Oak Hill – One night removed from beating Class AA Shady Spring, Class A James Monroe looked for another marquee softball win Wednesday against Class AAA Oak Hill.
The Mavericks were again up to the task.
Twice battling from behind, James Monroe knocked off the home-standing Red Devils 9-7.
“I am really happy with these girls and their grit tonight. They kept fighting,” James Monroe head coach Jack Phipps said. “(Oak Hill) has a great team. I am very happy for our girls to be able to say we beat Shady yesterday and Oak Hill today. Nobody thought we would win those two games. Even the administration was happy this morning just because we beat Shady.”
The game was scoreless through the first three innings before the fireworks commenced over the final four frames.
A single by Chloe Shires scored Hailey Hunnicutt in the top of the fourth to give James Monroe the initial lead.
Oak Hill answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Brooke Spangler doubled to open the inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
A pair of wild pitches and another passed ball brought home Taylor Dempsey who came on as a courtesy runner for pitcher Krista Shrewsberry. Shrewsberry made her way on thanks to a one-out single.
Savannah Bigham reached on a dropped third strike and later scored on an RBI-single from Kendra Dempsey, giving Oak Hill a 3-1 lead after four innings.
With runners at second and third with two outs, Oak Hill had a chance to get out of the fifth inning unscathed. Unfortunately for the Red Devils, not making the routine plays at key times would eventually be their undoing.
“It is difficult when you only have two that has played varsity softball. Not making any excuses, but routine plays cost us and six of them were in the infield,” Oak Hill head coach John McGinnis said.
An error at second base allowed one run to score, but more importantly, it gave James Monroe an extra turn at the plate.
Emily Bailey cashed in on the opportunity with a single to score two more runs, giving the Mavs a 4-3 lead. Two more errors in the top of the sixth helped James Monroe push two more across for a 6-3 lead.
The home team came roaring back.
Sadie Branch drilled the equalizer for Oak Hill when she hit a frozen rope over the fence in left-center with two aboard.
“Brylie (Thomas) lobbed that one up and it didn’t go up. It was right there for her to hit and she hit the home run. That scared me a little, but I call these girls the “cardiac kids” because I have about had a heart attack the last two nights,” Phipps said.
Oak Hill wasn’t done scoring, however. Paige Neal followed Branch with a single and scored on a triple from Brooke Spangler for a 7-6 lead heading to the final inning.
“We hit the ball when we needed to in order to get back in the game, but defensively, that is what lost the ball game for us,” McGinnis said. “We are young and inexperienced, but we are getting better. If we get beat by a better team, that is fine. As long as we are getting better, I can work with that.”
The Mavericks hit five singles in the seventh, two coming in the infield, but two crucial errors were the real catalyst leading to three go-ahead runs for the visitors.
“We have talked to the girls from day one about running hard to first base because you don’t know what is going to happen,” Phipps said. “Some of those errors we had runners crossing in front of them. Those are tough plays.”
After a walk to start the home half of the seventh, a liner to Hailey Hunnicutt turned into a double play when the runner was caught off first base.
Haley Jones gave Oak Hill hope when she singled and moved to third on back-to-back passed balls.
Hunnicutt sealed the game when she reeled in a fly ball battling the wind for the third out.
“I have two seniors that are on the field captains and my juniors that played really well tonight. I was proud of my outfield,” Phipps said. “They made a couple of plays that were very hard catches in this wind. Especially the high ball in left field to Jadyn (Bradley). I am proud of them.”
“I switched a couple of people around in the infield, just because I had to,” Phipps went on to say. “Haylie is my best catcher, but I have to have her at shortstop and it paid off. I can’t speak enough about the freshmen, Brylie and Madison (Booth). Both of those girls played extremely well tonight. We really only had three errors and that is not bad. We put the ball in play and they made their errors too.”
The two teams are scheduled to meet again Thursday in Lindside, weather permitting.
