For a little there, it looked like William Monroe was going to get a quick night in the books. But when the Dragons gave Clarke County a few unforced errors in the top of the fourth, the Eagles made hey with them. Thanks to seven unanswered runs and a pair in the top of the seventh, Clarke was able to force extra innings with its host. And in the 11th inning, thanks to a leadoff walk to Jessica Ford, a bunt single and a wild pitch, the Dragons were able to hold on tightly for a 9-8 win that just nearly got away.
“Our whole infield is made up of 11th and 10th graders so we had some errors but you have to be patient with it, and while that can be hard to do, if there’s one thing I’ve found out about these girls it’s that they don’t ever quit,” said Monroe coach Greg Breeden. “We’ve been fighting hard and that’s what you do when you’re young. It looks like we’ll keep fighting.”
Ford had an interesting night to say the least. She hit a 2-run homerun in the top of the first to draw first blood for Monroe, and then went on to throw an 11-inning complete game victory before scoring the game winning run. After an exhausting night the celebration, the excitement took its toll on the freshman though as she had to be attended to by trainers after the game, giving her team a little bit of a scare (she was cleared after a few minutes).
“I think she’s spent, she gave us everything she had, tonight and earlier this week,” Breeden said. “She’s something else.”
Up 2-1 going into the bottom of the third, the Dragons cut loose for a 6-run rally as they keyed in on first pitch strikes from the Eagles. The aggressive approach led to the first six batters scoring with Lacey Beal leading of with a single. Hannah Carpenter followed with a double. Then Ford reached on an error to set up a 2-run double from Alexis Wayland. After 2-run single from Makala Thomas, Emma Pickett answered with a 2-run homer to make it 8-1.
“It was the same (first) pitch, over and over,” Pickett said. “The second we saw it, we just had to go with it and get a hit. As soon as it was out the hand, you went with it.”
But the top of the fourth kicked off Clarke’s interesting comeback. Four defensive errors and a double from the Eagles allowed the visitors to make it an 8-5 game in that half of the inning. Then in the sixth, a walk, 1-out single and an error allowed Clarke to trim it to 8-6. With the Dragons unable to tee-off as they did previously and putting just three runners on over the next three innings, the Eagles entered the top of the seventh needing a pair of runs to get into extra’s.
“After (the third) they started mixing in a little junk and then we started trying to hit low fastballs and we were just hitting it in the dirt,” Breeden said.
Down by two, the Eagles got one final rally going, one that started a leadoff error, another error two at-bat’s later and yes, a third error with two outs to make it 8-8. But after that ninth error, there would be none more by the Dragons in extra innings.
And as crazy as the comeback was, things got weird after that. Clarke run a runner on third with 1-out but could not score. Then the Eagles had runners on the corners with two outs and couldn’t come up with the run. In the 11th, Clarke got a 1-out double, but in the next at-bat the runner was called out for leaving the base early before the pitch. Ford worked her way out of the inning and led off the comeback effort in the bottom of the 11th.
After Ford’s leadoff walk, Wayland advanced her to second. A bunt single from Thomas gave the Dragons runners on the corners. The very next pitch landed in the dirt before the plate, went to the backstop and Ford made it home uncontested to seal the 9-8 win.
“Getting the win, it got our heart’s racing, our blood pumping,” Pickett said. “We couldn’t have done this without everybody.”
Monroe (8-3) hosts George Mason Tueday before a huge road trip to archrival Madison County on Friday.
