In a game that took just little over an hour to play, Madison County saw pitcher Megan Shifflett continue to be efficient and effective. And offensively, while the Mountaineers were not quite as heavy handed as they had been coming in, they were aggressive on the base paths to give their starter more than enough to work with en route to a 4-0 win on the road against William Monroe.
“We went three innings without a hit and so we went with a bunt to try and make it different and then got two runners on and then got aggressive with the running,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “The girls are smart. They know once those hits come through its about running. 4-0 is a good win against this team but we still could have used a few more hits.”
Shifflett’s change up was on point, and that mixed with her fastball and drop curve proved to be more than enough as she gave up just two hits and two walks while striking out five batters.
“She works so hard and mixes up the speed,” said Madison catcher Sam Breeden. “We tried to fluctuate between changeups and we threw her drop curve to really break the hitters off, particularly the right handers to get them swinging at inside pitches. Megan has worked on that so much.”
Monroe had three batters reach scoring position but could not plate any of them as Shifflett either got of the jams herself or saw her defense come up with big plays, argruably none bigger than the game ending catch made by Sam Atwell in left field in the bottom of the seventh.
“You’ve got to have the defense behind you,” Yowell said. “Megan does a great job mixing it up and to keep them off balance but you still have to have the defense against a good hitting team like Monroe and the defense hasbeen great so far.”
While the first three innings were especially quite on both sides with Shifflett and Monroe’s McKenzie Flora dealing, the Mountaineers finally got things going in the fourth. It started with back-to-back-to-back singles from Atwell, Marianna Smith and Shifflett. the latter of whom broke the scoreless tie with her RBI single. Cagney Shifflett then delivered an RBI sacrifice fly. An RBI single from Breeden put Madison out in front 3-0.
“We are a team that feeds off each other, we get going in the dugout,” Breedan said. “As soon as one person makes contact we get excited for each other. We’re a big family this year. We’re all pushing each other to do better.”
The Mountaineers tacked on an insurance run in the fifth when Jeana Kelliher singled and was driven home by a Megan Shifflett on a two-out RBI double.
On the night, Megan Shifflett was 2 for 4 with two RBI and a run scored. Smith was also 2 for 4 with a run scored. Breeden was 1 for 3 with and RBI.
For Monroe, Flora was 1 for 3 as was Alexis Wayland.
“We were off balance all night and we’ve scouted (Shifflett) for three games so we knew what was coming,” said Monroe coach Greg Breeden. “We did well in practice against (her style) but tonight we just could get enough hits to strung together. The change ups really got us tonight.”
