockbridge. Waynesboro’s home opener is Saturday, June 4, against Covington.
More information about the Generals is online at www.WaynesboroGenerals.com.
Generals fall in Game 1, 6-2
A two-RBI Alan Stoupa single gave Waynesboro a 2-1 sixth-inning lead, but Front Royal responded with four in the bottom of the sixth, the big blow a two-out, three-run homer by Sean Jamieson, and the Royals took Game 1 of the teams’ Valley League first-round playoff series, 6-2, Tuesday night.
Jarryd Summers (2-2) took the loss for Waynesboro, giving up five runs, one earned, on four hits. An error by shortstop Chase Worthington on a grounder by Cardinals cleanup hitter James Roche that came after a leadoff single by Matt Holland helped open the way for the Jamieson homer, which followed an RBI single by Pete Greskoff, a sacrifice bunt by Andy Drexel and a strikeout of A.J. Albee.
Blake Ford (3-3) got the win for Front Royal, giving up two runs on nine hits in six and two-thirds innings.
Game 2 of the Front Royal-Waynesboro playoff series is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field in Waynesboro.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Keywords: waynesboro virginia, front royal virginia, valley league baseball
Waynesboro splits with Harrisonburg, earns #5 seed in playoffs
A seven-run fourth rallied Waynesboro from a 4-1 deficit in game two of a doubleheader at Harrisonburg and earned the Generals a split with the Turks on Monday.
The split gives Waynesboro the #5 seed in the Valley League playoffs, which get going Tuesday night with the Generals traveling to Front Royal to take on the fourth-seeded Cardinals in Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round series.
Waynesboro got complete-game seven-inning efforts from a pair of pitchers making their first starts of the season, Drew Turocy, who took the tough-luck 1-0 loss in Game 1 on Monday against the Turks, and Devin Smith, who shut out Harrisonburg in the final four innings after giving up three in the first and a single run in the third.
Turocy, the Generals’ starting centerfielder most of the season, keyed the seven-run fourth-inning rally in Game 2 with a three-run homer to right field, his first homer of the season, and the first homer by a General other than Grant Fillipitch, who finished the regular season with six home runs in 2010.
Turocy (0-2) lost Game 1 despite giving up just one run on seven hits in six innings of work. Turocy struck out four and did not issue a walk in the effort.
Smith (1-1) gave up four runs on six hits in seven innings pitched in Game 2. Smith struck out three and walked one.
The split of the doubleheader left Waynesboro and Harrisonburg tied for fifth in the league standings with identical 22-22 records. Waynesboro earned the #5 seed by virtue of their 3-2 advantage over Harrisonburg in their head-to-head series in 2010.
#4 seed Front Royal finished a game ahead of the two teams with a 23-21 record. The Cards and the Generals split their season series at 2-2. Front Royal won the first two matchups between the teams, 3-2 in 11 innings on June 15 in Front Royal and 8-5 on June 29 in Waynesboro, and Waynesboro winning the final two, 9-6 at Front Royal on July 15 and 4-3 in Waynesboro on July 28.
Game 1 of the Waynesboro-Front Royal playoff series is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bing Crosby Stadium in Front Royal.
Game 2 will be played at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mathers Park at Kate Collins Field in Waynesboro.
Game 3, if necessary, would be played on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Front Royal.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Keywords: waynesboro generals, front royal cardinals, harrisonburg turks, valley league, valley league baseball, waynesboro virginia, front royal virginia, harrisonburg virginia
Generals get win in first game of Sunday doubleheader
Chastin Akers picked six strong innings in his first start of the Valley League season, and Waynesboro got the win in the first of two on Sunday, knocking off Covington, 6-4.
Akers (1-0) gave up three runs on seven hits in his second appearance of the season. The 6-7 lefty from Concord got some help early as the Generals scored three runs in the bottom of the first aided by a pair of Covington errors, including one on a one-out grounder by Drew Turocy that allowed Colin Harrington and Cody Hudson to score.
Chase Worthington had a pair of sacrifice-fly RBIs for Waynesboro, which had already clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night when Woodstock lost to Winchester.
The win pushes Waynesboro for the moment into fifth place a half-game ahead of idle Harrisonburg.
The Generals host Staunton at 7 p.m. in their regular-season home finale.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
keywords: waynesboro generals, covington lumberjacks, waynesboro virginia, valley league, valley league baseball, chastin akers
The AFP on WREL: Politics talk
Posted by afp on July 15, 2011 · Leave a Comment
The segment begins with talk on the ongoing negotiations in Congress over the national debt ceiling. Chris gives insight into a conversation that he had with Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who seems more focused on the importance of getting the deal done and what a done deal can mean for business. That is the approach that many on both sides of the aisle seem to favor, Chris says, given the economic uncertainty of the time.
A review of campaign-finance numbers in the Virginia Senate race and then a switch of gears to talk a little Valley League baseball wrap us up.
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