William Monroe baseball is aggressive on the base paths. That’s the Dragons’ offensive identity and when you jump into the postseason, it’s important to lean on that established identity.
Do what got you there.
“It really frees up our offense knowing we don’t have to move somebody from first to home, you can move them from second to third pretty easy,” said William Monroe senior Hunter Powell. “We executed that pretty great and Blake (Shifflett) had a great night.”
Shifflett stole three bases and scored twice as part of a 3-for-3 night at the plate to spark the top-seeded Dragons’ offense in a 6-1 win in the Region 3B quarterfinals over No. 8-seeded Lightridge. Shifflett was electric and made things tough on Lightridge throughout the game.
“The first couple of innings, we left some runners on base but Blake Shifflett was phenomenal tonight, he’s so fast, he causes a lot of traffic on the highway there that really helps us out,” said William Monroe coach Mike Maynard. “I’m just really proud of him.”
The Dragons finally scratched out a run in the fourth inning on a Jayden Kirby RBI single that scored Jared Shifflett. They extended that lead with Shifflett scoring on a passed ball in the bottom of the fifth before Hayden Gibson had an RBI single to push the lead to 3-0. Kirby finished 2-for-3 with a double in addition to the RBI single.
The Dragons’ Josh Adderly and Max Kinsey each stole a base while Chase Mallory and Shifflett had the other RBIs that Monroe registered.
Meanwhile, Powell was locked in on the mound where he threw six strong innings and struck out three while scattering three hits. That made the offensive effort hold up and vaulted Monroe into the Region 3B semifinals.
“This is by far the best eight-seed I’ve ever played but I came out throwing strikes, the defense played great behind me and we finally got the bats rolling in the later innings,” Powell said.
It helped that Powell’s defense was phenomenal behind him, playing error-free baseball.
“Jared Shifflett made some really good plays at first base, I’m really proud of him he works really hard,” Maynard said. “We knew they played a lot of small ball stuff and tried to put the ball in play and we really worked on that part of it (before the game).”
The Dragons will host Brentsville Wednesday in the Region 3B semifinals after the Tigers beat Goochland Monday night in the quarterfinals.
