Both squads rallied back-and-forth, as is quickly becoming tradition every single night in the Jefferson District, regardless of the matchup. Louisa County took an early lead and threatened to win in extra innings, but thanks to a 2-run double from Jack Decker in the top of the eighth, Monticello was able to pick up a critical win on the road, 7-6.
“It takes a special group to not give up or not get down on themselves,” said Mustangs coach Corey Hunt. “These guys, week in and week out, will fight and battle. I tell them they have to play hard from the first pitch to the last and they did that. It doesn’t matter if we’re down or up. You play the game the same way the whole time to give yourself a chance to win.”
Louisa managed to put up four runs early, all with two outs in the bottom of the first. Josh Holley drew first blood with an RBI single. Then a 2-run single from Cameron Stanley and a wild pitch with Thomas Donnavan sitting on third gave the Lions a 4-0 start to work with.
“We jumped on them early but they battled back, and we knew they would,” said Louisa coach Kevin Fisher.
Monticello spent the next five innings trying to work their way back into and in the second, with back-to-back RBI singles from Nate Fox and Evan Despian playing a big role. The Mustangs made it a 1-run contest in the third on an RBI double from Alex McNair.
Monticello took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI single from Max Mann and a sacrifice fly from McNair. It was then up to Louisa to find a way to push the game further.
The Lions did just that in the top of the seventh. Down to the last out, a single from Kevin Kronander followed by an RBI double from Christian Buckler knotted the game up at 5-5 and forced extras.
“We battled back ourselves, had a shot to win it,” Fisher said. “I thought we played well and hopefully we can continue to play like tonight and be more consistent.”
The Mustangs put together a 2-run rally in the top of the eighth with back-to-back singles from John Page and Josh Malm. A bunt single from Tyler McDaniel loaded the bases for Decker. The catcher came through with his big double to score a pair of runs, that second one being of particular importance.
“Everyone got on, a couple of nice hits, a good bunt,” Decker said. “They were all able to get into scoring position I was able to hit an outside pitch. They were throwing that the whole time, so I knew it was coming.”
Louisa responded with a sacrifice fly from Aaron Guill to score Jake Talley. Donnavan also tagged from second to third on the same play. But with two outs, the Lions weren’t able bring in the tying run with Monticello reliever Brandon Beasley picking up the game ending strikeout.
“We used our entire roster tonight to get this win,” Hunt said. “It was one guy after another, passing the torch and giving the opportunity to someone else. The entire team stepped up tonight. That’s a testament to Louisa and how well they played tonight because we needed everything to beat them.”
Monticello (9-2, 4-1) hosts Harrisonburg on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Louisa (3-11, 1-4) travels to Louisa County on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
