It was about as flawless of a rebound as Madison County softball could’ve hoped for in the state quarterfinals.
Just a few days after falling in the Region 2B final, the Mountaineers crushed Amelia Tuesday evening 10-0 to advance to the Class 2 state final four in Radford.
The Mountaineers (21-2) will play Lebanon in the Class 2 state semifinals Friday at 10 a.m. at Radford.
Emily Seale led the way in the circle for Madison with a two-hit, complete game shutout where the junior struck out eight and allowed just four total baserunners with a pair of walks.
Offensively, Madison took advantage of five Amelia errors with some savvy baserunning. Two of those mistakes came in the bottom of the second where the Mountaineers scored four runs to give Seale an early lead. Seale and Lindsay McDaniel got the inning started with back-to-back singles, then Madison scored on a throwing error, then Logyn Estes struck after a pair of pop up outs with a hard-hit ball that forced an error and allowed McDaniel to score. Cassie Smith piled on with a two-RBI single to left and suddenly the Mountaineers were up 4-0 on the road.
Madison kept putting the ball in play all night and errors kept opening the door for the Mountaineers to increase the lead, factoring into two runs in the fourth. Then Seale blasted an RBI double in the sixth to help erase any hope the Raiders may have harbored for a comeback and McDaniel switched places with her on the next at bat while knocking in two runs to push the lead to 10-0.
McDaniel finished 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Seale helped her own cause with a 2-for-5 night at the plate including the RBI double. Sophie Adams went 1-for-5 but managed to score three runs thanks to the Amelia errors. Estes scored twice and Bailey Smith scored once.
Now Madison doesn’t have to worry about rebounds. They’ve just got to keep things going for two more games down at Radford starting with that morning clash with Lebanon Friday.
