Albemarle Post 74 claims District 12 title in slugfest

ORANGE - After squandering an opportunity to advance to the American Legion state tournament on Tuesday night against Fluvanna Post 2003, Albemarle Post 74 coach Mike Maynard sternly told his players that they had better come back to Porterfield Park ready to drive in base runners rather them leave them stranded in scoring position.

His message was clearly heard as the Albemarle bats went to work and never quit in a 17-10 victory over Fluvanna in the District 12 championship, and the top of Maynard’s order not only reached on a regular basis, but also touched home plate plenty of times.

“That was an incredible baseball game,” Maynard said.  “I hadn’t seen a game like that in a long time.”

Don’t be fooled by the score – Fluvanna gave Albemarle more than a handful.

After Post 74 appeared to have a commanding 9-3 lead in the sixth inning, Fluvanna took the plate in the top of seventh and put together a six-run scoring spree to tie the game, with three of the runs coming off of a Christian Oliver home run to left-center - a ball that was crushed all the way into the football bleachers.

The big rally saw 12 batters by the time it was all said and done, and it more than rejuvenated a then-quiet Fluvanna squad.

After Albemarle went up by two in the bottom of the seventh, Fluvanna looked poised to go on another tear by loading the bases with no outs.  However, Sean Rutherford took the mound for Albemarle in the dicey situation and he immediately picked up a line-drive double play and a strikeout to end the threat unscathed.

“That got us pumped up,” Maynard said.  “Sean’s 16 years old, but we wanted to show them something different – a ball coming out of a left hand instead of a right because they were hitting our righties so well.  It just happened to work, and that’s baseball.”

In the bottom of the eighth, Albemarle put the game out of reach with a 7-run scoring binge of their own that included a 2-run triple from Kevin White.

The top of the lineup went wild for Albemarle all game.  Leadoff hitter Vince went 4 for 6 with two doubles, two RBI and three runs to jump-start the offense.

“I was just trying to be patient,” Coles said.  “My coach talked to me and gave me some pointers to lift my head up after last game.  I was just trying to do anything I could to get on base and luckily I was able to come through.”

Hitting second, Adam Utz also went 4-6 with two RBI and three runs, and third batsman Ty Molinaro finished the game 2 for 3 with a triple, three RBI and three runs.

“We got up early but we knew it was going to be a long game because [Fluvanna] can mash and everyone is short on pitching,” Molinaro said. “Luckily we had a little more pitching and they were a little more tired from playing in the losing bracket.  We battled them all game and just had the sticks in the lineup to pull through in the end.”

For Fluvanna, the loss ends a wild ride.  Post 2003 dropped the first game of the double-elimation tournament, but went on a hitting bonanza to make it all the way with in a game of it’s first State birth under coach Eric Miles.

“We had a lot fun,” Miles said of his team’s long week.

Unfortunately for Fluvanna, their run of fun came to an end when what looked like a surefire rally flaming out in the top of the eighth.

“We came back and then had a hard hit ball to shortstop [for a double play] and there was nothing be could do about it,” Miles said.  “That happens.  It wasn’t a base running error.  It was just unfortunate.”

Fluvanna’s leadoff hitter Ryan Foster was every bit as good at the plate as Coles was for Albemarle.  Foster finished the game 4 for 6 with three runs and an RBI.  Tyler Brookman had another strong showing by going 2 for 5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI.  Fluvanna also got some great hitting out of Kyle Pillow in the three spot .  Pillow went 4 for 5 with two runs scored as he filled in for Kurt Fleming, who was unavailable to hit in his usual spot.  After arriving in the second inning, Fleming went 2 for 5 in the eighth spot and had an RBI double in the ninth inning.

Albemarle awaits its opponent and will play in Richmond on Tuesday at 5 p.m.