LHS standout recruited at shortstop for Division III school
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, May 1 — While hundreds of local athletes represent our two local high schools each year in more than a dozen sports, a small percentage get the opportunity to keep competing at the next level.
“It feels great,” Luray High School senior Landon Vile said during a signing ceremony earlier this month. “It’s an honor.”
A few dozen friends, family and teammates gathered at the LHS Commons on May 1 to watch Vile sign his letter of intent to play baseball next season for Hood College in Frederick, Md.
“This is a well-deserved accomplishment. Landon has dedicated himself to improving and getting better. It’s been my pleasure to be his coach for the last three years,” LHS head baseball coach Charlie Shepard said. “He is a leader with a ‘team-first’ mentality. With his high standard, he will be successful with anything life throws at him. Everyone here wishes him success in his next journey, and I have no doubt he will be successful.”
Vile earned second team All-District honors in the Bull Run and second team All-Region B honors as both a pitcher and an at-large selection last season. He is currently hitting over .400 during his senior campaign as a designated hitter. Vile has seen limited time in the field as he nurses a slight tear to ligaments and tendons in his leg.
Vile is being recruited at shortstop by the Division III Blazers of Hood College. Head coach Michael Impellittiere saw the rising senior play last summer during a travel ball tournament in Pennsylvania. While a member of the USA Prime team based in Charlottesville, Vile had a strong tournament in PA, both in the field and at the plate. At least a dozen small colleges in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania showed at least some level of interest in his talents…but Coach Impellittiere showed a lot of interest.
“I love his coaching style and the energy he brings,” Vile said of his future collegiate coach. “It motivates me to want to get better while I’m there…so I think it will be a good place to development.”
In his first season at the helm of the Blazers in 2017, Coach Impellittiere lead Hood to the Mid-Atlantic Conference Commonwealth championship game. The Blazers were the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament, entering with a record of 23-15 overall and 12-9 in the conference. Vile may have an opportunity in the Spring of 2025, as the Blazers will graduate eight seniors after the close of this season.
Vile visited the four-year, private college in August and loved the small, intimate campus of just over 2,000 students that he says he can walk end-to-end “in about 10 minutes.” Hood College offered him a partial academic scholarship, and through that and grants, about 70 percent of his tuition will be taken care of, according to Vile.
Coach Impellittiere liked his grit, he says, and a few other intangibles, but the Luray senior acknowledges that he needs to “get bigger, stronger and faster” to compete at the next level.
As he prepares to play his final high school games and walk across the stage at graduation over the next few weeks, Vile simply wants to be remembered from his days as a Bulldog as “a good teammate and a good leader.”
For more information about Hood College baseball,
visit https://hoodathletics.com/sports/baseball
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