By Randy Arrington
BUCKINGHAM, June 17 — Two days after his younger brother Lance hurled a one-hit shutout to claim the semifinal over Madison, senior T.R. Williams allowed only one run and three hits on Thursday at Buckingham to lead Page County to the Region B championship.
The Panthers were on fire at the plate in the title game, posting 14 hits on the day. Junior Aidan Painter went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, while T.R. helped his own cause going 3-for-3 at the plate. Juniors Caleb Knighton (2-3), Hagan Bradley (1-4) and Caden Good (1-3) all contributed two RBI, while senior Isaiah Cloude went 2-for-4.
Both teams got on the board in the second inning, knotting things up early at 1-1. Page exploded for four runs in the fourth and would go on to add one in the sixth and three more in the seventh for a 9-1 win.
Amari Toney had the best showing for Buckingham (10-3), going 2-for-2, while Holden Tyson (1-3) picked up Buckingham’s only RBI on the day.
While many in Page County have shared concerns about T.R. Williams’ recovery from Guillain-Barre syndrome, it would appear he is pretty much back to normal. The senior southpaw faced the No. 1 team in Region B and mowed down 11 batters in a complete game in which 68 percent of his 94 pitches on the day were strikes. And this is after only being with his team for about four weeks.
After symptoms surfaced in February and lead to two weeks in ICU, T.R. was finally released from the University of Virginia Medical Center on April 1 after a 54-day stay in the hospital. He first took batting practice May 18 and played his first game back on May 21. His first outing on the mound a few days later produced one of Page’s three losses on the season. But three weeks later, T.R. lead his team back to the state tournament for the third time in his high school career — and that’s after losing last season to the COVID-19 pandemic.
T.R. was ranked by Prep Baseball Report as the top overall player in the state of Virginia and Washington, D.C., for the class of 2021. He has filled out questionnaires for 20 MLB clubs. In his freshman year, the left-hander was named Virginia High School League 2A Player of the Year, as the Panthers claimed a state title in 2018. T.R. lead Page back to the state tournament in 2019, but they lost in the “final four” semifinal round.
In T.R.’s absence, younger brother Lance, a sophomore right-hander, has stepped in to lead the Panthers to a 10-3 season and earn recognition as the Bull Run District “Player of the Year”.
To open up their third-consecutive state tournament appearance, the Panthers will host Region 2A champion Poquoson on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
ALL TICKETS TO TUESDAY’S STATE SEMIFINAL MUST BE PURCHASED ONLINE (E-TICKETS) IN ADVANCE. THERE WILL BE NO TICKETS FOR SALE AT THE GATE.
Please see the VHSL website or the PCHS Facebook page for instructions.
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