Sherando rallies for softball win over James Wood

STEPHENS CITY — In a softball rivalry where getting the final out has been hard to come by, Sherando had five left to try to erase a two-run deficit against James Wood on Thursday.

The Warriors would get it done with two to spare.

Meghan Harris and Santanna Puller belted back-to-back homers in the sixth inning and Abby Vadnais raced home with the winning run with one out in the seventh as Sherando rallied to a 7-6 victory against the Colonels.

Puller, a freshman, tossed a five-hitter and struck out four against a James Wood squad that had scored 32 runs in its first two games.

“The long story and history of this rivalry tells us that this game is not over until that 21st out is made,” said Sherando coach Clarence Smith, who does not have a senior on the squad. “… We lost the lead and then it was about making sure that these kids who are so inexperienced and new to this didn’t get too low and knew we had the bats that could get us back into the thick of things.

“The history says that we are going to have our opportunities and to their credit they had the resolve and when the opportunities presented themselves they capitalized. I’m very proud of them.”

James Wood coach Todd Baker said the back-and-forth struggle that came down to the last play was no surprise, even though there are a lot of new faces for both sides since the two teams last met in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic paused the rivalry last spring.

“Nothing changes with James Wood and Sherando,” Baker said. “We might have taken a year off, but we picked up right where we left off in these crazy games.”

Sherando seemed to be rolling along with a 4-0 lead, but the Colonels scored five times in the fourth and tacked on another run in the top of the sixth to make it 6-4.

But with one out in the sixth, the Warriors (4-0) started their comeback. Harris, who had nicked herself with a foul ball earlier in the at-bat, lofted a fly ball that just cleared the fence in center field to make it 6-5.

That chased James Wood starter Jenna Burkhamer and Baker brought in freshman Cadence Rieg to relieve. Puller blasted Rieg’s first pitch deep over the fence in left-center field to tie the score.

“It was just mental,” Puller said of the at-bat. “That’s really all it is and practice makes perfect. I got a pitch that I liked and I took it.”

With one out in the seventh, Vadnais, a speedy lefty, started the winning rally by slapping a single up the middle.

“I was just trying to make contact with the ball,” Vadnais said. “If I overthink it, it doesn’t go right.”

She then swiped second easily and moved to third when Madison Harris grounded a ball though Rieg’s legs that Wood shortstop Sadie Kittoe gloved behind the second base bag to prevent Vadnais from scoring.

After a couple of throws were made, Madison Harris ended up at second base to put two runners in scoring position. With Isabel Hall at the plate, James Wood catcher Sydney Orndorff fired to third base to try to catch Vadnais, but the toss went into left field and the freshman scrambled up to score the game-winner.

“It was crazy,” Vadnais said of the contest. “It was all over the place. Our team was hot and then their team was hot. We were low and they were low. It was all over the place.”

The Warriors got out of the box hot. Madison Harris belted a solo homer to deep right-center in the first. They added a run on a bunt on a close play in the second before Vadnais, primarily a slap hitter pulled a two-run single to right to make it 4-0.

“I impressed myself,” Vadnais said of her at-bat. “I’m not good at catching it out in front and driving it that way.”

Puller kept the Colonels off the board until the fourth, when they sent nine batters to the plate. Rieg (sacrifice fly) and Caity Shutts (RBI single to left) plated the first two runs and two more scored when the Warriors couldn’t handle a pop-up. Kittoe capped the rally by spanking an RBI double to left-center.

Olivia Miller’s two-out RBI single drove in Shutts, who reached on her second walk of the game, to make it 6-4 in the top of the sixth.

But, the Colonels (2-1) struggled against Puller most of the game. A whopping 12 outs came on fly balls, half of them to Vadnais in center field.

“I just knew how to pitch the ball to them,” said Puller, who walked five. “It just felt natural.”

“A lot of credit to her,” Baker said. “We have been hitting the cover off the ball. Tonight we did not do that.”

Smith likes what he’s seen from his freshman right-hander so far.

“Santanna has the ability to be a very good pitcher here,” Smith said. “Obviously, she is very talented. She held down a very good James Wood team here today. I think the sky is the limit for her. She has to understand she has to continue to work because when we start seeing these teams the second time around than the surprise factor is out of the window.”

Vadnais and Madison Harris each had two hits for the Warriors.

Izzy McKee also had a double for the Colonels. Burkhamer went 5.1 innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out seven.

“We just didn’t capitalize when it counted and Sherando did,” Baker said. “We’re young at a lot of positions, very young. We’re going to learn as we go.”

Smith said his team learned something Thursday.

“This is a big confidence boost,” he said. “This is a game which gives our kids the confidence that we can come back and that we can play solid softball. We don’t necessarily have to have runs given to us. We can earn them.”

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