By Greg Brill -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

STEPHENS CITY -- Much of Zach Carney's time Tuesday night was spent with a scorebook in his hands. But once Sherando baseball coach Pepper Martin called on Carney to pinch-hit late in the Warriors' Northwestern District semifinals game against James Wood, the junior proved that he was just as skilled with a bat in his hands as a pencil.

Jumping on an inside fastball from Matt Copley, Carney looped a single to center to drive in Dominique Porter with the go-ahead run and the Warriors rallied to score all their runs in the sixth inning for a 3-1 win.

"I was sitting over [in the dugout] doing the book and coach told me in the fifth inning to be ready," Carney said. "I didn't feel nervous. It just happened."

It wasn't the first time Carney came through with a key hit, either. On April 28 at Kettle Run, Carney had a clutch pinch-hit RBI double in the seventh in a game Sherando went on to win, 9-8.

Said senior teammate Nick Merchant: "He's got a habit going of being in the right place at the right time and getting the job done."

The Warriors (18-5) will face tournament top-seed Brentsville on Thursday in Nokesville in the Northwestern final at 6 p.m. Both teams will participate in next week's Region II tournament and Sherando will likely host a quarterfinal round game on Monday.

For five innings, Copley and the Colonels (13-7) looked like the ones who would be punching a ticket to regionals. Locked in a battle with fellow young gun Tre Porter, Copley kept the Warriors off-balance and off the bases most of the way, taking a two-hit shutout and 1-0 lead to the bottom of the sixth.

With the heart of its order up, Sherando got more aggressive. Blake Adams had a solid single leading off and scored all the way on Merchant's hit to the left-center gap, beating the throw home with a nifty slide to tie the game. Merchant then had a baserunning snafu by getting thrown out on a ball hit just one step behind him for the first out, and Copley (5-2) seemed to be getting out of trouble by retiring Curry Clevenger on a fly to left.

Or so it seemed. Brogan Hoover singled to move courtesy runner Dominique Porter into scoring position and Martin made a switch, sending the lefty-swinging Carney to the plate.

"That's all they'd seen the whole game," Martin said of his entire batting order filled with right-handed bats. "I wanted to get a lefty-righty matchup and play the percentages. I told Zach, 'Use the entire bat.'"

When Carney's hit fell into shallow center, Martin jumped high in the coaching box at third and wheeled Porter all the way. Porter's speed was too much, and Sherando had the lead for good.

"We're the home team and we're playing for the win," Martin said. "They're going to have to throw us out."

James Wood coach Jared Mounts brought Dustin Russell in to pitch, but the hot streak continued for Sherando with No. 9 batter Erik Alber's sharp single down the third-base line to plate Hoover for a two-run cushion.

"With the way we can hit, we knew it was going to crack open eventually," Merchant said. "It was just a matter of time, I guess. You have to hand it to Copley. He did a great job of holding us down for more than half the game."

Merchant (7-1), who came on to pitch after Porter allowed James Wood's leadoff batter to reach in the sixth, gave up a one-out double to Tim Spore in the seventh and hit Brock Lockhart on the shoulder with a two-out pitch. But Merchant fooled Russell with a two-strike slider and got the punchout to end the game and the Colonels' season.

The Colonels got ahead in the second when Brandon Sinecoff scored on a grounder from Travis Viands. Tre Porter, who held Central to one run in a complete-game performance in his previous start, was in trouble again in the fourth when Sinecoff doubled to the base of the wall in right leading off and Hunter Leight singled and hustled into second when the relay went home to keep pinch-runner Alan Geleske at third.

One out later, the Colonels gambled and sent Geleske charging down the line as Copley bunted. But Porter reacted well, charged off the mound and flipped to Derek Reid, who blocked the plate and tagged Geleske out.

"We knew the squeeze was coming," Martin said. "We guessed right. Their kid did a good job, because he bunted a curve ball. We just beat the runner to the plate."

Porter induced Viands to fly out to center to end the fourth. Rally over.

"They bowed their necks and got out of that inning," Mounts said. "That was big, because we kept a lot of pressure on them and had an opportunity to open up that game and didn't do it."

With a large crowd gathered, the efforts of two young pitchers like the freshman Porter and sophomore Copley in such a game of impact were not lost on the coaches.

"I thought about that at one point," Mounts said. "Big crowd, big game. A lot on the line, and both guys did a heck of a job. You've got to give both credit."

Sinecoff, Leight and Spore all had two hits for James Wood. Hoover was the only Warrior with multiple hits.