Patience pays off for Coles

For two years, Albemarle left fielder Vince Coles waited and developed on the Patriots’ junior varsity team. That time allowed Coles to settle into high school while learning the ropes from older players.

“I think that really helped me a lot,” Coles said. “I always got a chance to talk to [the upperclassmen] about how to approach the game and how to deal with adversity.”

It also laid the groundwork for what he unleashed this season on the Commonwealth District.

To this point, Coles has hit for a .554 average, scored 43 runs and driven in 30 more runs. He’s ripped nine doubles, two triples and three home runs. In the process, he and an Albemarle squad that returned just one starter and no varsity pitching have scratched, fought and clawed their way to a Commonwealth District tournament title and a 12-10 Northwest Region quarterfinal victory over Halifax County on Tuesday night.

Tonight, the Patriots (17-6) will try and keep the run going in a region semifinal showdown with Potomac at home at 6 p.m.

Coles has been a big reason Albemarle has continued to move on. The junior hits in the No. 2 spot, and the Patriots have had to rely heavily on its hitting to overcome youth on the mound. Tuesday night’s matchup with Halifax was no exception, as the Patriots rallied from a five-run deficit with seven runs in the seventh inning to take the lead from the Comets. Jake Hochstetler, the lone returning starter and one of the other big pieces of the puzzle, then shut the door in the bottom half, retiring the side.

It was Coles’ bat that led Albemarle early on too, including a two-homerun, five-RBI outing in an 8-5 victory over Western Albemarle back in late March. At that time, Albemarle coach Carroll Bickers claimed that Coles “is unconscious — I told him not to wake up until May.”

Apparently the junior never did.

“He has great hands,” Bickers said. “He loves to be in clutch situations. Nothing upsets him, and I think that’s a great temperament for him to have as a hitter.”

Coles has a reputation for being a quiet player who just tries to take care of business much of the time, but at least one player, Hochstetler, disagrees slightly with that notion.

“He seems real quiet, but he’s a pretty funny guy — he’s a big joker,” Hochstetler said. “But he’s probably the most humble guy on the team, you wouldn’t expect that he’s batting [near] .600.”

That humility can’t hide Coles’ personal drive. The junior and his Patriots teammates have been playing with a giant chip on their shoulder all season — one placed firmly there early on by Bickers, a longtime Charlottesville High head coach and athletic director in his first year at Albemarle.

“He told us what teams predicted we’d finish [in the Commonwealth] — which was last place,” Coles said. “I guess that got us to push ourselves a little bit more.”

So far they’ve pushed themselves into the region semifinals. Tonight they’ll try and push themselves past Potomac.