Youthful Dragons stop Mountaineers

STANARDSVILLE - With just one senior on her roster, William Monroe softball coach Salita Sullivan knows that her young team will have to step up in order to be successful this season.
On Wednesday, sophomore pitcher Taylor Collier answered the call, giving up just four hits and one run as the Lady Dragons defeated Madison County 3-1.
“I felt pretty good out there,” Collier said. “I was just trying to throw strikes. But our defense was solid and we used our bats when we needed to.”
Sullivan is happy to have things going in the right direction as her team heads into the meat of its schedule.
“It’s a great win,” she said. “Everything came together. We’ve been playing with the line-up and it’s nice to see the young kids playing well. I think we’re starting to come around.”
Junior Samantha Lawson provided the offense for William Monroe (2-4), going 3 for 3 and driving in all three Dragons runs. She picked up two of her three RBI on a first-inning triple.
“I’ve been working really hard in practice, doing a lot of batting drills,” Lawson said. “I just tried to make contact and be consistent.”
Madison (4-5) played a sound game defensively but struggled hitting anything off Collier. Bethany Leake drove in the Mountaineers’ lone run with a second-inning single.
Freshman Jordan Aylor was solid on the mound for Madison. She threw a complete game and didn’t allow a run after the third inning, but couldn’t get the run support she needed to pull out the win.
“Our bats have been better,” said Mountaineers coach B.J. Scott. “But we pitched well enough to win this game. We need to cut down on the mistakes.”
With two outs in the top of the seventh, the Mountaineers managed to put a pair of runners in scoring position with the tying run at the plate. But Madison squandered the opportunity by getting into a game-ending rundown between third and home.
Madison goes on the road against Rappahannock on Friday at 5 p.m.
William Monroe travels to Western Albemarle today at 6 p.m.