Majors Lose to Cougars in Northern Region Tournament

The Mount Vernon Majors held the lead over the Concorde District Champion Oakton Cougars for the majority of the game Saturday, but the Cougars would rally late in the game for a 9-6 win to advance in the Northern Region tournament and end the Majors' season.

With the Cougars not at their best for the majority of the game, the Majors took advantage and went up 2-0 in the first inning, with the first strike coming in the form of a solo homer from leadoff batter George Palacio. Later in the inning, Victor Lenske hit an RBI double to score Collin Bowyer, who had reached base on an error with two outs in the inning.

"Starting off the game the way Palacio and Lenske did, it showed to everyone, 'Hey, don't overlook us,'" said Luke Sable, the Mount Vernon head coach.

The Majors built on their lead in the third inning with an RBI line drive single from Collin Bowyer to put the Majors up 3-0.

In the bottom of the third inning, Luke Willis — who walked as leadoff batter — stole second base and advanced to third on a fielder's choice ground ball from Chris Hanson to then steal home on the first pitch to batter Ty Carroll. Carroll kept the inning going with a double, but a groundout ended the inning in the next at-bat.

The Majors added two more runs to their lead in the fourth, leaving Justin Janis, Oakton's head coach, wondering when the Cougars would show the fighting spirit that has become almost a signature for the team this season.

"We've been down this road before and we didn't want to panic," Janis said. "And I don't think we did. I definitely wish we had sharpened our focus a little earlier and flipped the switch."

The Cougars answered with three of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning. It started with a solo home run from Austin Lamon. After a scary moment where Chad Carroll was hit by a pitch in the head, Carroll and the Cougars continued with Carroll stealing second and then Luke Willis hitting him home with a double to the center field wall.

In the next inning, the Cougars kept their rally going, scoring five runs — four on two outs. Aaron Rochkind drove in the first run in the inning with a groundout to score Brian Burns. Then with two outs, Austin Lamon reached first after being hit by a pitch to put runners at first and third.

Joey Bartosic kept the inning going with a line drive single to score Mason Hauser, who had earlier reached on an error, to bring the Cougars within a run of the Majors at 6-5.

Then Chad Carroll showed just how well he recovered from the hit in the head with a three-run homer that drove in what would be the game-winning run. And just for a little insurance, Willis hit a solo homer of his own to top the Cougars off at 9-6.

Before Carroll's at-bat, the Majors decided to relieve their starting pitcher, Bowyer.

"He was getting close to 100 pitches and we knew Carroll was good enough to have adjusted to him and would likely get a good hit off him," Sable said. "Unfortunately, it backfired after our reliever left a pitch up for him."

Sable knew Oakton's lineup is filled with power hitters, so their game plan was to squelch that as much as possible.

"We hung in there, but ultimately Carroll got us and we just couldn't get back, Sable said.

Bowyer pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and striking out two batters.

The Majors' season ends with this loss, but Sable is hopeful for next year.

"We've struggled this year, but we played well for about five innings here. I'm proud of what they were able to accomplish today," Sable said. "A whole season of that kind of effort and we'll have a great team. Our juniors and sophomores, the kids who saw today what we're capable of doing, hopefully they'll work hard this offseason and come back to give us some good effort."