REGION 1D BASEBALL: Patrick Henry rallies for walk-off, eight-inning win over Chilhowie for title (copy)
Patrick Henry celebrates after their 8-7 win over Chilhowie in the Region 1D Championship at Emory and Henry on Wednesday.
Chilhowie's Landon Bowman throws a pitch against Patrick Henry in the Region 1D championship at Emory and Henry.
Chilhowie's Bryce Robinson (6) high-fives Landon Bowman (4) after he scores a run against Patrick Henry.
Patrick Henry's Porter Blackwell swings for a hit against Chilhowie on Wednesday evening.
Patrick Henry's Kolby Hicks sprints down the third baseline to score the winning run.
Patrick Henry's Aidan Monahan swings for the winning hit against Chilhowie in the Region 1D Championship.
Patrick Henry's Kolby Hick slides to home plate to score the winning run for the Rebels against Chilhowie.
Patrick Henry's Aidan Monahan reacts after his hit in the Region 1D Championship on Wednesday.
Patrick Henry's Trajan Cannon throws a pitch in the Region 1D Championship
Chilhowie's Brandon Miller swings for a hit against Patrick Henry.
Patrick Henry's Porter Blackwell leaps up throw the ball to first base during their 8-7 win over Chilhowie on Wednesday evening.
Patrick Henry's Kolby Hicks dives into first base safe as Chilhowie's Asher Chapman waits on the throw.
Patrick Henry's Aidan Monahan throws a pitch in the Region 1D Championship
Patrick Henry's Porter Blackwell dives across home plate to score a run for the Rebels.
Chilhowie walks to accept the Region 1D Runner-up trophy after their 8-7 loss to Patrick Henry.
Patrick Henry celebrates with Aidan Monahan after their 8-7 win over Chilhowie.
Chilhowie's Jayden Schwartz swings for a hit against Patrick Henry.
Patrick Henry's Trajan Cannon swings for a hit against Chilhowie on Wednesday evening.
Chilhowie's Bryce Robinson throws a pitch against Patrick Henry in the Region 1D championship at Emory and Henry.
Chilhowie's Asher Chapman gets the out at first base on Patrick Henry's Aidan Monahan
EMORY, Va. – Wednesday happened to be the birthday of Aidan Monahan’s mother and the Patrick Henry slugger presented her with a memorable gift that will be hard to top in the years to come.
Monahan slashed a two-out, two-run walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning as PH posted an 8-7 win over the Chilhowie Warriors in the finals of the VHSL Region 1D baseball tournament at Emory & Henry University.
Brooke Monahan, her son and the rest of the contingent from Patrick Henry had plenty of reasons to celebrate as the Rebels won the fourth regional championship in program history and earned the right to host the Auburn Eagles on Tuesday in a Class 1 state quarterfinal clash.
That scenario didn’t appear likely for Patrick Henry (22-2) when the Rebels fell behind 6-0 in the top of the fourth inning and trailed 7-6 with one out to go in the eighth.
“We knew it was possible,” Aidan Monahan said. “We did yell at each other a little bit, but everybody does that.”
Frustration turned to jubilation when the right-handed swinging Monahan yanked a 2-1 pitch from Chilhowie reliever Bryce Robinson down the line.
Chilhowie left fielder Dylan Martin made an attempt at a diving catch, but the ball got past him as Hank Rutherford scored the tying run from third and Kolby Hicks sprinted all the way from first and slid into home plate for the game-winner.
Martin had made a sliding catch earlier in the game, but when this one eluded his grasp, Hicks turned on the jets.
So did Patrick Henry boss Eric Rutherford, who was coaching third base and nearly matched Hicks step for step down the line.
He probably hadn't moved that fast since his days as a third baseman at John Battle High School in the mid-1990s.
“I thought [Martin] was going to get it,” Rutherford said. “He’s a fast kid. When I saw it hit the ground, I started running toward home.”
Did Monahan think Martin had a shot at the catch?
“I’m not going to lie,” Monahan said. “I didn’t see it. I was trying to get out of the box.”
Monahan had hurt his foot earlier in the game after awkwardly stepping on third base but even a bit hobbled, he was the guy the Rebels wanted swinging the stick in that spot.
“I told him I wasn’t taking the bat out of his hands,” Rutherford said. “I just told him not to try to do too much, just get a base hit and tie it up.”
His bat has been a gift that just keeps giving for the Rebels.
After all, this is a guy with a slash line of .494/.566/.843 to go along with eight home runs and 44 RBIs.
“He does it all,” Rutherford said. “Hits for power, he’s clutch, he has a high average, a big slugging percentage.”
Monahan didn’t have his best stuff on the mound and Chilhowie (18-8) sent 11 batters to the dish in the fourth inning and six of them scored.
