By WALT MOODY For The Winchester Star
WINCHESTER — The James Wood High School softball team is headed somewhere that it has never been before — the Class 4 semifinals.
Led by Kayleigh Harden’s huge day at the plate, the Colonels slugged out 18 hits and scored in every inning as they eliminated longtime nemesis Woodgrove 15-8 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Ridge Field.
James Wood (21-3), which had lost in its previous three quarterfinal appearances, will next face Region 4A runner-up Gloucester (17-8) at Woodgrove on Friday at 10 a.m. The Dukes blanked Region 4B champion Dinwiddie 3-0 on Tuesday.
The Colonels advanced by taking a slugfest against perennial state power Woodgrove (17-5), a program that knocked them out in the quarterfinals in 2024 and had often ended their season short of the state playoffs back when the programs were in the same region.
“It means a lot, especially against Woodgrove because Woodgrove has knocked us out so many times,” James Wood coach Patrick Gibson said. “They have a great program over there. To beat them in that fashion on our home field, it was amazing.”
“It feels good,” said Harden, who had four hits and drove in six runs. “I feel like we’re going to win the whole thing now that we’ve won against them.”
Harden played a huge role in Tuesday’s historic win after the Wolverines grabbed a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Ginny Dowell’s three-run blast deep over the left-center field fence.
Thanks to Harden, the Colonels came right back in the bottom of the frame. With two on and two outs, Harden belted Dowell’s first pitch deep over the fence in left-center to square the score.
“I was just seeing it well and it was the perfect speed,” said Harden of the at-bat. “It was perfect timing. We were down by three and we had two people on base.”
The Colonels said the homer did more than just tie the score.
“It was everything for momentum,” Gibson said. “That’s what we talked about — there’s going to be some adversity throughout this game. When you get to this point, everybody is good. I didn’t think they were going to score three in the first inning, but they did and we answered the bell.”
“It was a drastic shift,” said shortstop Brynnen Williams, who scored on the homer. “… As soon as it came off the bat I was like, ‘Holy crap. We’re right back in it. Let’s go get it.’ As soon as she hit that, I was like, ‘We’re going to win this game. There’s no way we are going to back down.’”
James Wood starter Sophia Gerald was able to strand two baserunners in the second to keep the score tied and the Colonels took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Sophia Rohrbach and Williams singled to open the inning and each moved up a base on Audrey Nail’s sacrifice bunt. Taylor Fishel chased them home with a two-run single up the middle to make it 5-3.
For the rest of the contest, Woodgrove would inch closer only to have the Colonels extend their lead. James Wood was able to limit the damage to single runs in most innings, while putting up crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
Dowell belted another homer, a solo shot in the third, but Gerald was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam later in the inning. Molly Maynard doubled and scored on Marleigh DeHaven’s sacrifice fly to push the margin back to 6-4.
After Woodgrove scored one in the top of the fourth on Taylor Harper’s RBI double, Gerald stranded two more baserunners. Harden (single) and Gerald (sacrifice fly) plated runs in the bottom of the inning to increase the lead to 8-5.
The Wolverines would score again in the top of the fifth, but that was as close as they would get. Fishel (single), Kati Brannon (sacrifice fly) and Harden (single) each drove in a run as the Colonels pushed the margin to 11-6.
Reliever Maggie Maynard pitched a scoreless sixth and the Colonels ended all hopes of a Woodgrove comeback in the bottom of the frame. With two outs and no one on base, James Wood would have its biggest inning with four runs.
Rohrbach (single) and Williams (walk) reached base before Nail (three hits, two sacrifices) completed a perfect night at the plate by slicing a two-run double just inside the right-field line. After Fishel reached on an infield single, her third hit, Brannon belted an RBI double to center. Harden plated the final run with a hard single up the middle.
Every James Wood starter had either a hit or drove in a run during the contest.
“This was the best we’ve hit the whole season,” Harden said. “I think we had really good at-bats.”
“I have a lot of faith in my teammates and myself,” said Williams, who had two hits and two walks while scoring four runs. “I knew as long as I did my job the job was going to carry on and everybody else was going to pick each other up. It didn’t matter if one girl got out — the next girl up was going to get a hit. We were gong to score runs and continually put pressure on their pitchers and defense.”
Given the quality of the competition, Gibson was pleased. Woodgrove used three pitchers in the contest and none were able to keep the Colonels off the scoreboard.
“We made adjustments from pitch to pitch,” he said. “We didn’t chase a lot. We knew the first pitcher [Dowell] threw up a lot and we laid off the high stuff. We were really disciplined at the plate at worked some counts into our favor. We came up with a lot of clutch hits.”
“We knew if we wanted our name to be heard we had to make an impact,” Williams said. “That came off our bats. That was the way we were going to make an impact. Our lineup is solid all of the way through and we showed that tonight.”
Maggie Maynard was able to get the final three outs, but not before the Wolverines went deep again. After a leadoff single by Chloe Sparks, Allie Eicholtz sliced an opposite field homer to right field to make it 15-8. Maynard then got three straight hitters, two on pop-ups to herself, to close out the contest in the spitting rain.
The Colonels are looking forward to their first-ever semifinal in Friday’s semifinal clash against Gloucester. The winner of that contest will face the winner between Tuscarora and Patrick Henry for the state title on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Woodgrove. Tuscarora, the Region 4C champion, edged Region 4D runner-up Jefferson Forest 6-5, while Region 4B runner-up Patrick Henry blanked Region 4A champ Jamestown 6-0.
Certainly knocking off the Wolverines has aided James Wood’s confidence. Woodgrove has won seven state titles in school history, most recently in 2024.
“It gives us a drastic boost,” Williams said. “… We came in and we had energy. We were able to do what we needed to do. It’s just a great feeling.”
Gibson said advancing has its challenges, but he’s looking to make more history.
“It kind of gets hard at this point because we know nothing about the next opponents,” he said. “We’re going to have to do some research on them as quick as possible. We have a couple of days to do that.
“I want to get to the state title game. I feel like if we get there we have a good chance to win it. We’ve just got to stay the course, play our game, stay out of adversity, stay out of the big innings and take our shot at it. I feel like we’re playing our best softball of the year right now and that’s what you want.”