The Bull Run District has been a three ring circus between William Monroe, Madison County and Clarke County. With Clarke splitting its series with both schools and the Mountaineers taking down the Dragons in the first meeting between the two, Friday’s second showdown between the sworn rivals had everything on the line. A win for the Dragons would set up the likely scenario of a 3-way tie at the top which would result in a playoff between Clarke and Madison with the winner facing Monroe for the right to the regular season title and an automatic Region B bid. A win for the Mountaineers more than likely would wrap up the Bull Run title.
In a thrilling back and forth affair, Monroe was able to rally from behind in the seventh inning and get to within a pitch of setting up the playoff scenario. But thanks to a 2-run walkoff double from Lauren Seale, Madison was able to put together its own rally to come away with a 4-3 win.
“I always tell the girls that you can’t give up until the last out,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “These girls really want to be district champs and not have to play in a playoff. That’d be at least two extra games, so that’s just huge getting this done tonight. I’ve very proud of all of them.”
The Mountaineers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Seale started the inning with a double and Chandler Gentry delivered an RBI single.
“We actually hit pretty well, but we weren’t able to string the hits all together until the end,” Yowell said. “We left two many runners on base.”
Monroe tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning a piece of clutch hitting as Collier cranked a homerun to center field with two outs.
Madison was able to reclaim the 1-run lead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to one swing from Gentry who also went deep to center.
The seventh was nothing short of entertaining as Monroe’s Makayla Morris led the inning off with a single. Two batters later Brianna Wimer reached on an error that allowed Morris to score and tie the game up once again. With two outs, and Wimer on third base, Kelsie Short layed down a bunt single to give Monroe the lead.
“We were ecstatic,” said Dragons coach Chad Roach. “The girls came together as a group and that’s what we’ve focused on all year long.”
Madison’s rally in the seventh started with Bailey Colvin leading the inning off with a single. After a groundout, a walk, a stolen base and a pop out the Mountaineers had runners on second and third with two outs. With a full count and down to its last strike, Madison saw Kaitlyn Aylor reach on a walk after slippery ball fell out of Monroe pitcher’s McKenzie Flora’s hand during her delivery. With the bases loaded, Seale came to the plate, took a pitch and then stroked the walk off double down the third baseline.
“It was a good sign to see that they didn’t give up, because you could have seen (our) heads drop after they rallied, but that didn’t happen,” Yowell said. “They came out and got the job done. We probably should have done that a bit earlier but we’ll take it.”
Seale also finished with 11 strikeouts in the circle for Madison.
William Monroe next plays a double header against Louisa County on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Madison hosts Rappahannock on Monday at 7 p.m.
