Monticello wins pitchers’ duel

By Jason Pounds Daily Progress correspondent
Published: April 25, 2008

ORANGE — Monticello traveled to Orange County Friday night for a showdown of two of the Jefferson District’s top pitchers. Orange freshman phenom Micalah Sacre won the battle of the K, but Monticello’s Victoria Scott took home the W.
In a game that went 11 innings and lasted nearly three hours, the Mustangs fought off a 23-strikeout performance from Sacre to steal a 2-1 win in a battle for district supremacy. For her part, Scott fanned 16 batters on the evening in a contest that was as much about endurance as softball prowess.
After battling to a 1-1 tie through 10 innings, Monticello finally took the lead for good in the top of the 11th when Brenna Johnston, who reached base on a bunt single, scored on a wild pitch from Sacre that got past catcher Paige Pritchett. Johnston began the play on second before trying for third when the ball reached the backstop. Pritchett fired a throw down to third that went into left field, allowing Johnston to score the eventual game-winning run.
“It boiled down to who made the least mistakes,” said Orange County head coach John Henry Ryder. We had opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of those opportunities. [Monticello] did and that’s why they won.”
The Hornets (10-4, 5-2 JD) had perhaps their best chance at victory snuffed out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Orange loaded the bases with one out before Scott forced Megan Roberts into an inning-ending double play that kept the score knotted at 1-1.
“Victoria threw one heck of a ball game,” Monticello coach Beth Humphrey said of her sophomore slinger. “She got ahead of a lot of batters and, defensively, we didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
The Mustangs lost their first meeting with Orange County 4-0. Things worked out quite a bit better for Monticello in its second meeting with the hard-throwing Sacre.
“We’ve seen her before and we were more prepared this time. I thought we hit the ball better and put the ball in play a lot. Victoria knew it was going to be a tough battle and she stepped up to the plate and took the challenge.”
Despite the loss, Sacre did a little bit of everything for Orange. In addition to her 23 strikeouts, she got a hit, drew four intentional walks and scored the only run for the Hornets.
“She’s awesome. For two nights in a row we’ve had a good performance from her. We just need to score runs behind her,” said Ryder, whose team lost its first district game of the season against William Monroe on Thursday night.
Orange scored the first run of the night in the bottom of the fourth inning when Sacre scored from third on a Monticello passed ball. The Mustangs (10-4, 5-2) answered right away in the top of the fifth when Katie White also scored on a passed ball.
Sacre allowed seven hits and four walks in 11 innings of work. Scott gave up five hits and eight walks to pick up the win. Casey Burruss led Monticello from the plate with a 2 for 4 evening.