Rams plagued by bad inning, errors - Sports

STRASBURG — Madison County manufactured its runs and capitalized on errors in an 8-4 win over Strasburg in Bull Run District softball on Wednesday.

After going three-up, three-down in the first two innings, Sara Ford hit a bases-clearing double in the third to put the Mountaineers on top 3-0. Ford's teammates set the table with baserunners reaching via an error, single and walk.

"We sometimes struggle getting runners in scoring position to actually score," Madison coach B.J. Scott said. "It proved to be a problem tonight at the beginning of the game. Thankfully in the third we got things turned around. We got our hitters on base and Sara had a good solid hit to knock them all in. That's all it really takes to get things going."

Madison County carried that momentum into the fifth inning, when four errors and three hits snowballed on the homestanding Rams. The Mountaineers scored four times in the frame to push the lead to 7-0.

"One bad inning has been our problem all year long," Strasburg coach Suzanne Mathias said. "We can solidly tie the other teams down for six innings, but when that one bad inning strikes us, it's costly. With a team like Madison County in particular, you can't make mistakes. Tonight we did and it ended up costing us the game."

Madison County, on the other hand, exhibited fundamentally sound skills in the field and received a strong pitching performance. The Mountaineers' starter, Tiffany Greer, displayed her full repertoire of pitches to baffle Strasburg through four innings.

But in the fifth inning, Strasburg got its first run of the game when Amanda Shifflett's single to left field knocked in Bethany Doman, who had reached base on a walk.

"At that point, it was just a relief to have a run," Mathias said. "Once we get just one run in, it starts to give the girls confidence and we get on a roll."

Strasburg added three more runs in the sixth inning, when Samantha Funkhouser doubled to drive in Jaclyn Ayers, and then a triple by Doman scored Cassidy Weitman and Funkhouser.

To prevent any further damage, Scott put in his closer, Jordan Aylor, who kept the Rams from cutting into the three-run deficit.

"I was getting a little nervous when Strasburg was only down by three," Scott said. "Tiffany had pitched a great game but they were starting to catch on to her. I knew my closer threw harder and would have an easier job with closing out the game."

Unable to contribute with her arm, Greer responded in the top of the seventh inning with her bat, sending a solo home run over the fence in left-center to cap the scoring.

"She hates being pulled out," Scott said. "She really gets down on herself because she knows that she can pitch a full game. Luckily for us she took it out on the ball and gave us our last run of the game."

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