Monticello softball’s Jessica Williams knew the Mustangs needed her to step up with a timely hit, but she was also confident that even if she couldn’t get the job done in the bottom of the seventh, her team would pick her up.
“I knew that my team has my back even if I had gotten out I knew they would cheer me up and we’d get that one in the end,” Williams said.
Instead, Williams saved Monticello the drama and connected herself, hitting a shallow single into center field with the bases loaded to lift the Mustangs to a 6-5 victory over Albemarle.
“In the beginning of the year we weren’t as together as I know we could be but we can go somewhere with this team, we’re like a family, we’re all together now,” Williams said.
Her hit ended a back-and forth game that swung to Monticello’s favor when Elizabeth Kenney made a diving catch while moving to her left and then doubled up the Albemarle baserunner who’d already turned the corner with a strike to first base to end the top of the fourth.
“That was a fantastic play and for her to throw that off her knees to first, it just brought our energy up,” Williams said.
Riding that momentum, the Mustangs (6-4) scored three in the bottom of the fourth to tie things up and hit reset on the scoreboard. They then took the lead when Emily Clifford doubled in Kayley Norford in the bottom of the fifth.
Albemarle, who’d jumped out to a 4-1 lead, refused to go away though, loading the bases in the top of the sixth which eventually forced the Mustangs to walk in the game-tying run.
“We jumped out 3-0 and rattled them a little bit and then they settled down then they rattled us one inning,” said Albemarle coach Charlie Scott. “Then we played back-and-forth but you give them all the credit in the world. It was an incredible softball game, I’d play 20 of those a year.”
Monticello prevented further damage though with a nice play by Hannah Shifflett at short on a shallow pop that just escaped the third baseman and then a Clifford strikeout.
That eventually set the stage for Williams’ heroics and the big win for the Mustangs.
Clifford finished 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI while Williams went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Shifflett went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Norford went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Brooke Crawford also knocked in a run. Clifford went the distance in the circle despite striking out just two.
For Albemarle, Sabrina Shisbey led the offense with two RBI while Kasie Pace, Morgan Bettinger and Meghan Brown also knocked in runs. Bettinger went 2-for-4 and drew two walks.
Monticello will host Fluvanna County Tuesday night while Patriots travel to take on Chancellor Friday.
