Notes: After hosting Beach baseball tourney for years, Landstown finally gets to play in it

The Beach District tournament has become a chance in recent years to showcase Landstown’s well-kept field.

But the Eagles often have been watching other teams play in their own backyard.

Not this year. Landstown is the No. 1 seed after winning the program’s first Beach regular-season championship since the school opened in 2001.

The Beach tournament begins Saturday.

“Working the tournament and not playing the tournament has been a nightmare,” coach Mike Mungin said. “It’s something we take pride in — our field and hosting the tournament. But we also take pride in being in the tournament.”

Landstown has made only one other district tournament appearance.

Now, the Eagles are enjoying a season of firsts. They recently became the top-ranked team in South Hampton Roads for the first time and have earned their first berth in the Eastern Region tournament.

Landstown has won eight games by two runs or less — three of them in extra innings. “In past years,” Mungin said, “we’d never finish it.”

Baseball: Greenbrier once again dominant

Greenbrier Christian looked dominant again last week in winning its 12th Tidewater Conference tournament in 14 years.

Some tight games — including a last-at-bat victory in the semifinals — might have primed the Gators for another postseason run. Greenbrier Christian (20-6) opened play Tuesday as defending champion in the Division II private school state tournament.

“This is probably one of the most interesting teams I’ve ever played on,” lefthanded pitcher Kenny Strickland said. “We’ve been through a lot and really came together as a team. ... Going into this tournament we had more momentum and more team unity than I’ve ever been a part of.”

Baseball: Extra bases ...

The Beach District coach with the most career victories? It’s Ocean Lakes’ Gary Spedden, who is 262-176-1 in stops at Lafayette, Green Run and Ocean Lakes. Spedden has 162 of those victories with the Dolphins. ... The eight-team Eastern Region tournament is less than two weeks away. The first-round match-ups for Memorial Day: Beach vs. Eastern, Peninsula vs. Southeastern. The only seed that was secured before Tuesday was Landstown, which holds the Beach’s No. 1 seed and will play the Eastern District No. 2 seed. ... In the Peninsula, Hampton (14-3 district) holds a one-game lead over Menchville (13-4) and Bethel (13-4) heading into its regular-season finale.

Girls soccer: Kellam peaking at the right time

Although Kellam’s 1-0 victory over Cox last Friday did little to improve the Knights’ position in the Beach District standings, the victory did something else: It gave them reason to believe they are playing their best soccer at the most important time of the season.

“We are coming around,” Kellam coach Mario Hurdle said. “We kind of struggled at the beginning, but we’re finishing strong.”

For much of the spring, the Knights (9-4-1) have been adversely affected by injuries — everything from ACL tears to ankle sprains. As many as five significant contributors have missed time this season, and it has impacted the continuity of Hurdle’s starting lineup.

“You come to practice and you are limited,” he said. “You look around and you are like, 'Wow, what do we have?’ We’re hoping to get some players back for the playoffs.”

Although Cox and First Colonial likely will claim the top two seeds in the Beach District tournament, Hurdle is optimistic about Kellam’s future after the victory over the Falcons.

“To be able to peak at the time is key,” Hurdle said. “The whole team is stepping up.”

Boys track: What a debut for Atlantic Shores

Atlantic Shores competed in its first ever track meet last week — and won.

The Seahawks defeated Richmond Christian and Denbigh Baptist in their historic meet.

Seahawks coach Wayne Lance, who also coaches the school’s football team, said the school has been wanting to put together a track team for the last couple of years. It finally happened this season at the urging of cross country coach Horacio Hall.

Lance got the ball rolling when he encouraged his football players to come out.

“We’ve been working out for football since January, and we just wanted to get them to compete,” he said. “We hope this will carry over to the football field.”

He put his skill-position athletes in the sprints and hurdles. He had his linemen compete in the throwing events.

“They did a great job,” he said. “It was a natural fit.”

Lance’s only concern was how his athletes would fare on the track since the Seahawks don’t have one on their campus.

“For many of them, it was the first time they had actually run in lanes because we practice on the grass,” he said. “So there’s a lot of room for improvement, but from what we saw, it was pretty exciting.”

College commitments:

--Grassfield sprinter Keshia Rudolph has signed to run women’s track at Seton Hall.

-- Three Landstown baseball players are set to continue their careers in college — pitcher/catcher Cameron Butler at Louisburg junior college, infielder Raymond Mance at Virginia Wesleyan and pitcher/outfielder Jesse McCartney at Longwood.

-- Bishop Sullivan Catholic’s Mary Keenehan has committed to play field hockey at Christopher Newport.

-- Hickory’s David Smith has committed to play golf at St. Francis College in New York.

-- Bayside shortstop Lydia Walther-Rodriguez has committed to play softball at Morgan State.

-- Cape Henry Collegiate sprinter/jumper Carina Tate has committed to run track at Winston-Salem State.

— Compiled by Jami Frankenberry, Rainer Sabin, Larry Rubama and Bryan Black