Buffalo Gap softball, Riverheads baseball to play for regional titles

Nine area teams in softball, baseball and soccer entered Tuesday night, June 2, with hopes of reaching the state tournament, but only two survived the regional semifinals.

Both Buffalo Gap softball and Riverheads baseball picked up wins in the semifinals and will now not only play for a regional title June 4, but also advance to the state tournament.

Waynesboro girls soccer, Stuarts Draft girls soccer, Stuarts Draft softball, Fort Defiance boys soccer, Fort Defiance baseball, Staunton boys soccer and Riverheads softball all saw their seasons comes to an end June 2.

In tennis, the Fort Defiance girls won a regional title and will advance to the Class 2 state tournament where it will host Randolph Henry at noon Friday, June 5. In Class 1 girls tennis, Riverheads will host Lancaster at 1 p.m. June 5 and Buffalo Gap will travel to Rappahannock that same day.

Local teams will also be competing in their respective state track and field championships June 5 and 6, with Class 1 and 2 schools in Harrisonburg at James Madison University and Class 3 schools in Lynchburg at Liberty University.

Junior Elissa Caricofe hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, breaking a 2-all tie and helping lead Buffalo Gap to a 5-2 win over Luray in the Region 1B softball semifinals June 2.

With the win, Buffalo Gap will now host William Campbell for the regional title June 4. Both teams also advance to the state tournament. William Campbell knocked off Riverheads 2-1 in the other semifinal.

Buffalo Gap's Bailey Tribble went 3-for-4 and scored twice in the win while both Faith Showalter and Rachel Showalter had triples in the game. Rachel Showalter's triple came after Caricofe's homer and she eventually came home to score to put the Bison up 4-2.