Strong start, Wray propel Sherando softball past James Wood

STEPHENS CITY — In winning the Class 4 Northwestern District tournament softball championship game, James Wood had the last feel-good moment in its season series with Sherando in 2023.

For the second straight year, however, Sherando has fired the opening salvo.

In the Class 4 Northwestern District opener for both teams, the Warriors defeated the Colonels 5-2 and handed James Wood its first loss of the year on Tuesday in Sherando Park.

Just like in last year's first meeting, it was Sherando ace Lily Wray who picked up the win in the circle. In a complete-game effort, Wray allowed two runs on nine hits. She didn't walk anyone and struck out three for her second win of the season.

"This thing has been a rivalry for so long," Sherando coach Mark Conner said. "Coach [Patrick] Gibson and the rest of the coaching staff always has [James Wood] well prepared.

"I couldn't be more proud of our team tonight. We've been working hard the last couple of days in practice. Our bats have been a little quiet but we did enough tonight to get it done. And obviously when Lily (Wray) is in the circle she does a great job for us. I can't say enough about her."

Early on it was miscues and walks that did the Colonels in. Two walks and two errors in the first two innings led to three Sherando (2-1) runs, and the Colonels (2-1) were unable to recover.

"I'm going to go to bed pretty happy," Wray said. "I only had three strikeouts, but I felt like I could trust everybody, and it was so nice that the whole team just came together.

"[Getting the runs early] is so important. It makes pitching a lot better. We've been working really hard in practice on our hitting, and we fixed a lot of things."

Leadoff hitter Abby Vadnais reached on a three-base error to start the bottom of the first. Kayla Grum brought in Vadnais with a sacrifice fly to give the Warriors an early 1-0 lead.

James Wood answered in the top of the second. Skyla Compton led off the inning with the first of her two doubles, Two outs later she was still on second, but freshman Sophia Gerald came through with a hit to tie the game 1-1.

The Warriors took the lead for good in the bottom of the second.

With one out, Sherando's No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, freshman Leighanne Lowe and Kendra Chunta, both walked. One out later, both runners moved up on a pitch in the dirt. Grum then picked up her second RBI of the night with a sharp single to center, scoring Lowe for a 2-1 lead. Later in the inning, Chunta scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.

"We're an aggressive team," Conner said. "That's kind of our style and we take some risks once in a while and tonight it paid off for us.

"We struggled against Strasburg at the plate the other night so we talked about being more disciplined at the plate and just trying to put the ball in play. We cut down on our strikeouts tonight, which is good."

Wray helped herself out with a big two-out two-run double in the bottom of the fourth to give the Warriors a 5-1 lead. Makayla Williams reached on a fielder's choice and Maddy Cox singled to bring Wray to the plate. Wray ripped a shot that split the outfielders and rolled all the way to the fence, easily scoring both Williams and Cox.

The Colonels tried to mount a rally in the sixth. Brynnen Williams led off the inning with a double to the fence in left center and she took third on the throw back to the infield. Aliza Judd drove in Williams with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.

Wood picked up another hit in the sixth and one more in the seventh but both runners were stranded at first as the Colonels were unable to move them around. James Wood outhit the Warriors 9-6 but left eight runners on base.

"First of all, you have to give them credit," Gibson said. "Lily pitched a heck of a game.

"We had lots of errors and lots of walks. We have to clean up the errors and the walks. They took advantage of our miscues, and they got clutch hits when they needed them. We couldn't get the clutch hit tonight."

Grum and Wray each went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a double. Cox also had two hits for the Warriors. For James Wood, Williams and Gerald also each had two hits.

"We've got a long ways to go but this is a big confidence boost for us," Conner said. "We're just like everybody else. We're gonna take it one game at a time."

Sherando is back in action Friday night when it hosts Liberty. The Warriors will also Clarke County in a doubleheader on Saturday. Wood is off until next Tuesday when it returns home to face Clarke County.