It was almost as though there were two games within the one. Madison County and George Mason scrapped and clawed through a defensive battle for the first three and a half innings. After that though? It was the Mountaineer’s putting on an extra base hit exposé. Madison got a pair of huge doubles in the bottom of the fourth, then picked up insurance runs in both the fifth and sixth. And with pitchers Megan Shifflett and Logyn Estes giving up very little in the circle, the Mountaineers cruised to a 7-1 win over the Mustangs to remain unbeaten in Bull Run District play.
“I told them afterwards that it makes me nervous when we wait so long, that we need to liven up a bit earlier in the game, but it is better than never,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “The came alive late and got a lot better at the plate, so they did a good job. We’ll just try and get started a little earlier now.”
In the early goings of the game, it was simply Shifflett and Mason’s Julia Ferris, a pair of senior pitchers dueling back and forth. Madison got to Ferris first when catcher Samantha Breeden hammered a double to the fence, was moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt. The senior Mountaineer scored on a wild pitch with a close play at the plate to make it 1-0 after two innings. After Shifflet breezed through the first three innings with just two baserunners, in the fourth inning, Ferris helped herself out with a solo shot over the fence to even things up at 1-1.
But there was a swift response to Ferris’ big hit. In the bottom of the fourth, Madison’s offense came to life. First Carrington Frazier started off with a single. After Breeden was walked, Shifflett put down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. Estes then came up and faced an 0-2 count, fouled off a couple of pitches and then delivered a 2-run double.
“Just had to get the hit there — we’re tied 1-1 so we had to score some runs and get ahead,” Estes said.
After that, Kara Price drove in Estes in the very next at-bat with a double of her own to make it a more comfortable 4-1 margin in favor of the home team.
Estes came into the game to pitch for Shifflett in the top of the fifth and had to work her way out of a jam. After picking up the first out the inning, two walks between the next three batters and a wild pitch had Mason looking at Ferris coming to the plate with two outs and runners on the corners. Madison chose to walk the Mustang’s stalwart and it paid dividends as Estes struck out the next batter looking on four pitches.
“I didn’t warm up (properly) when I went in so it took some time to get loose,” Estes said. “But the curveball and fastball worked really well after that.”
From there, it was all Madison. Mariann Smith hit a lead off double that just missed leaving the yard to start the fifth. She scored soon after stealing third on a ground out. Breeden hit a second double with two outs, but was stranded after Mason made a solid play in left field on a Texas leaguer hit by Shifflett. In the sixth, Estes led off with a single. Then Meadow Anderson came up with an RBI single. Emillee Russell’s RBI ground out made it 7-1.
“A lot of the pitches the first time through were right down the plate and then she’d throw her (breaking pitches) so we started looking for that first pitch,” Estes said.
On the other side of the field, after getting out of the fourth inning conundrum, Estes retired the final six batters she faced, including striking out of the side in the sixth. She finished with six K’s on the night while Shifflett managed to ring up five batters of her own in the first fourth innings. The two combined to give up just three hits and three walks (one of them intentional).
“I’ve got two real good pitchers and they’re different from each other (style wise) which is good,” Yowell said. “Meghan knows how to finesse and is changing her speeds really well right now. Logyn has a lot of speed and some different pitches so it’s been a good combination. All season I’ve been splitting like we did tonight, sometimes you start with one, finish with other. So far it’s worked and until it stops working we’re going to keep things this way.”
For Madison, Breeden was 2-for-2 with two doubles, two runs scored and a walk. Estes was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Smith Went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
The Mountaineers (6-3, 3-0) will travel to Warren County on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
