Albemarle Post 74 wins state opener

GLEN ALLEN — After shelling Fluvanna Post 2003 last Wednesday to earn a bid in the American Legion state tournament, Ty Molinaro summed up Albemarle Post 74’s situation heading into the American Legion state tournament rather succinctly.

“We’ve got the sticks to win this,” Molinaro said.

Tuesday evening, Albemarle’s lineup lived up to its reputation as a Murderer’s Row by beating up on New River Valley Post 68, 15-6, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.

“I thought Vince Coles really set the tone for us tonight,” said Albemarle coach Mike Maynard. “That really wound up trickling down through the lineup for us.”

Coles gave Albemarle its first two runs of the game in the top of the second on a two-run shot that flew way over top of the tall center-field fence at RF&P Park.

“I really don’t know that I’ve seen a ball hit that hard,” Maynard said of Coles’ home run. “But those guys at the top really helped the bottom of the lineup. I really thought that Sean Rutherford played well for us and Jack Nobles did a great job of battling.”

Kevin White had a pair of home runs in the game. He had a solo shot in the third inning and then a two-run bomb in the bottom of the seventh that easily cleared the left-field fence.

“I was just patient and waiting for my pitch,” White said of his night in the batter’s box. “They kept trying to go after me outside and I just waited.”

Coles finished the game 2 for 6 with three RBI while White wound up going 3 for 5 with three RBI.

Batting between those two, catcher Adam Utz had just as an impressive day at the plate by picking up four base hits in his six at-bats, scoring twice and driving in three runs on a pair of doubles.

“We just went up there with a good approach,” Utz said. “All three of us [Coles, White and myself] were just fortunate enough to string together some hits and get some runs on the board.”

Facing a 6-run deficit in the fifth, New River tacked four runs on the board by making the most of a pair of Albemarle errors. However, Albemarle responded in the bottom of the same inning with four runs of its own.

For New River, the most costly errors were committed on defense, but rather by leaving pitches in the wheelhouse for the heart of the Albemarle lineup.

“We left some pitches up in the zone,” said New River coach Greg Dudding. “With a hitting team like this you can’t leave [those] pitches up their and that was the worst thing that happened to us.”

New River scored two more runs in the sixth, but relievers Rashad Talley and Eric Utz were able to keep the game out of reach, giving up just one hit in 3.1 innings.

Devin Smith and Zachary Chrisley drove in four of the six New River runs, each bringing home a pair of base runners with a double.

Albemarle ace Sam Riedesel started the game strong, but came out earlier than expected because of the heat exhaustion. However, things wound up working out well for Albemarle, as Talley and Utz were able to keep Molinaro and Jason White from making an appearance.

Albemarle will play the winner of Arlington Post 139 and host Glen Allen Post 244 today at 8 p.m.