WINCHESTER — The Sherando High School softball team hadn’t played a game in nearly two weeks, but that didn’t stop the Warriors’ bats from coming out hot against James Wood on Tuesday.
Sherando scored five runs in the second inning and held on late to defeat Wood 7-6 and sweep the season series against the Colonels.
Through two innings, Sherando (8-4, 3-0 Class 4 Northwestern District) found itself with a 6-0 lead and a 6-0 hit advantage.
The Warriors’ lead to start the game was spurred by sophomore right fielder Elle Shutts, who hit a leadoff home run over the center-field fence in the top of the first inning.
Sherando followed Shutts’ blast in the second inning with four singles, a double and a walk that gave the Warriors a six-run advantage over Wood (7-4, 2-2).
“I think that gave everybody else energy,” Shutts said of her homer. “It was like the snowball effect. Everybody else started hitting, too, and it was just a good way to start off the game.”
Sherando coach Mark Conner also thought Shutts’ homer set the tone for the Warriors.
“It always kind of gets a fire lit under your dugout,” Conner said. “[Shutts] did a great job. I thought as soon as she hit it, it had a chance of going out.”
Shutts finished 1 for 3 with two runs, an RBI and a walk.
Sherando’s early onslaught in the second began with a Kendra Chunta two-RBI single that put the Warriors ahead 3-0. Chunta finished 2 for 3 with a run, a double, two RBIs and a walk.
Sherando scored its next three runs of the inning with two outs, as Mady Cox extended Sherando’s lead to four on an RBI double to center field. A Lily Wray two-RBI single on the ensuing at-bat gave the Warriors a 6-0 lead.
The Warriors weren’t finished there.
In the top of the fourth, Leighanne Lowe drove home the final run for Sherando when she hit an RBI sacrifice fly to bring home Cox, giving her team a commanding 7-1 advantage.
But before Sherando could even think about ending the game in run-rule fashion, the Colonels punched right back, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth and three in the seventh to bring the game within one.
Trailing by four in the final frame, a single by Brynnen Williams (3 for 4, run, RBI) and a double by Kati Brannon (1 for 4, run) put two runners in scoring position. With two outs on the board, Molly Maynard (2 for 4, two doubles, two runs, two RBIs) hit a two-RBI double to right field to bring the Colonels within two. Maynard scored on the next at-bat when Sophia Gerald hit an RBI single to left field.
Although a Kayleigh Harden single put two runners on base, Wood’s hopes of a comeback were stopped in their tracks when Sherando’s Aubrey Weir retired the last batter to close out the game.
After losing to the Colonels twice last year — including a 4-3 loss in the Region 4D semifinals — Shutts was glad to secure the season sweep after the Warriors already defeated Wood 9-5 earlier this season.
“We always win the first game and then normally lose the second, and we broke that curse finally,” Shutts said.
Conner expected nothing less than his team having to battle Wood until the end.
“Nobody should ever leave until the seventh inning is over because the outcome can change, obviously, very quickly,” Conner said. “James Wood has a great program, great coaches and players. It’s always fun to play them.”
Wray earned the win for the Warriors, tossing two strikeouts and giving up three earned runs in 6.0 innings.
While it didn’t end with a victory, Wood coach Patrick Gibson was glad to see his team not back down after falling behind early.
“I love the grit, the heart and the fight they showed in the last inning down 7-3,” Gibson said. “Love that part of it. But we talked about staying out of big innings, and we gave up five runs in the second, and we can’t do that. We have to learn how to get through that adversity in those big innings and limit the damage.”
Wood’s Brannon threw nine strikeouts in the circle, going 4.2 innings while allowing three earned runs and four hits.
That performance came despite Brannon battling pneumonia, said Gibson, who added that Brannon “limited the damage” enough for the Colonels to have a chance late.
“When she first came into the game, she didn’t have her best stuff, but she fought through it enough so we could keep her in the game,” Gibson said.
Sherando will host Liberty on Thursday. Wood will host Warren County on Friday.
— Contact Justin Robertson at jrobertson@winchesterstar.com
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