It was nothing short of a circus — weird runs, errors, miscommunication among umpires throughout to a set frustrated coaches on both sides. In theory, it was only fitting that this game between two Jefferson District rivals at the top of the standings had an interesting and surprising finish.
Louisa County came out and poured it on Orange County. After the Hornets came out with nothing from of a bases loaded situation with one out in the third, the Lions looked poised to cruise to victory. Then the tides shifted just like that. After a 5-run fifth inning, Orange rallied for three more runs in the sixth to put together an 8-6 victory in which they were held scoreless through the first four innings.
“I don’t know how it happens but it’s crazy and it’s making me grey and I don’t know if I can handle more of this,” said Orange coach Doris Buzzell. “That’s the third major comeback we’ve had, so a win is a win and we’ll take it. But it was scary.”
Louisa took a 3-run lead in the top of the first with Hannah Fletcher reaching on a single, Taylor Robison doubling and then Sarah Sharpe hitting a 2-run single. Sharpe then scored on a wild pitch. In the second, the Lions picked up a run after Sarah Proctor hit a triple and scored on a strikeout in the dirt two batters later. In the top of the fifth, Louisa cashed in two more runs, both with two outs as Sharpe reached third on an error and then Dickerson hit an RBI single and then scored herself on error.
Trailing 6-0 going into the fifth, Orange came alive after squandering their bases loaded opportunity in the third. Orange got started it a walk to Taylor Hensley, a single by Katelyn Johsnon and an RBI single from Hannah Jones. A 2-run double from Terra Goode cut the lead in the half at 6-3. After Lexi Lomax scored on a wild pitch and Goode was brought by Makayla Herndon, it was suddenly 6-5.
“I said to myself, ‘Wow, they’re going to do this again,’” Buzzell said.
Orange went ahead in peculiar fashion in the bottom of the sixth. Lindsey Slaughter reach on a single and was brought home on an error. She was plated on an illegal pitch while standing on third, but the run was awarded after Louisa catcher Kennedie Bachtelor was being looked at by trainers and the Lions coaching staff after she took a foul tip to the mask. After the delay, Jones doubled. Lomax came up with a double to plate Jones and Orange had an 8-6 lead.
“We put on rally caps and that’s just our thing now,” Jones said. “We’ve struggled to get out of (the Conference 16 tournament) so we’re determined to do better this year.”
In the circle, Courtney Wright earned the complete game victory for Orange, despite a tough early outing. She settled in and wound up with eight strike outs.
Orange (8-1, 3-0) gets a short break and heads to Fluvanna next Tuesday while Louisa (4-2, 1-1) travels to Chancellor on Friday.
