Visiting Cougars top James Wood

By Jerry Holsworth - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

WINCHESTER -- After a pitchers' duel for the first three innings, Jefferson exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning, then cruised to a 13-1 softball victory over James Wood on Wednesday.

"It took us a while to get used to their pitcher," Cougars coach Mary Beth Vickers said. "She'd get ahead in the count, and then she'd give us very little to hit. Once we got used to the strike zone and her style of pitching, we started to hit the ball really well."

Vickers' comment was the story of the game. Through the early innings, both pitchers dominated play, resulting in three scoreless innings. Colonels starter Lauren Myers registered three strikeouts with a walk during that stretch, keeping Jefferson's offense off-balance in the process.

Cougars starter Katie Mangold was just as successful, holding the Colonels hitless over the same period.

But when Jefferson came to the plate in the fourth, everything changed. After an initial strikeout by Myers, the Cougars got back-to-back hits from Mangold and Meg Carroll to put runners at first and second.

Myers was able to get the next Jefferson batter to strike out, and it looked as though the Colonels were going to get out of the inning without allowing a run. But a single to right by Brittany Jackson scored Mangold and sent Carroll to third. A James Wood error on an easy pop-up and a double by Lauren Lewis left the Colonels trailing, 4-0. "We just made too many critical mistakes at important moments in the ballgame," James Wood coach Ted McDaniel said. "We have two outs and two runners on base, and we commit an error. Before we could get out of the inning, they had scored five more runs."

Jackson, Lewis and Mangold led Jefferson at the plate. Jackson finished the night 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Mangold was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Lewis had a pair of doubles for the game and two RBIs.

Six batters after Lewis' double and a change of pitchers, James Wood reliever Erin McCarthy was finally able to get the Colonels out of the inning when Carroll grounded out to third. The damage, however, was done. Jefferson had used the inning to mount an insurmountable 7-0 lead.

"I thought their pitcher did a good job of keeping us off balance early in the game," Jackson said. "We're used to pitchers throwing a lot faster, and it took us some time to adjust."

After the Cougars added another two runs in the fifth, the Colonels responded with a run of their own. Whitney Dennis singled to center field to score Megan Christian for Wood's only run of the night. Dennis led the Colonels at the plate, going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

"I really thought we had them after three innings," Dennis said. "We just made too many mistakes and gave up too many runs."

Mangold got the win, giving up four hits through five innings on the mound. She struck out four without allowing a walk. Myers took the loss, giving up seven runs on eight hits through 3 2/3 innings.

"That big inning certainly hurt us," McDaniel said. "They were obviously the better team, but I thought that we could have played a lot better than we did. I'm very happy about one thing, though. After a shock like that, we didn't quit. Now we just need to get back to practice and start working on getting better."