By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
The first time rivals William Monroe and Madison County met on the baseball diamond this season, Madison sneaked out of Stanardsville with a 2-1 win on the Greene Dragons’ home field, leaving a bad taste in the Dragons’ mouth.
Tuesday night was the rematch in Madison and couldn’t have been more different.
After plating a run in the first, Monroe used a seven-run second inning to erase all doubt as to how the game would end up en route to an 11-0 run-ruling. Anthony Pritchett led off with a triple and R.J. Payne walked, and Pritchett scored on Jonathan Foster’s RBI single to make it 2-0. After Keegan Wolford was hit by a pitch, Payne crossed the plate on an RBI single by Toby Collier. The inning also featured a Richards double to score two runs. Madison didn’t record an out in the inning until the ninth batter, and by that time, they trailed 8-0.
“Take nothing away from Madison, they got us the first time around and played really well,” Monroe head coach Mike Maynard said. “Tonight we needed to hit well, run well and play defense well and we did just that.
Monroe got its other three runs in the top of the third, when Wolford doubled home Foster and scored on Jeff Early’s single in another big inning. Early later scored for the final margin.
The Mountaineer defense actually held the Dragons to one hit over the final two innings, but their offense just never got going against Payne, who pitched masterfully to the delight of Maynard.
“R.J.’s had some struggles this year, but we were looking for big things from him tonight and we got them,” Maynard said. “This was his best outing of the year.”
Monroe has a quick turnaround, hosting John Champe Wednesday night. Madison hosts Central Woodstock on Thursday.
