Less than week removed from facing elimination in the Bull Run District semifinals, Madison County came up big in a dramatic way.
Lauren Seale came so close to making her team’s Region B Division 1 quarterfinal with William Campbell a little less tense. The sophomore was just a few feet short of having her double clear the fence in left field in the second inning. Instead she stood tall in the circle and threw eight shutout innings while striking out 14 to set the table for a wild finish. With two runners in scoring position and just one out, senior Casey Racer provided the one clutch hit the Mountaineers were waiting for. On a single hit the opposite way to right field, Racer brought home Kaitlyn Aylor to provide a walk off victory, 1-0, over the Generals.
“Lauren did just a great job of pitching tonight striking out so many batters,” said Madison coach Jesse Yowell. “I thought we made some really good defensive plays. It was crucial in the eighth to get that leadoff runner on and we were fortunate that Casey came up with a clutch hit. But we still need to do a better job of hitting, getting the top of the ball more instead of underneath.”
Seale’s double was the first opportunity for either team to score. In the next at bat Anna Kelliher singled to put runners on the corners. But a pair of strikeouts followed but an assisted ground out sent the Mountaineers into the third with nothing to show for it.
Madison threatened again in the bottom of sixth. A 2-out walk to Taylor Yowell followed by a wild pitch and single from Kerri Carpenter to left field looked to set up the Mountaineers again, but within that play, a base running miscue ended the inning with the game still scoreless.
Campbell had its best chance to get out front in the top of seventh thanks to a 1-out double from Ashton Ewers. However, in arguably the biggest play of the game, the Madison defense picked Ewers off heading to third on a tag from Racer who covered third with the Generals showing bunt.
“It was a tough situation and I felt a lot of pressure to get that out,” Racer said.
In the bottom of the eighth Aylor provided the spark with a leadoff single. Bailey Colvin answered with a single and then stole second to set up her team with two runners in scoring position. After a strike out, Racer came to the plate and followed through with the game winning hit.
“I was really glad the other two runners got on base and that there was just the one out,” Racer said. “I thought about how we needed just that one hit so I’m really glad now that our season is not over yet.”
Seale didn’t just sit down 14 batters, four of those going back to the dugout looking. The Madison starter allowed just two base runners and the one hit in the seventh with no walks.
Madison travels to Central Lunenburg on Wednesday at 6 p.m. with a Group A bid on the line. Central beat Goochland on Friday in the James River District tournament and topped Altavista 3-0 in its Region B quarterfinal.
