Halifax holds on, ends Albemarle’s comeback bid

SOUTH BOSTON — Albemarle, trying to end Halifax County’s season for the second year in a row, made it interesting in its last at-bat in the Northwest Region quarterfinals, but the Patriots fell short Monday.
Halifax County held on for a 7-4 win over the Patriots, after some drama in the top of the seventh on Monday.
Albemarle, trailing 7-3, did not go quietly.
With two out, Vince Coles singled and Joshua Sites drew a walk.
Tyler Molinaro, who had clobbered a three-run homer in the first to give the Patriots an early lead, then sent a sharply hit single that flew away from Halifax first baseman Scott Rickman. That loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate.
That sent Comet starter Kyle Long packing. Long had been effective after a shaky first inning, but HCHS was taking no chances.
The Comets turned to Western Valley district player of the year and No. 1 pitcher Tyler Lewis, who worked to a 1-2 count on Adam Utz.
One pitch later, Lewis uncorked a wild pitch to get Coles home. But then the right-hander struck out Utz to end the game.
A year ago, AHS staged an improbable seven-run rally in the top of the seventh to pull out a comeback 12-10 win that ended HCHS’ season.
The Patriots, however, could not match that effort this time out against the Comets.
“We had a little deja vu there … it was almost the same scenario where they changed pitchers. It just wasn’t meant to be, good ball team,” said Albemarle coach Carroll Bickers.
AHS started well in its half of the first, putting pressure immediately on Long.
Coles drew a leadoff walk, and Sites reached on an error on shortstop Chris Sizemore.
Molinaro blasted a chest-high changeup over the right field fence, lifting AHS to a 3-0 lead.
Albemarle threatened again in its half of the second inning.
Coles reached on a another error on Sizemore, and then Long’s pickoff attempt sailed out of control, allowing Coles to get to second. Coles advanced to third on a groundout, but then the Patriot sparkplug was picked off by catcher Kaleb Long. The defensive gem gave the Comets a psychological lift after a tough start.
HCHS forged a 3-3 deadlock in the bottom of the second.
Scott Rickman smashed a solo homer to deep center, getting hold of a belt-high fastball from Molinaro. Dale Trent reached on an error at shortstop, and then managed to reach second after some indecision by AHS on a pickoff
opportunity.
Tyler Long then sent a hard shot that took a tough hop past first, allowing Trent to score. Kaleb Long followed with an RBI single to tie the game.
The game remained tied at 3-3 until the fourth, when HCHS established some breathing room. The Comets chased Patriot starter Molinaro, who went 4.1 innings, as Jason White took over in relief.
In the fourth, Courtney Ervin reached on an error. Kyle Long then put down a bunt, but AHS threw wildly to first, allowing Ervin to scamper home.
Albemarle (15-8) later walked Rickman intentionally with one out to load the bases, hoping for an inning-ending double play, but the strategy did not pan out.
Trent got a run home when he was hit by a pitch to make it 5-3.
Tyler Long delivered a critical two-run single to give HCHS the momentum and a 7-3 advantage.
Bickers noted, “I think the fourth inning, leadoff hitter we make an error, next hitter we make the error, then we can’t make the plays. That’s two unearned runs, and that really hurt.
“We made a few mistakes there, and we weren’t patient. I thought the left-hander [Kyle Long] did a good job keeping us off-stride,” said Bickers.
After a quick start, Albemarle struggled to find any consistency against Longwood University-bound Kyle Long, until he ran into trouble in the seventh.
Long limited the Pats to four hits and kept the visitors off the board until the Pats manufactured one more run in the seventh. Long recorded six strikeouts.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” Bickers said. “I think they picked us about sixth in the district when we lost all those kids last year.”
AHS had a mostly new infield this year, and “our pitching wasn’t as sharp as it could have been today. Wherever you go in the region, you’ve got to play well,” Bickers said.