It was nothing but tense from start to finish, first with Madison trying to limit the damage William Monroe was doing in the third inning, and then again in the sixth as the Mountaineers looked to take the lead. In a game where errors where feature players, Madison was able to limit the mistakes late to mark a 6-4 comeback win over their fiercest Bull Run District rival.
“It’s a big rivalry, a tough game every time and there’s never anything easy,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “To come back from this one, it was a great team effort.”
Trailing 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, Madison tied things up in the fifth. Emillee Russell started the rally with a double. After a sacrifice bunt, Mariann Smith put down a squeeze bunt with two strikes to score Russell. Smith scored on a Carrington Frasier RBI single.
“It was amazing — I’ve been taught to bunt with two strikes since I started playing with Madison,” Smith said. “Being able to execute that play, it really picked us up. It was supposed to be a bunt to third but got to second and I just booked it. Any way to get on base, it works for me.”
In the sixth the Mountaineers took the lead in an odd inning. Logyn Estes led the inning off by reaching on an error. Kara Price singled and then Russell had an RBI single. Kerr then drove in a run on an error but was called out for obstruction on her way to first base on the play. Nonetheless, it was enough for Madison to reclaim a 6-4 lead, one they would hold on to.
“We’ve been talking about it all year, between the mental and physical errors, we just made too many,” said Monroe coach Greg Breeden. “Our defense has to be better. Against the Madison’s, Central Woodstock’s and so forth, you can’t afford those errors. We got up on (Madison) because of errors and then returned the favor.”
Madison initially took the lead in the bottom of second starting with a leadoff walk to Samantha Breeden. After a sacrifice bunt and RBI double from Kara Price to tie the game, Harper Kerr delivered an RBI single two batters later. Monroe got out of trouble with catcher Alexis Wayland gunning down a runner returning to third base for the third out.
Monroe answered with a 4-run top of the third. Lacey Beale led off with a single, then Hannah Carpenter drew a walk. After a 2-run single from Jessica Ford, the game was tied.
“He hit the ball well, but we left some runners on and that hurt,” Breeden said. “We haven’t, as a team, learned to deal with the pressure of the game. Some of the girls have, but some of them haven’t and it’s just what happens with a bunch of ninth and tenth graders. We’ll keep working though.”
Madison made a pitching change switching from Meghan Shifflett to Estes. Shifflett struck out four of her first five batters and was perfect after two before running into the jam in the third. After the switch, Monroe saw Makala Thomas reach on an error that plated two runs to make it 4-2.
Estes settled in to strike out six batters. After getting out of the third without further damage, the freshman allowed just one hit and retired the last ten batters she faced.
“Having two pitchers is great,” Yowell said. “Megan does a great job and just caught a few breaks and wasn’t getting the calls on the corners so we went with Logyn who throws differently and she was great too.”
With the top of the order up in the seventh, Estes got an at-the-fence catch in centerfield from Jeanna Kelliher and then a huge over-the-shoulder catch from Frasier at shortstop to get the first two outs before a ground out to second to end the game.
“It was really fun, there was a lot of adrenaline in this game,” Frasier said. “At first I didn’t think I could get (to the ball in the seventh) but I knew I had to jump if I was going to get it.”
The loss snapped Monroe’s six game winning streak. The Dragons (8-4, 5-2) travel to Central Woodstock on Tuesday.
Madison has now won seven straight. The Mountaineers (10-3, 7-0) head to Rappahannock on Tuesday.
