Clarke County completes season softball sweep of James Wood

WINCHESTER — James Wood softball coach Todd Baker has one word that comes to mind often when describing Clarke County junior Madison Edwards.

“She’s trouble when she’s at the plate,” Baker started. “She’s trouble when she’s on base. She’s trouble when she’s on shortstop. She’s a great player and that’s why she’s going to play college ball. Those kind of kids don’t come around too often. Yeah, she’s trouble in all phases of the game.”

Edwards had four hits and scored three times, once from second base on a wild pitch, as the Class 2 Eagles completed a two-game sweep of the Class 4 Colonels with a 9-2 victory at Ridge Field on Monday. Abby Peace tossed a six-hitter, tying up a James Wood offense that had been lighting up the scoreboard since the two teams met earlier in the season.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Edwards of taking two from the Colonels, who had dominated meetings in previous seasons. “We went 6-0 outside of the district. [Monday] was our last game to do that and we pulled through.”

Edwards helped give the Eagles (12-2) a lead they would never relinquish. She led off the game against Cadence Rieg with a single to right and moved to second on Kacie Turner’s sacrifice bunt. From there, her speed and baserunning instincts made the difference. She took third on a low pitch that just bounced a short distance from Colonels’ catcher Sydney Orndorff, a play that most baserunners would not have attempted. She then scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.

“When I’m on the bases, if I see the ball down I take an extra step,” said Turner, a James Madison University commit. “And if she misses it, I go.”

“I’ve said it all along, she sets the tone,” said Clarke County coach Darren “Fly” Lambert of Edwards, who is second in the area with 23 runs scored. “Once she gets on the bases, her objective is to score — any way possible. She’s very heads-up and instincts play a big part of her baserunning.”

The Eagles would add one more run in the first after Haley Farmer drew the fourth consecutive walk to make it 2-0.

Facing a lineup that has scored 10 or more runs six times since the Eagles won 4-1 earlier in the season, Peace was strong from that start. She recorded at least one strikeout in every inning and blanked the Colonels for the first five.

“My pitches were working pretty good,” said Peace, who improved to 7-2. “Overall, it was a good day for pitching.”

“Abby has been great all year,” Lambert said. “She’s thrown well every time she’s went [in the circle].”

“She located the ball great all night,” Baker said. “She really kept us off-balance. … I know what this offense is capable of. For her to shut us down like that, hats off to her. It was a great pitching performance.”

The Eagles continued to chip away and add runs throughout the contest in some interesting ways. In the second, Turner reached on a dropped third strike with two outs and Peace followed by belting a double into the right-center field gap to plate her.

In the fourth, Edwards beat out a single and moved to second on an error on the play. After two walks loaded the bases, Anna Hornbaker’s groundout drove in Edwards to make it 4-0.

Ellie Taylor, who threw out a runner at second earlier in the game, and Haley Farmer opened the sixth with back-to-back singles against reliever Ellie Johnson. Taylor scored on Campbell Paskel’s grounder to make it 5-0.

The Colonels (6-7), who have made several unbelievable comebacks this season, showed some life in the bottom of the sixth. Aliza Judd led off with a single and one out later Rieg drove a ball to the fence in right for a triple. Judd slid in just ahead of a throw home, which got away and allowed Rieg to scamper in from third to make it 5-2.

But, Clarke County rebounded to ruin the hopes of another James Wood rally. Edwards singled with one out and moved to second on Peace’s two-out single. With Hornbaker at the plate, Johnson uncorked a wild pitch that caromed off the backstop and toward the Eagles’ dugout on the third baseline. Edwards raced for third and never hesitated rounding the bag and heading for home to score.

“Earlier in the game there was a passed ball and I went to third and I rushed there easily,” explained Edwards, who said it was the first time she’s ever scored from second on a wild pitch. “I saw it go by and didn’t even look at Coach because it was right in front of me.”

The Eagles kept pouring it on. Hornbaker’s single to left plated Peace. Taylor followed with an RBI double to center and Farmer made it 9-2 with a single up the middle.

Laken Whipkey singled to lead off the seventh for the Colonels, but Peace bore down from there. The right-hander struck out the final three batters to close it out.

“I knew I had to finish strong,” said Peace, who fanned 10 and did not walk a batter. “James Wood has had multiple come-from-behind wins this year, so I knew it was going to be tough and they were looking to hit so I had to pitch the best in the last inning.”

“When we scored the two there, I felt like, ‘Hey, we’ve done it all year. Maybe we can keep it here and give us a shot in the seventh,’” Baker said. “But, they put the four spot on and with the way Abby was pitching you don’t like your chances too much there.”

Peace, Hornbaker, Taylor and Farmer had two hits each for the Eagles. Izzy McKee had two for the Colonels.

Both teams can now concentrate on district races.

Clarke County (5-2) entered the week in a three-way tie for first with East Rockingham and Page County in the Bull Run District. The Eagles were scheduled to face Mountain View on Tuesday and will host Madison County on Thursday.

“Every game matters from here on out,” Edwards said.

James Wood (5-2) entered the week in second place in the Class 4 Northwestern District with a big clash at Fauquier (4-2) slated on Thursday.

“There’s still stuff to work on, but I feel confident in this group,” Baker said. “I really do.”

Promise keptAfter the 2020 softball season was canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak, Baker promised that his three seniors that season would one day have the Senior Day honors that they never received. Last spring, Ridge Field was under construction so that delayed things again.

But on Monday, Ivy Rosenberry, Afton Sykes and Mackenzie McCarty got their day. Rosenberry, now a pitcher at Virginia Tech, and McCarty attended in person, while Sykes, a student at Virginia Tech, was there via FaceTime.

“I thought that was super special,” Baker said of the ceremonies. “We definitely would have done it last year, but we did not have a home field. I didn’t want to do it in Clear Brook, so I decided to wait until this year. … They didn’t get their Senior Day, so they got one today. I think it meant a lot to them. I know it meant a lot to me. I love all my seniors.”

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