Atlee and Hanover baseball teams fall in surprising state tourney results
ALBEMARLE – The old adage proclaims “defense wins championships.”
While there is merit to that slogan, sometimes Lady Luck is involved. And on a very muggy Friday at Monticello High School, she turned her back on two Hanover County baseball powers.
Both the Heritage (Leesburg) Pride and the Woodgrove Wolverines registered spectacular plays in the field, denying extra base hits and quelling rallies as Heritage shut down the defending Class 4 state champion Atlee Raiders 3-0 in the opener, while Woodgrove ended a tumultuous, yet triumphant, season for the Hanover Hawks, besting them 8-5.
“All game long, up and down the lineup, every single bat was a tough out,” Hanover coach Joe Meador, the Region 4B Coach of the Year, said after his final team meeting postgame.
Indeed, the Wolverines (22-4) came into Friday red hot at the plate after eliminating Region 4D champion Jefferson Forest 11-3 in the quarterfinal round. They picked right back up, scoring three runs in the first inning to erase what would be the only lead for Hanover (17-5), which came on an RBI triple by Grayson Reece.
The Hawks tied the game in the second as Jackson Millan singled in Cole Severns, who walked to begin the frame. Next, Brady Elrod doubled to right to score Brayden Skeel. On the play, Millan was ruled out at home plate on a head-first slide to end the rally.
With Reece in scoring position in the third, Severns launched a rocket that could have easily hit the gap for an RBI double, save the fact that Wolverine shortstop Walker Kennedy leapt as high as he could to snag the ball, ending the inning.
Woodgrove used a walk and four singles to take control in the fourth inning, leading 6-3, then adding two more runs in the fifth. The Hawks rallied in the seventh, scoring twice, but couldn’t get the tying run to the plate.
When asked about the final push in the seventh, even down by five, Meador agreed that it could serve as a microcosm of sorts for a year that saw the Hanover program paused in November, pending an investigation into hazing allegations. That lasted into December, and followed by a training session for the team by an outside firm, A Better Way Athletics, the program resumed activities in January.
Their longtime head coach, Tyler Kane, resigned after the Hawks’ season-opening loss to Deep Run. Meador stepped in, and helped turn what could be a lost season into, perhaps, the most impressive campaign in the program’s storied history.
“It’s been a tough road for them, it definitely speaks to their resiliency,” Meador said. “We didn’t have a fall or winter. We showed up, and played baseball. A whole new coaching staff after game one.”
The five departing seniors leave with two state titles and this year’s improbable semifinal appearance. Meador is excited, after some time off, to have a full offseason with the returning crew, led by Elrod, the first-team catcher on the All-Region 4B team.
Raiders denied in semis
After rolling to a state crown last June, all the expectations were with Atlee, not Hanover, in 2025. After erasing a 5-0 deficit to Hanover to win the region title 9-8 last week and blanking Hampton 7-0 in the state quarterfinals, the Raiders were primed to go back-to-back.
But in their way was Heritage, powered by Aaron Van Tuyle, a commit to the University of Richmond. The powerful right-hander scattered four hits and four walks, striking out five. He also had tremendous help behind him.
Leading off the third inning, Region 4B Player of The Year Barrett Bucholz launched a pitch near the wall in right center, only to have Luke Olszewski make a miraculous diving catch preventing a likely triple. Thus, Noah Kegley’s single two batters later didn’t produce the opening run as Tyler Rutman’s sharp liner to second baseman Cooper Miskelly was snared to end the inning.
After another rocket was grabbed by Heritage shortstop Owen Brundage to end the Atlee fourth, the Pride finally struck off Raider starter Chase Blumberg, as Olszewski, Miskelly, and Aiden Delaney all singled, plating Olszewski for a 1-0 lead.
Heritage scored their final runs in the fifth, stringing along a walk and three more singles to score Olszewski and Jake Koh.
In the seventh, the Raiders had the tying run at the plate after a walk to Max Baedke and the game’s lone error, allowing Will Haynie to reach. Van Tuyle earned a strikeout, a fielder's choice, and another strikeout to seal the victory.
After a long, emotional meeting after the game in the outfield, the Raiders slowly made their way back to the dugout. As Atlee head coach Mike Morris approached this reporter, the team paused everything, turned, and listened to his answers, as if to gain a final word of wisdom.
“This is a microcosm for life,” Morris explained. “The (2024) championship is life. And, no matter what the scoreboard says, you know, this moment will happen for every team but one. As a group, as Atlee High School, as a coaching staff, we’re all proud of the product that’s going to win life.”
This will be the first season since 2021 since a team outside Hanover County wins the Class 4 title, and the first time since 2019 that the county has no team in the championship game.
