Jacob Chapman called it “a normal” at-bat.

But the Isle of Wight Academy outfielder’s plate appearance last week felt like so much more to those watching.

With one out and the bases empty, Chapman connected on a 1-0 pitch, sending it to right field.

“I was just trying to hit the ball as hard as I could,” Chapman said. “I just swung and it kept going, and I was like, ‘Wow.’”

Chapman didn’t see the ball land as he sprinted out of the batter’s box. He stopped between first and second base, thinking the ball was caught for an out. Then, as he took off his helmet and took a few steps toward the dugout, the umpire signaled home run.

Chapman, who was born without a left arm, sprinted around the bases and was greeted by his delirious teammates.

Read more in the Sunday Main News section

Tavis Hill had just come in from playing outside with some kids at the home daycare next to his uncle’s townhouse on Wednesday afternoon when he mentioned he smelled smoke.

The five-year-old boy’s uncle, Durrell Skeeter, decided to go out to see if he could smell it, too. That’s when he discovered smoke pouring from a townhouse a couple of doors down from his.

“It (the smoke) was really thick and then something popped and it started blazing,” Skeeter said. “It didn’t take long at all” for it to spread.

The woman who lives in the townhouse — and ran a daycare out of it — was outside when it happened, he said. She was preparing to take the children home in a bus she used to transport them when the fire broke out.

Knowing there were kids trapped inside, Skeeter said he tried to get into the house through the front door, but the smoke and flames were too overwhelming. So he ran around to the back, where he saw five children, all between the ages of about four and five, gathered together around a second-story window.

Read more in the Sunday Main News section

Jessica Spratley can see the humans behind the shard of clay pottery — a small, triangular handle worked by hand into a curved rim; a sand-colored background streaked by blooms of dull pink, evidence of a pit-firing long ago.

Others might see the palm-sized piece as insignificant debris. But it is part of a bowl created hundreds of years ago that now offers a glimpse into the lives of people who once made a life, and a living, in what is now the South Newtown Road area of Norfolk.

Spratley is a student in an Old Dominion University class that is breathing new life into artifacts used by pre-Colonial and Colonial residents and recently acquired by ODU Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives. The Introduction to Ceramics class, taught by art professor Rick Nickel, is examining several of the artifacts and replicating them through drawings and reproductions.

Read more in the Sunday Break section

When Nicole Lynn Lewis enrolled at William & Mary in 1999, she had a 3-month-old daughter — and doubts that she could graduate.

Over the next four years, the former Virginia Beach resident scraped together loans and grants for classes and childcare with guidance from a sympathetic financial aid officer. She had to skip meals at times and often stayed up much of the night studying.

In 2003, Lewis became one of the less than 2% of teenage mothers who finish college before age 30, according to statistics from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. She earned an English degree with a minor in secondary education.

Today, the Maryland resident has devoted her life to helping other young parents beat the odds, too, through her nonprofit Generation Hope. Meanwhile, her first child, 22-year-old Nerissa, is close to graduating from Towson University.

Read more in the Sunday Break section

The working-from-home trend is here to stay, according to a recent report, and one firm is redesigning its Hampton Roads office with the hybrid work model in mind.

Woolpert, an Ohio-based firm that provides architectural, engineering, geospatial and consulting services to an international client base from 60 offices across the world, is merging its two Hampton Roads offices into a single, sleekly redesigned space. The Chesapeake office on Independence Parkway — which has an emphasis on engineering and field surveys — and the Virginia Beach design-focused office on Cypress Avenue are moving to shared space at Corporation Lane in Virginia Beach’s Central Business District this summer.

The consolidation provides the opportunity to create a different workspace designed for better, more streamlined ways of doing business now and into the future. Kirk McClurkin, Woolpert’s chief operating officer, said the design will create a flagship model that could expand across company offices over time. The new Virginia Beach office will serve as Woolpert’s interior design hub.

Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section

King’s Fork’s George Beal, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, helped the Bulldogs go wire to wire as the top team in Hampton Roads during the regular season with a 20-0 record. They finished the season 24-1, with victories over Landstown, Maury and Jamestown, before falling to eventual Class 4 champion Varina in the state semifinals.

Beale was named first-team All-State Class 4 and was the Class 4 Region A Player of the Year. He averaged 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

He also was the overwhelming choice among area coaches who said called him “the heart and soul of his team.”

Beale is the 2022 All-Tidewater Boys Basketball Player of the Year. He becomes just the third Bulldog to win the award, joining Jayden Epps (2020) and JaQuon Parker (2009).

Read more in the Sunday Sports section

Earth Day 2022 Issue

Don't Let Go Extinct

Parade Picks - Revisit The Wild, Wild, West

What America Eats - Easy Spring Chicken