Last year, the Atlee All-Stars battled through the District V 9-10 year old tournament, muscled their way to a Virginia state title and finished third among Southeast Regional teams at the Tournament of State Champions in West Virginia.
  This year, the team comprised of nearly the same members is looking for equal success on the 10-11 year old level. But first they had to get through a tough local battle.

  In their District V opener at Tuckahoe Little League Park, Atlee faced off against Chamberlayne Laburnum in far from typical first game.

  Though the Chamberlayne All-Stars have seen lean years in the past, this particular group of young men raised the bar. Having barely lost to Mechanicsville in the 9-10 semifinals a year earlier, Chamberlayne was looking for a title this season and had the talent to accomplish that task.

  “This team right here, is the best team that Chamberlayne has had in a long time,” said manager Michael Uzzell. “This team here that I have, we’ve been rolling since we were eight.”

  Atlee manager Rodney Chenault offered no arguments. “That’s a very good team.” 

  With a newcomer, pitcher Mark Loving on the mound in the opener, Atlee pulled out to an early 3-1 lead then held on for a hard fought 7-3 victory over Chamberlayne.

  Teams rarely advance far after falling into the loser’s bracket after the first game, but Chamberlayne proved they were no ordinary team, notching five straight wins over five days to earn a rematch with Atlee in the championship.

  “We played them in the very first game and we beat them 7-3 and we said, ‘Hey, that’s a good team right there’,” Chenault said. “And you can tell, they went all the way through the loser’s bracket and got back to see us in the finals.”

  The fact that Chamberlayne would need to beat Atlee twice to take the championship did not seem to faze the team from Laburnum. Instead it was Atlee that appeared to be unsettled by the pressure of the moment.

  Facing Loving on the mound for a second time, Chamberlayne’s Nick Corbin led off with a shot to right that was bobbled, advanced to second on a pitch in the dirt then reached third on a one-out shot from Jamari Baylor that was also not fielded cleanly.

  Daniel Mumphrey then sent the ball up the middle and it too was not fielded cleanly allowing Corbin to score. Baylor rounded third looking to add to the lead and clearly beat the throw home, but was ruled out because he slid in head first; an illegal move at the lower levels of Little League.

  “I think everybody was a little bit tight when we first started,” said Chenault.

  Loving (7 K’s in 5 1/3 innings) then struck out Jakobe Anderson to allow Atlee to escape with no further damage.

  Though Atlee’s defense was not up to its usual sharpness at the onset, there was little question about their offense when they quickly answered in the bottom of the first.

  Facing Chamberlayne’s big pitcher Mumphrey, Nick Zona led off with a single. It appeared Atlee might stall when Mumphrey struck out the next two batters but another newcomer to this year’s Atlee team, Josh Plummer, reignited the offense with a single past first. Loving then reached second after bouncing a shot over the infield defense to drive in Zona and Plummer for a 2-1 lead.

  Loving gave up a walk to lead off the second but then struck out the next three Chamberlayne batters to bring Atlee back to the plate where they added one more run on a bases loaded walk of Plummer that pushed home Zona for a 3-1 lead.
  Chamberlayne trimmed the margin in the top of the fourth when Anderson led off with a single up the middle then scored on a groundout from Jaymare Fleming to pull Laburnum within 3-2.

  But once again Atlee had an answer. Jack Dragum sent a one-out double to the centerfield wall and eventually scored on a wild pitch for a 4-2 lead.

  Atlee added two more in the bottom of the fifth when a single to right from Mason Cox drove in Jack Goleski and a based loaded walk of Plummer pushed in Cox to create the final score.

  There was no doubt about the returned sharpness of the Atlee squad. Sensing the win in the top of the sixth, the defense made quick work of Chamberlayne to take the District V title.

  Despite the loss, Uzzell was proud of his team’s effort and is already looking forward to next season. “They had a good year this year,” he said. “We made some key adjustments from last year…We lost the game because of errors but we’ll be back next year.”

  For Atlee, Chenault is hoping to capitalize on the experience of last year’s state championship run in Abington. “We’re actually going to try to stay in the same hotel that we stayed in last time,” he said. “It’s (state tournament) in Lebanon, Va., which is about 20 miles north of Abington but there’s nothing out there so we’re going stay at the same place.”

  Chenault wants to keep his players hungry for more. “I just told the kids, ‘We wanted to get this one but we know what it’s like to get the next one and that’s the goal,” he said. “Play one game at a time and hopefully we’re going to get it done.”

  State tournament play begins July 20.