Pair of Aces: Star pitchers Cammarota, Tompkins paving BR path

Blue Ridge star pitchers AJ Cammarota (left) and Mason Tompkins didn’t get to pitch together last season due to injuries. Now, they’re back and dominating on the mound.

Sometimes, bad luck just seems to find you.

A year ago, it found AJ Cammarota at the worst possible time.

Cammarota—Blue Ridge’s star pitcher and Region Player of the Year—was warming up before a playoff game against Emerald. Blue Ridge head coach Travis Henson hit a routine ground ball Cammarota’s way pre-game. The junior pitcher and first baseman went down to scoop it.

It broke his finger.

“It was just a terrible coincidence,” said Cammarota. “It came up on a hop and shattered the joints in my finger.”

Though painful, Cammarota didn’t think it was too serious at first. But when he stepped to the mound and tried to pitch two days later, he knew something was wrong.

“I iced it up and tried to reduce the swelling after it happened, but when I went to pitch, I could tell something was really off,” said Cammarota. “The movement was very little.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Cammarota—who finished 2023 with a 7-1 record and a 0.90 ERA—couldn’t pitch anymore that season. As a result, Blue Ridge exited the 2023 3-A playoffs earlier than many expected.

“It hurt a lot,” said Cammarota. “I was still able to hit, but I wanted to be out there on the mound for my team in the playoffs.”

Cammarota’s exit from pitching in 2023 coincided with the return of fellow junior ace, Mason Tompkins.

Tompkins was unable to pitch the first two months of the season as he recovered from a partial elbow tear. Tompkins made a full return to the mound just before the playoffs began.

“I got injured over the summer before that season, but I was able to come back in our last region series before the playoffs started,” said Tompkins. “I felt like I was throwing pretty well when I got back out.”

Not even a full week later, however, came Cammarota’s injury. The pair of aces didn’t get a chance to be dealt together in 2023.

“One got healthy, the other one got hurt on a freak play,” Henson said. “You almost want to keep them in bubble wrap this season after what happened last year.”

So far, no need for the extra adhesive. Cammarota and Tompkins started the season at full health, and as the Tigers march toward the 3-A playoffs again, they’ve stayed that way.

Cammarota is 5-0 this year with 58 strikeouts.Tompkins is 4-0 with 47.

“A lot of teams have one ace or a pitcher who’s going to be really good every night, but we really feel like we’ve got two of those guys here at Blue Ridge,” said Tiger pitching coach Austin Abercrombie. “They make my job pretty easy.”

What exactly makes Cammarota and Tompkins so hard to hit? They’re quick to answer for each other.

“AJ locates the ball really well and he releases it at a great point,” said Tompkins of his counterpart. “He mixes you up out there, and when he gets going, he’s hard to stop. It’s fun to watch what he can do.”

“Mason’s a dawg. He’s always been one,” said Cammarota. “His fastball’s always electric. His off-speed is filthy. He’s as big a competitor as there is.”

They’ve been nearly impossible to hit when at their best — which is most every night. If Blue Ridge is to achieve its state title aspiration, that’ll likely need to hold.

It’s one last ride for the pair of now-senior aces, and they want to take it as far as it can go.

“We’re confident in what we can do. And when it’s over, we want to be remembered by everybody who walks through the gates at this school,” said Tompkins. “We want to do something no one has ever done for this school before and bring home a state championship trophy.

“We’re trying to go out with a bang.”