WINCHESTER — James Wood used five different pitchers to beat Handley in both team’s regular season finale.

Senior Zach Webster got the win for the Colonels (11-9, 6-6 Northwestern District), who utilized a six-run third inning to pull away.

Russell Repasky led a 15-hit attack with a 3-for-4 performance with three RBIs, a double and a run scored. Teammate Andy Kennedy finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs and a double.

Sophomore Nick Dempsey (3 for 4 with a run scored) and junior Reagan Potts (2 for 4) led the Judges in the loss.

Handley will next face Skyline in the Northwestern District play-in game at 6 p.m. today while James Wood will face Millbrook in the semifinals on Saturday.

WINCHESTER — Freshman Hannah Lockhart drove in the game-tying run and then took advantage of two James Wood errors to score the winning run for Handley Wednesday.

The Judges (2-16, 2-10 Northwestern District) wrapped up the regular season in style by erasing a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Senior Jody Shipman went all seven innings for Handley to get the win and sister Jessy finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

Sophomore Kierstyn Peacoe took the loss for James Wood (7-13, 6-6) which suffered its fifth straight loss and dropped to third in the district.

Charlotte Viands went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI and Whitney Dick finished 2 for 3, but the Colonels hurt themselves with four errors in the loss.

Handley will face Millbrook in the Northwestern District play-in game at 5 p.m. today at James Wood while the Colonels will face Sherando in the semifinals on Saturday.

May 17, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

STEPHENS CITY — About a minute into his post-meet comments at Wednesday’s Northwestern District Track & Field Championships, Handley coach Mike McKiernan had to stop himself.

“I keep using the word ‘nice’” he said. “Let me think of another word.”

“Dominant” would certainly fit the bill.

The Judges won 12 of 16 events and set three meet records — all of which involved senior Verna Hilaire-Lee — to claim their first district meet title since 2005 Wednesday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Handley scored 160 points, 52 more than two-time defending champion and runner-up Sherando (108). On the boys’ side, Skyline claimed its first-ever district meet title with 145 points, 19 more than runner-up Sherando (126).

McKiernan couldn’t have asked for anything more, as the only events that Handley didn’t win came in the 1,600 (Millbrook’s Crystal Nelson, 5 minutes, 0.69 seconds), the high jump (James Wood’s Katie Houser, 5 feet) and the shot put and discus (Sherando’s Alaina Combs, who took the former event with a mark of 31-2 and the latter with a mark of 95-8).

May 15, 2012
By JERRY HOLSWORTH
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Whenever Handley and James Wood get together for an athletic contest, it’s always an intense, emotional game.

But Monday’s boys’ soccer showdown had a strange outcome — the big winner was Sherando.

After the Judges upset the Warriors last Thursday, all Handley needed was a victory over its archrival to tie Sherando for the regular season title and force a one-game playoff for the regular season Northwestern District championship.

That will not happen, though, since the Colonels defeated the Judges in a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win at the Handley Bowl.

“That is exactly what we come over here to do,” Wood forward Chandler DeHaven said. “We lost to them earlier in the season, and that took away our title hopes. We came over here to return the favor.”

The game, however, took a while to heat up, as neither team seemed to be able to seriously threaten the others’ goal in the first 30 minutes of play.

Host James Wood picked up a 2-1 victory over Northwestern District rival Handley in girls soccer action on Monday.

Dulcie Kysela notched a goal for the Colonels off a Sarah Callaham assist, and Megan Hammond also tallied a goal for James Wood (7-8-1, 3-4-1 Northwestern). Marissa Maddalena had the assist on Hammond's goal.

Colonels goalkeeper Emily Woods-Hulse finished with eight saves in the win.

WINCHESTER — The Sherando boys took second and the Millbrook girls took fourth to lead the way among local teams at the 15-team Last Chance Invitational at Millbrook Friday night.

The Warrior boys scored 57 points, finishing behind only Broad Run (81). James Wood was fourth with 40 points, Handley was 10th with 27.5, Millbrook was 12th with 24, and Clarke County was 15th with 5.

May 12, 2012
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Coaches like to talk about how winning is contagious, and it looks like the James Wood baseball team has caught on with this adage pretty well.

Keeping up their red-hot play in May, the Colonels stunned second-place Millbrook 6-4 on Friday night and moved into sole possession of third place in the Northwestern District.

A five-run third inning put James Wood (10-9, 5-6 in the district) ahead for good, and Millbrook (14-5, 7-4) lost only its second home game of the season. The other defeat also came at the hands of the Colonels, 5-2 back on March 27.

“It was very uncharacteristic of how we’ve been playing,” said Millbrook coach Brian Burke, whose squad had won 11 of its last 12 before Friday. “James Wood came out and did what they needed to do to win the game. It just comes down to execution tonight, and they wanted it more than us.”

The Colonels definitely looked like the team with more fire under their feet. In extending its season-best win streak to four, James Wood backed its pitchers with outstanding play in the field and got just enough clutch hitting to earn the season series (2-1) with Millbrook.

WINCHESTER — Top-seeded and host Handley advanced to Monday’s Northwestern District final by dropping just two games against No. 4 James Wood in the five completed matches.

The Judges (15-1) will host No. 3 Skyline at 4 p.m. Monday in the district final.

Winning by 6-0, 6-0 scores for Handley were No. 1 Jessie Nolan, No. 2 Kathryn Bock, No. 3 Sparkle Kitchin and No. 6 Leire Froufe. Madeline Skedsvold won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 singles against James Wood’s Rachel Sours.