varsity.roanoke.com

PULASKI -- As Northside manager Ed Culicerto slowly walked to the mound for the second time in the bottom of the sixth inning, he knew he was in for a battle.

The best competitors always argue when you come to remove them.

Andrew Stover is no exception.

As their eyes met, coach and pitcher had the following exchange:

Stover: "What are you doing out here?"

Culicerto: "I'm coming to get you. It's my second visit, buddy. Even if I wanted to change my mind, I couldn't."

Stover: "I thought it was three."

Culicerto: "How long you been watchin' baseball, man?"

That's how the ending came for Northside -- a mixture of frustration and stubborn pride, with a little bit of humor thrown in.

The Vikings challenged the defending state champions better than most but finally ran out of magic, falling to Turner Ashby 3-1 in the Group AA semifinals at Calfee Park.

The Knights won it with a five-hitter from starter Carl McIntyre and two runs in the bottom of the sixth off the Vikings' best two arms.

With the game tied at 1, Turner Ashby's Daniel Bowman led off the sixth against Stover with a sinking line drive to right field. Right fielder Taylor Bell, who had made two sparkling defensive plays in Northside's quarterfinal win Tuesday, charged quickly toward the infield determined to catch it.

"The sun was in my eyes," Bell said. "I didn't know whether to dive or not to."

Caught in between, Bell made a sliding attempt and watched in horror as the ball skipped past him. Bowman wound up at third on the play and scored on a sacrifice fly two batters later. Josh Tutwiler followed with a single, and that's when Culicerto pulled Stover in favor of ace Lefty Flora.

"I didn't want to come out of the game," said Stover, a senior who allowed six hits and struck out two. "I never do. But I don't disagree with him bringing Lefty in. Lefty's our best pitcher, and I probably would have done the same thing."

Flora, who pitched eight innings Tuesday, allowed an RBI single to Brandon Craun to make it 3-1. Roger Ingraham picked up his second hit for Northside in the top of the seventh, but McIntyre wouldn't allow anything else, retiring Matt Herron and Bell on fly balls to end it.

"That's the last outing of my career," said McIntyre, whose team will play Hidden Valley for the title today. "I just had to dig deep and find that energy."

Northside fell behind 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI single by Bowman. But Stover settled down quickly, and Daniel Motes tied it in the fourth with a run-scoring single.

"We were confident when we got that one run," Bell said. "We thought we would close it out, but things didn't go our way."

Eight seniors depart from a Northside team that posted nerve-fraying victories in the Region III quarterfinals and Group A quarters just to get to this point.

Culicerto kept those achievements in mind as he lined his players up and gave them a final round of fist bumps. He had one more thing to say as he surveyed their glum faces.

"Guys," he said. "There's no crying in baseball."

So they kept their eyes dry -- at least for the time being.

"I'll do that later tonight," Culicerto confessed.

Northside 000 100 0 -- 1 5 1

Turner Ashby 100 002 x -- 3 7 1

Stover, Flora (6) and Ingraham; McIntyre and Tutwiler. W--McIntyre. L--Stover.