George Washington’s James Feldmann named first team all-state

George Washington’s James Feldmann was named first team Group AAA all-state by the Virginia High School Coaches Association after a successful junior season with the Eagles.

The shortstop batted .521 with 10 doubles, two triples, two home runs and 32 runs batted in. He also stole 27 bases on 29 attempts.

“He’s a great kid, I’ll tell you,” GW coach Wayne Shelton said.

Feldmann’s all-state selection comes on the heels of being named first-team in both the Western Valley District and Northwest Region.

Joining Feldmann as district first-team members were Christian Clifton and Travis Coates. Clifton was also honored as a second-team member of the all-Northwest Region team.

Preston Smith and Jackson Heard were named second-team All-WVD and Andrew Cox and Josh Hackworth were honorable mentions.

GW, which started six sophomores, finished third in the Western Valley District in the regular season. The Eagles closed the regular season with four consecutive wins and won three straight to capture an unlikely district tournament championship, edging No. 2 Franklin County in Rocky Mount and besting No. 4 Patrick Henry for the title. GW’s season came to a halt in the quarterfinals of the Northwest Region tournament with a 6-0 loss to Stafford.

“We had quite a season and surely exceeded a lot of expectations. We were still rebuilding,” Shelton said. “The kids just improved so much. It’s gratifying that they get rewarded for such great effort.”