Jefferson High School junior Easton Pruitt winds up to pitch a ball in the Sectional championship at Washington High School on Saturday. Courtesy photo

CHARLES TOWN — Dancing through or around the rain drops is not a baseball skill. If it were, Jefferson High School’s youthful Cougars could have won themselves another Sectional championship last Saturday on the road at Washington High School.

Already a two-time winner in the double elimination tournament, the Cougars had used the outs-getting pitching of Cohen Rutherford and a two-run home run from Serf Guerra to forge a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning of their third game in the event.

Rutherford was pitching a no-hitter through his four innings of work before an almost-daily rain storm halted play for the late afternoon and forced the game to be suspended until this past Monday. Rutherford had allowed just two walks and had his small cushion since the third inning where Guerra had slugged a two-run homer.

The suspended game was begun in that same top of the fifth with Jefferson having Riley Morgan at first base with his single.

Should Jefferson have gone on to win that weather-interrupted game, it would have taken the Sectional title because Washington already had one loss in the event.

The Cougars had previously beaten Hampshire, 11-3, when Guerra had gone 3-for-4, scored twice, had two RBIs and contributed a triple. Nayan Dominguez was 1-for-2 and reached base multiple times while also scoring a run.

Pitcher Jett Gross went six innings with 11 strikeouts and did not allow an earned run as he solved the Trojans.

Jefferson led, 4-3, when it exploded for six runs in the fourth to sail away to the first-game win.

The next day, Jefferson stopped Washington, 8-3, with Brady Roberts going 3-for-4 and scoring two runs.

Liam Sager scored two runs and reached base three times as the Cougars became the lone unbeaten team still standing.

Jefferson’s overall record moved to 23-11 and had been often fueled by some of its youngest players.

Alex Danner (sophomore) had posted regular season numbers that showed him batting .371, driving in 25 runs, getting 39 hits and scoring 32 runs. Guerra (only a freshman) had posted a .455 on-base percentage, was batting .360, scored 24 times, had 36 hits and 38 RBIs. His home run in the third game of the Sectional gave him five for the season.

Gross, the pitching winner of the Sectional opener, is just a sophomore. He finished the 32-game regular season with a 2.98 earned run average and a .267 batting average in 29 games. Liam Sager is another fresh-faced youngster, being only a freshman and he hit .314. Dominguez, who led the team with 11 stolen bases, is another freshman. Sophomore Liam Headley appeared in 29 games.

Should the Cougars have eventually won the Sectional event, they would move on to the Region 2 championship series, facing Martinsburg High School in a best two-of-three series where the survivor goes on to the state tournament in Charleston.