Warriors Win Final Game To Ever Be Played on Warrior Field in Miraculous Fashion 

May 17, 1999 CROZET---In the final game to ever be played on Warrior Field the Western Albemarle High School baseball team defeated Nelson County High School 12-10 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs as Ricky Callison hit a three-run home run over the left center fence. Albemarle County plans to complete a new baseball field for Western by the start of the 2000 baseball season. 

The game ended in miraculous fashion as the Warriors trailed Nelson County High most of the game. The Warriors went into the bottom of the sixth inning trailing 7-5, but they tied it up as the Warriors hit a home run.   At this point things looked like they were going the Warriors way as Coach Skip Hudgins brought in its best pitcher, Troy Sandridge to start the seventh inning. Troy walked the first batter and then hit the second batter before a Nelson County player hit a high fly ball that just cleared the 30 foot right field fence. At this point it looked like fate was sending a message to Western about its feelings about ending the life of Warrior Field, a field that had been very good to the Western Albemarle baseball team since the schools’ opening for the 1983 baseball season. 

Western had won 111 times on its field and only lost 52 games, a 67% winning percentage. Upon seeing Warrior Field many teams joked at the short left field fence and the even shorter right field fence. Until a 30 foot fence as constructed in right in 1992, everything was a double over it. The field had some other quirks that changed some of how the game is played. There were no lights that meant some games got shortened because of darkness and four ties resulted over the years. Also, the distance between the screen behind home plate and home plate meant it was unlikely that a runner could come home from third or a wild pitch or passed ball. But, the Warriors were most often the benefactor of the quirks over the years. 

When Western came in to bat in their seventh trailing 10-7 and the bottom part of the lineup, things looked grim. Nelson quickly got two outs before Western loaded the bases. JR Hadley was the batter and immediately got in the hole no balls and two strikes. He hit the next pitch up the middle to score two runs and make the score 10-9. The Warrior shortshop followed with a monster shot way over the left-center field fence. The win allowed the Warriors to advance to the second round of the Jefferson District tournament.