James Wood falls to Halifax County in Class 4 softball

WINCHESTER — All season long, the James Wood High softball team has “battered” its opponents into submission.

The Colonels put up ridiculous offensive numbers against their foes to rack up the Class 4 Northwestern District regular-season and tournament titles as well as capturing the first regional crown in school history.

But in their first-ever clash in the state tournament on Tuesday, the Colonels ran into an opposition that literally hit everyone they threw at it.

Halifax County unleashed a 19-hit attack, which featured three homers, against James Wood and won a 16-9 slugfest at Ridge Field in the Class 4 state quarterfinals.

Thanks to some outstanding defense, relief pitcher Destiny Talbott held the Colonels to two runs over the final 6.1 innings as the Comets (22-4) advanced to Friday’s state semifinals against Spotsylvania at Spotsylvania High School. The Colonels, who got four hits apiece from Sydney Orndorff and Cadence Rieg, finished their historic campaign with a 22-3 mark.

Halifax County, a state semifinalist last season, overcame a long trip from South Boston which was prolonged by two hours when their bus died along the way. The Comets pulled in at 6:15 p.m. for the contest, which was originally scheduled to start at 6.

They arrived with their hitting shoes on, scoring three runs on four hits in the first inning. They’d score multiple runs in five of the seven innings as James Wood coach Patrick Gibson tried all three of his pitchers (Jenna Shull, Rieg and Ellie Johnson). The Colonels also committed three costly errors.

“I didn’t think we’d get outhit, to be honest,” Gibson said. “We threw everything at them and didn’t have an answer for them. They could flat out hit. We didn’t make enough plays, but they also capitalized when they got runners on. They got the clutch hits.”

The Colonels showed why they have been clubbing teams in their first trip to the plate, knocking out Halifax County starter Emma Payne in the first inning.

Rieg’s double and Sadie Kittoe’s triple preceded Orndorff’s one-out blast over the right-field fence to make it 3-0. Johnson would add an RBI double and Rieg belted a two-run double to give the Colonels a 7-3 lead.

“They came in and just beat in the ball,” Comets coach Woody Bane said of the Colonels. “We made a couple of adjustments. That’s what softball is, you’ve got to make some adjustments and we did that real well.”

That’s when the Comets turned to Talbott, who came on and got the final out in the first. Despite seeing plenty of James Wood batters get hits, Talbott would wriggle out of jams and get big outs. She’d keep the Colonels off the board until the sixth and toss the final 6.1 innings.

“Basically I just came in and had to do what I had to do,” Talbott said. “I knew my team had my back. Even though we made some errors in the first inning we came together and overcame them. We put the bat on the ball and continued to be a good team all-around.”

Talbott, who gave up 10 hits, but just two runs, wasn’t overpowering but kept the ball on the inside of the plate. That made a lot of the right-handed hitting Colonels smack the ball toward shortstop Kamryia Woody-Giggetts, who turned in several spectacular plays to thwart James Wood scoring chances.

“Destiny did a heck-of-a job,” Bane said. “She spins the ball real well and it can move four different ways. Sometimes just changing your eye level will help a little bit.”

“Eventually we knew she was throwing inside, but we were just a tad early on her,” Orndorff said.

“I felt like we started making adjustments,” Gibson said. “We just ran out of time and out of at-bats. And that shortstop was incredible. She made three or four game-changing plays.”

Halifax County began its comeback in the second. Olivia Seamster and Hannah Ellixson hit-back-to-back homers to lead off a three-run inning to draw within 7-6.

Rieg relieved Shull and had a scoreless third, but a five-run fourth gave Halifax County the lead for good.

A bases-loaded error allowed the initial two runs to score. Then Halifax County’s Shamya Hankins blasted a moonshot deep over the fence in center that didn’t need any help from the strong wind that was blowing out.

“The one Hankins hit, we’re going to pick it up as we go down [Interstate] 81 I think,” Bane said with a chuckle. “That one was hit pretty good.”

The Comets would add three more in the fifth as Johnson relived after three batters in the inning. Jaci Barham’s two-run double highlighted the frame as the Comets’ lead grew to 14-7.

In the bottom of the fifth, Payne flashed some leather in center field. With runners at first and second, Sadie Kittoe hit a fly ball that Payne raced in to make a diving grab on. Both Wood runners had taken off and the Comets doubled one off. The umpires need a pow-wow before deciding it was a double play.

In the sixth, James Wood’s Izzy McKee led off with a homer. And after Orndorff doubled for her third extra base hit of the game, Aliza Judd had an RBI single to make it 14-9. Woody-Giggetts halted the rally with two standout plays in the hole to get force outs at second.

The Comets tacked on two more runs in the seventh. Maybe appropriately, James Wood’s season ended with one more hard-struck ball, a liner Kittoe blasted in the hole that Woody-Giggetts snared and fired to first for a double play.

“We went down swinging,” Gibson said. “We went down fighting. We weren’t going to quit.”

Hankins had four hits to lead the Comets, while Payne, Duffer, and Seamster added three each. Eight of the nine James Wood starters had at least one hit. Johnson and Brynnen Williams added two each.

“I told the girls that we have nothing to hang out heads about,” Gibson said. “We accomplished all of our goals and them some. It was a special, magical team.”

“We’re very, very proud,” Orndorff said. “I can say for all of us that it was a dream come true. It was very bittersweet that we didn’t make it to the championship this year, but we did work our hardest. I think we really, really did our best and worked as a team.”

Orndorff is one of seven seniors on the roster, including Tuesday starters Brooklyn Davis, Johnson, Kittoe and McKee, who played their final games with the Colonels.

“We will miss them tremendously,” Gibson said of the seniors. “They are everything. They did everything and then some that I’ve asked of them. It’s going to be hard waking up tomorrow morning and knowing we don’t have anymore practices with this group.”

— Contact Walt Moody at
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