What a difference a week makes. Madison County might have fallen in its first meeting with rival Orange County, but the second get together between the two left little to the imagination as the Mountaineers hammered the ball and Megan Shifflett was lights out in the circle. Behind two different 5-run rallies, Madison dispatched the Hornets 10-0 in a five inning run-ruling.
“One thing we have been doing this year is hitting really well,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “In the first game with them we hit, but we didn’t hit like we did today — we were hitting it at them (then) and then made some mistakes. Tonight was like a whole different ballgame.”
The bats got hot first in the bottom of the second when Sam Breeden and Regan Clatterbaugh hit back-to-back solo shots. Kayla Aylor then scored on an error. Shifflett followed that up with a 2-run double to make it 5-0 and give herself a commanding lead to work with.
“I think our hitting is contagious,” Shifflett said. “When one person’s on, everybody’s on.”
The Mountaineer starter got great defense from her teammates early on before she settled in. The junior did not surrender a hit and have up just a pair of walks and a hit batsmen. Orange was unable to put a runner in scoring position.
“Megan’s doing a really good job,” Yowell said. “She’s got that excellent change up, drop curve and stuff like that. So I tell her to hit her spots and mix (up the speed), don’t get consistent, move it around a lot.”
In the bottom of the fourth Madison went back to work offensively and put up another big 5-run rally. This time it started with another 2-run double from Shifflett. That ws followed by a 2-run single from Breeden. Finally, Clatterbaugh delivered an RBI single to wrap up the scoring and put the game out of reach.
“I think this week we came out ready to play,” Shifflett said. “Last week we were a little flat, didn’t know what to expect. This week we came out ready to hit and knew what we were going to face.”
On the day for Madison, Sam Atwell was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. Shifflett finished 2 for 2 with two doubles and four RBI. Both Breeden and Clatterbaugh finished 2 for 3 with the latter knocking in three RBI. In all, eight different Madison runners scored a run.
