Madison County had to endure a bit of a slow start, but thanks to persistent base running, some timely hitting and capitalizing on mistakes from the William Monroe defense, the Mountaineers were able to come from behind for a 5-3 win on their senior night.
“We weren’t too far down, but I told the girls that’s why you never give up,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “You can’t against (Monroe) because they play us hard every game. I think they’re a team that’s better than their record and so it was two good teams, a good game, a good battle.”
Monroe started off hot. Alexis Wayland drew first blood with an RBI triple. Then Jessica Ford followed up with an RBI single. After an Alex Lam RBI single, the Dragons had staked themselves a solid 3-0 start.
“Wayland did an excellent job of hitting there,” said Monroe coach Greg Breeden. “That’s the first time in girls softball that I’ve seen someone use a shift. She did a great job blooping it down the right field line like that.”
Madison pitcher Logyn Estes settled in after the first. She retired the side in order in the second, faced the minimum batters in the third and fourth and retired three of the four batters she faced in the fifth.
Offensively, Madison got to work on trimming down the lead in the bottom of the second. There Estes reached on an error and pinch runner Morgan Clark would later score when Emily Seale reached on an error. In the bottom of the third, Hannah Johnson led off with a double. After a Carrington Frazier single and Estes RBI sacrifice fly, the lead was down to one run.
“We’ve got an age old problem and that’s the errors,” Breeden said. “You can’t beat good teams like Madison when you make four errors.”
Madison staked its lead in the bottom of the fifth starting with a double from Sophie Adams. After a Cassie Smith walk, Kaitlyn Ryder plated Adams by reaching on an error. Smith would score on a throwing error after that. Finally, Johnson gave the Mountaineers some insurance with an RBI single to score Ryder and make it 5-3.
“We were hitting, getting good shots but just right to them,” Adams said. “We just had to figure out how to place the ball.”
That set the table for Seale to come on in relief for Estes in the sixth. Seale retired all six batters she faced to pick up the save while striking out a pair along the way.
For Madison, Johnson was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Adams and Kara Price were each 1-for-3.
For Monroe, Wayland and Alexis Ray were each 2-for-3. Katy Beale was 1-for-2. Lam and Ford were each 1-for-3.
The Dragons host George Mason while the Mountaineers travel to Central Woodstock, both on Tuesday and both are respective regular season finales.