By Liz Keller / ScrimmagePlay.com contributor
Monticello’s Victoria Scott has established herself as one of the most dominant pitchers in the area. On Wednesday night against Park View Sterling, the senior showed her strength at the plate as well.
Scott had a pair of doubles and scored the game-winning run as the Mustangs prevailed 2-1 over the Patriots in the Region II semifinals.
Scott’s pitching performance wasn’t too shabby either. The Jefferson District pitcher of the year recorded 17 strikeouts and issued just one walk in the victory.
“We just really got it together toward the end of the game,” Scott said. “We’ve been practicing hitting a lot and it finally came through. We were putting the ball in play, we just seemed to be hitting it right to them and finally we started hitting it where they weren’t. And obviously it paid off.”
In addition to a spot in the region championship game on Friday, the Mustangs earned a berth in the Group AA tournament, which begins Tuesday. Monticello will play host to Briar Woods in the region title game at 7 p.m. Friday.
“We’ve been so close before and we’ve just finally gotten there,” added Scott. “My team just played great tonight. I’m so happy that we’re finally going to states. It’s what I’ve worked for for four years, and I know everybody else has too.”
Monticello held a 1-0 lead until the top of the sixth. With two outs, Park View leadoff batter Samantha Thomas belted a double to center field, then Samantha Gleason followed with a base hit to the same spot to send Thomas home to tie the game. Robin Heironimus reached base on an error, but the Mustangs escaped further damage as Scott struck out cleanup batter Rebecca Patton to end the inning.
However, Monticello got the timely hits it needed in the bottom half of the inning. Scott led off with a double to center field and senior Lydia Neuroth delivered an RBI double to center for the game-winner.
The Mustangs also got hits earlier in the game from the top of the order — Brittney Via, Amber Dillow, Rachael Eplee and Kaitlyn Bodine.
“We kept telling them, they were putting the ball in play and if they just kept swinging the bat hard, there was going to be some balls that fell in,” Monticello coach Beth Humphrey said. “They just kept plugging away and they never gave up on it.”
Despite allowing two baserunners (walk, error) in the top of the seventh, Scott remained calm, cool and collected as the Mustangs got out of the jam to secure the win.
“All year, the last four years, she’s levelheaded the whole time,” said Humphrey of Scott, who was perfect through the first three innings. “She rarely gets rattled so I have all the confidence in the world. ”
The Mustangs, the regular-season district champions, couldn’t be more excited about the win.
“It’s nice to beat a team who comes down here and thinks they’re going to walk all over you. It’s really thrilling,” Scott said. “I think people underestimate us a lot of times and we’re proving them wrong this year.”
