In a back-and-forth game, the Rockbridge County High School softball team came up short 11-9 at home against Valley District rival William Monroe on Tuesday evening in Lexington.
The Wildcats (4-7 overall, 2-6 district), who had earned a 6-5 road win over the Green Dragons (5-10, 2-7) in RC’s season opener on April 4, came back from a 6-4 deficit in the rematch to take a 9-7 lead, but WM scored the final four runs of the game in the sixth and seventh innings.
In the top of the first, WM’s Bailey Brown scored on an RC error to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Ally Mannion then singled on a grounder to bring home Emma Taylor, making it 2-0.
The Wildcats tied the game in the second when Willow Rogers singled on a fly ball to center field to bring home Lily Thomas. RC then loaded the bases and scored when Brooke Hostetter was hit by a pitch, bringing home Rogers. Bella Dorey then hit a pop fly out to second base to driving in Cameron Terry, giving RC a 3-2 lead.
The Dragons answered back in the third, tying the game 3-3 when Reagan Shifflett ran home on a wild pitch. Leeah Toliver then scored on an RC error to give WM a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the third, Sadie Moore bunted and reached first base on an error, bringing home Gabby Brown to tie the game 4-4.
WM responded with two runs in the third on a double by Shifflett to take a 6-4 lead.
RC’s Kayleigh Rosson led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run over the center field fence, and Brown singled on a bunt to drive in Dorey, tying the game 6-6.
The Dragons took a 7-6 lead in the top of the fifth when Mannion scored on a groundout, but the Wildcats tied it 7-7 in the bottom of the fifth when Terry hit a grounder to center field to bring home Brown. The Wildcats scored two more runs in the inning, with Rogers crossing home plate on a groundout by Rosson and Terry stealing home, to go up 9-7.
WM answered back in the top of the sixth when Allie Shifflett singled on a grounder to left field to bring home Delana Taylor, and the Dragons tied the game 9-9 when Mannion singled on a grounder to left field to drive in Reagan Shifflett.
After allowing only one runner on base in the bottom of the sixth, WM capitalized on two RC errors in the top of the seventh and went up 10-9 when Adyn Douglas singled on a grounder to bring home Marilyn Baird. WM then scored the final run of the game when Taylor hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Callie Shifflett.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Dragons ended the game with a strikeout, a flyout and a groundout.
WM racked up 15 hits, while RC had 11. Mannion led WM with four hits, while Taylor, Bailey Brown and Reagan Shifflett each had two hits.
Recording two hits each for the Wildcats were Dorey, Rogers, Rosson and Gabby Brown.
The Wildcats faced two WM pitchers, Malia Baugher and Reagan Shifflett, who combined to strike out two.
Moore pitched a complete game for RC, striking out five while allowing the 15 hits, no walks and 11 runs, four of them earned.
The Wildcats committed eight errors, while the Dragons had two.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Tuesday’s game, please see our May 14 newspaper. Coverage of last week’s games will be in our May 7 newspaper.
