Wood's Rosenberry nearly perfect in no-hitter against Clarke County

WINCHESTER — James Wood pitcher Ivy Rosenberry was almost perfect against Clarke County in the Colonels’ softball opener Thursday at Ridge Field.

It took a freak occurrence to keep her that way.

A dropped third strike was all that prevented Rosenberry from five perfect innings and the junior right-hander settled for a no-hitter as James Wood rolled to a 10-0 triumph.

Rosenberry struck out 12 and threw out three runners on grounders back to the circle in a dominating performance against the Eagles (0-2). Rosenberry was also perfect at the plate, belting a solo homer on her only swing, then receiving a pair of intentional walks.

The rest of the Colonels provided plenty of offense as five more players delivered run-scoring hits in the contest, which was pushed back two days for field conditions to improve.

“You never really know with the first game of the season,” James Wood coach Todd Baker said of what he was expecting in the opener. “I know a lot of defenses across the area have been a little sloppy. We really didn’t see our defense today with the dominant performance that Ivy had.

“That is about as dominant as it gets against a varsity team and a good varsity team. The have a lot of good athletes and they are well-coached. They always give us a gritty game and give us everything.”

Rosenberry struck out at least one batter in every inning and had three strikeouts in each of the final three innings.

After her teammates plated four runs in the fourth, she entered the fifth needing three straight outs for the perfect game thanks to the 10-run mercy rule. She struck out the first batter, but fell behind Clarke County’s Abigail Peace 3-0.

Catcher Rebecca Boone then came out for a visit.

“It definitely helped for my catcher to come out and calm me down a little bit because sometimes the game gets moving a little too quick,” Rosenberry said. “You just need a breather.”

Rosenberry threw three straight strikes and got Peace swinging, but the final pitch eluded Boone and Peace reached first. Rosenberry got the next two batters on a grounder back to the circle and a strikeout to close out the no-hitter.

“I didn’t know that it was a perfect game, but I definitely knew that I felt really good tonight,” said Rosenberry, who was particularly effective with her riseball. “The pitches were working. Everything was definitely moving. I felt really good tonight.”

She gave herself the only run she would need in the first inning. After two outs, Rosenberry drove a 1-0 pitch from Whitney Grubbs deep over the Colonels sign in left-center field to make it 1-0.

“I knew it was gone whenever I hit it. That’s for sure,” said Rosenberry, who belted four home runs last season. “I was just going in the box ready to hit the ball and I hit it far.”

Her teammates did the rest of the damage, taking advantage of a couple of Clarke County errors.

The Colonels scored four unearned runs in the second. A dropped fly ball, a fielder’s choice that did not record an out and an error loaded the bases with one out. After a fielder’s choice out at the plate, James Wood leadoff hitter Olivia Miller blooped a two-run single into right field to make it 3-0. Afton Sykes followed with a bullet to the fence in center for a two-run double to make it 5-0.

“That’s what good teams do,” Baker said. “If a team makes a mistake, you’ve got to really capitalize on it. If you don’t, it becomes the tighter game. If we don’t get the hit after an error or two, it’s a four-run game instead of a 10-run game.”

“That’s one of our points of emphasis is not giving extra at-bats,” Clarke County coach Susan Grubbs said. “We don’t want to give, especially good teams like James Wood, extra at-bats. It puts too much pressure on the pitcher, too pressure much on the defense.”

Another error led to an unearned run in the third as Abigail Brannon stroked an RBI double.

The Colonels tacked on four more runs in the fifth. Boone and Mackenzie McCarty each had two-run singles in the frame.

All nine of the Colonels hitters reached base during the contest and seven scored runs.

“It was great,” Rosenberry said. “Everybody No. 1 through No. 9 was hitting the ball tonight. I think that our coaches have really been working with us the last couple of weeks and all winter with hitting, so they are doing a great job.”

“I told the kids before the game that this is probably one of the most even-talented teams I’ve had here at James Wood,” Baker said. “We have quality players on the bench tonight that could have come in and contributed. We didn’t get a chance to with the five-inning thing. Yeah, we’re pretty deep.”

Despite the loss, Coach Grubbs was very upbeat after the game. The two teams will meet again Tuesday at Clarke County.

“Ivy is a good pitcher and we know that,” Grubbs said. “James Wood is a good team. That’s what I told our kids is that we can’t get discouraged this early in the season. Going against good competition will make us a better team.

“That’s what I’ve asked them is to, ‘Keep plugging away, keep plugging away and keep improving every game.’ ... It’s going to be some growing pains, but the future is bright. If we just keep working at it, some good things are going to happen.”

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