Madison County’s wins over East Rockingham and then Nandua secured the ever important part to get the Mountaineers to the state finals. On Friday, not a lot was on the line as they hosted Strasburg. Both teams were taxed from a pitching standpoint as they went with their options well beyond the norm. and in Madison’s case late in the game, it’s starting shortstop, Cole Smith threw he last two innings, the only two innings he’s thrown all year. It was that kind of game.
While Strasburg opened up a five run can of worms in the top of the first, the Mountaineers again showed their resiliency, answering with a five run bottom half of the inning to makes things interesting. But with the Rams answering with four runs in the second, it was tough for Madison to catch up as Strasburg wrapped up the 2A East Region championship, 17-9 in a game that took three hours and fifteen minutes to play to wrap up a marathon week for both squads.
“We were very good offensively early,” said Strasburg coach Jeff Smoot. “There were two keys to that game — one, we were able to establish ourselves in the first inning, but then they came back and punched us in the mouth and we answered that bell too.”
Madison had it chances, but unlike the previous two games, the big two-out hits went Strasburgs way as they won their fourth straight contest against their Bull Run District counterpart.
After falling in a 5-0 hole, the Mountaineers rallied for five of their own in the bottom half of the inning thanks to five hits, a pair of walks, and an error, the highlights coming on an RBI singles from Sam Taylor and Shane Aylor. However, Madison left the bases loaded with two outs to end the first.
“We’ve played like that all year, every time we get smacked, we come back,” said Madison coach David Londrey. “But this one, it was a bit tougher as we were on fourth, fifth and sixth pitchers. A 3-game week, it’s tough, and we had two big emotional wins in the week and that can wear on you. Wednesday was such an emotional high and we didn’t get home until 4 a.m.”
The Rams top of the order was the story of the night. And in the second a walk, a Ryan Murphy single and back-to-back RBI doubles from Ryan Smoot and Ian Baker, and later an RBI single from Josh Prichett gave Strasburg a 8-5 lead that it would never relinquish. The Rams made it 12-5 in the third with Baker hitting a 2-run double and Pritchett getting an RBI single. Three more runs were plated in the fourth for the Rams to make it 15-6.
“The guys we brought out of the bullpen were solid and so I think we won that battle and that was big,” Smoot said. “I don’t think we lacked confidence and felt like we had a favorable pitching match up because maybe we’re a little deeper there.”
Madison mounted a two-run rally in the fifth with a Taylor RBI single and an RBI triple from Colin Shifflett. That made it 15-9. But Strasburg tacked on a run in its final two innings at the plate to wrap up the win.
“I was expecting this to be a high scoring game, but this is still going to be a great weekend for us and I would very much like to see Strasburg again (next Saturday in the state championship game,” Londrey said.
For Strasburg, Baker was 2 for 5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. Murphy finished 3 for 3 with four runs scored. Smoot went 2 for 4 with two RBI and four runs scored. Pritchett had a monster night, going 5 for 5 with 5 RBI and a triple.
For Madison, Taylor was 3 for 5 with two RBI and a stolen base. James Graves was 1 for 3 with two runs scored. Nick Smith was 1 for 3 with an RBI and run scored.
The Mountaineers will face Virginia High in the 2A semifinals on Friday at 10 a.m. in Salem. Strasburg will face Randolph Henry following that game, also in Salem.