Two days removed from an 11-5 semifinal win over Cumberland District champion Eastside in a much-anticipated matchup, it wasn’t a rousing start for the Rebels.
“I felt like we came out flat today. I kind of expected that. I like how we’ve been playing, but that game the other day was a lot of emotion,” Rutherford said. “Hats off to Chilhowie, they’re a team that doesn’t want to get beat by you four times. They brought a lot of energy. We weren’t playing our baseball for a while. It took us a while to get going, but this team always bounces back.”
Meanwhile, Chilhowie coach Jeff Robinson knew it would take more than one big inning to put PH away.
“I kept saying we have to add to this lead, we just can’t sit on it,” Robinson said.
Patrick Henry responded immediately, batting around in the bottom of the fourth and plating four runs.
“I was a little nervous, but I knew we’d come back,” said PH leadoff man Connor Brown. “We scored six on Eastside against [ace pitcher] Phil Clay [in Monday's win] and he’s probably one of the better arms we’ve seen.”
Speaking of arms, Chilhowie went with Landon Bowman in what was just his second start on the mound this season. Bowman is a four-year starter at catcher.
“We beat the second-ranked Double-A team in Kentucky [Beechwood] in May and he pitched four good innings,” Robinson said. “I knew if he could just make them put it in play and use his defense and we got into the game as deep as we could with him, we had a shot.”
Bowman wound up going 3 1/3 innings before Bryce Robinson took over on the bump.
“Bowman on the mound kind of threw us for a loop,” Rutherford said. “We’re used to seeing him behind the plate, not in front of it.”
PH tied the game with two runs in the sixth and Brown was among the catalysts as he was all day.
He finished 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, a walk and three RBIs.
“He’s a prototypical leadoff hitter,” Rutherford said.
Senior left-hander Trajan Cannon worked the final four innings for PH and had his breaking pitches working. He allowed just three hits and struck out six.
“He threw very well,” Monahan said.
Chilhowie took the lead in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Jayden Schwartz.
That advantage was short-lived.
In the bottom of the inning, Blake “J.J.” Johnson struck out, Brown walked, Hank Rutherford bounced into a fielder’s choice, Hicks legged out an infield single and that set the stage for Monahan's moment.
He was more than ready.
“I don’t really get nervous,” Monahan said
He might get some butterflies in his stomach on Tuesday when Patrick Henry hosts Auburn, the defending VHSL Class 1 state champions. The Rebels recorded an 11-4 win over the Eagles on April 7.
Auburn (19-5) had its 13-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday with a 4-3 setback to Fort Chiswell in the Region 1C title game.
“You try to let these kids know every game’s gonna be tough,” Rutherford said. “You’re going to see everybody’s best and get everybody’s best this time of the year.”.
Chilhowie heads to Fort Chiswell (18-4) and a state quarterfinal date with the Pioneers on Tuesday. Ace pitcher and shortstop Owen Jackson is the headliner
The Warriors lost both their top two pitchers from last season but have navigated their way back to the state tournament.
Schwartz and Brent Kilbourne each collected two hits on Wednesday.
“You look at where we were at in March and it was not a good place,” Robinson said. “Then you go into April and we still weren’t there and you’re asking if we’re ever going to figure it out. All of a sudden May turned on and we started figuring it out and it’s carried over into June. We are playing our best baseball and it’s wide open right now.”
The present and future collided for Monahan on Wednesday as he will play at E&H next season. He made himself quite familiar with the venue he will call home as a college baseball player.
“We were happy to see Aidan at the plate,” Brown said. “We knew Aidan was going to come up clutch and be the hometown hero.”
Monahan hopes to have more than just one game left in a Patrick Henry uniform.
Three more wins and the ultimate prize would be wrapped up for the Rebels.
“I’m glad we’ve gotten to this point,” Monahan said. “It’s a team effort, not a one-man army.”
Patrick Henry's Aidan Monahan delivers a walk-off two-out, two-run single in Bottom 8th in victory over Chilhowie on June 3, 2026.
Chilhowie 000 600 01—7 8 2
Patrick Henry 000 402 02—8 10 3
Bowman, Br. Robinson (4) and Martin, Bowman (4). Monahan, Cannon (5) and Rutherford. W – Cannon. L – Br. Robinson (4-2). HR – none.
___
Regional Titles for Rebels
A look at the fourt regional championships for the baseball team at Patrick Henry High School:
June 3, 2026 – Region 1D: Patrick Henry 8, Chilhowie 7 (8 Innings)
At Emory & Henry University
May 30, 2019 – Region 1D: Patrick Henry 7, Chilhowie 5
At Emory & Henry
May 30, 2018 – Region 1D: Patrick Henry 4, Honaker 3
Tom Harding Field (Honaker)
June 3, 1995 – Region C: Patrick Henry 9, Lebanon 8 (8 Innings)
Calfee Park (Pulaski)
