RADFORD -- As the ball bounced right toward Powhatan first baseman Hunter Gordon, he envisioned himself being fitted for a state championship ring.

There was no way Gordon would botch this play, he told himself, and his teammates knew that, too. They started sprinting out of the first-base dugout just before the ball landed in Gordon's glove.

When he stepped on first for the final out, they mobbed him, celebrating Powhatan's first Group AA baseball title, clinched with a 7-4 win yesterday over Alleghany at Radford University.

"I've got goose bumps all over my body," Gordon said later.

It seemed an appropriate reaction, because this was Powhatan's tensest and wildest game of the state tournament.

After winning the quarterfinals by six runs and the semifinals by 12, the Indians found themselves tied 2-2 with the Mountaineers heading into the fourth inning. None of them could have imagined that it would be perhaps the strangest inning of their season.

The Indians (25-3-1), renowned for their power hitting, scored four runs in the fourth on just two hits and a sequence of events that was equal parts improbable and important. Even Powhatan coach Gregg Conner, in his 24th season, said he's never seen an inning like it.

With one out, Nathan Mullins reached on a throwing error by third baseman Ethan Craft, then moved to second base when pitcher Ryan Kessinger balked. Kurt Van Ness was hit by Kessinger's pitch. Will Dinghus' single scored Mullins, and Dinghus advanced to second on the throw home. Boonie Hagy loaded the bases when Kessinger hit him.

Alleghany coach Gary Rice yanked Kessinger and inserted Josh Taylor to face Ethan Lewis. He hit a hard ground ball up the middle. Shortstop Taylor Carter fielded it, stepped on second and threw to first, trying to end the inning. But as Hagy slid into second, Carter's throw bounced off his helmet and out of play.

"I didn't know where I was at," Hagy said. "My head was ringing for a few minutes."

Two runs scored, and Lewis was awarded second. The next batter, Paul Nice, drove him home with a double. And just like that, Powhatan led 6-2.

Though the fourth inning turned the game, Powhatan got more traditional help from solo home runs in the first by Lewis and Gordon -- the Indians' seventh and eighth homers of the state tournament. Lewis also pitched five innings, allowed three runs and struck out four.

Afterward, Conner could muster just one word when addressing his team. "Awesome," he said. "Awesome." When he left that final huddle, Conner just shook his head. "I'm not speechless often," he said.

Lewis, one of nine seniors, spoke more effusively. "Greatest feeling on a baseball field I've ever had," he said.

Then he joined his teammates for a group picture. They all removed their hats, revealing bleached-blonde hair. They dyed their hair before the Southside District tournament to show team unity, and after each championship this postseason district, then Region I they posed for a hatless photo.

So they stood there in right field yesterday, index fingers pointed skyward, smiling for the cameras, the late-afternoon sun hitting their hair, turning it a shade of gold the perfect match for those rings.

Alleghany ------------------------- 011
Powhatan ------------------------- 200

010

1

--

4

7

1

401

x

--

7

8

0

Kessinger, Taylor (4), Vaughan (6) and Holt. Lewis, Kendrick (6), Ware (6) and Hall. Home runs: Lewis (P) 1st, none on; Gordon (P) 1st, none on.

Records: Alleghany 25-2, Powhatan 25-3-1.