Written by Brien Krug
Turks Staff Writer
July 11, 2021
For the 8th year in a row (excluding 2020), Harrisonburg hosted the annual Valley Baseball League All-Star Game. The South has dominated the series as of late winning the last 6 matchups between the two but the North was looking to change the tide.
The Turks had plenty of representation in the 2021 All-Star game with 5 players making an appearance, Logan McNeely, Carlos Marte, Michael Rosario, Logan McClure, and Andres Rodriguez, along with two of these Turks making the start for the South, Michael Rosario, and Carlos Marte.
The North would jump all over South starter Hunter Mink in the first. 4 singles with a walk in the middle would lead to 3 first inning North runs and a game that has been so heavily dominated by pitchers over the years had the look of a shootout early.
The South was looking to respond in the home half of the first. A leadoff single from the South division MVP, Victor Castillo would get the inning started. Back-to-back outs would bring up Harrisonburg’s own Michael Rosario. Rosario would knock a single through the right side to keep the inning alive for the South. However, on the next pitch of the inning, Covington’s Nathan Becker would ground out to end the threat.
Turk’s 2nd baseman Carlos Marte would come up in the bottom of the 2nd with no one on and 1 out but ground out to short for the 2nd out. After a scoreless 3rd inning from Charlottesville’s Christian Worley, the South would look to get back into the game in the bottom half. Castillo would reach base again quickly followed by back-to-back outs bringing up Michael Rosario again. Rosario, who has been red hot for the Turks lately with 2 HR and 8 RBI’s over the past 5 games, would knock a ball out to dead center that had the looks of a 2 run homer but the North MVP, Jaylon Lee, would rise up and make a spectacular home run robbing catch to keep the South scoreless.
Logan McClure would make an appearance in the 4th and after giving up a leadoff solo homer to give the North a 4-0 lead, McClure would settle down and set down 3 of the next 4 hitters to end the inning with a line of 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 K. Marte, and Rosario would both strikeout in their final at-bats ending their nights with lines of 0-2 and 1-2 respectively.
Logan McNeely would come into a catch in the 6th and strikeout in his first at-bat but in the 7th would take a 4 pitch walk to load the bases for the South. However, the South could not capitalize on the bases-loaded threat and would remain scoreless. Turk’s last player to make an appearance would be Andres Rodriguez, who is the current lead in ERA in the VBL. Rodriguez would pitch well giving up 1 unearned run on 1 hit with a K.
A field malfunction would force the contest to end in the bottom of the 8th with the North taking the win 5-0 over the South. Following the short All-Star break, the Turks (15-15) will get back in action tonight as they travel to Covington (9-21) to take on the Lumberjacks in a Southern division doubleheader.