William Monroe softball’s senior pitcher Mara Woolford had to reset herself.
Skyline had finally found a way to get ahead of the Dragons’ hurler, and had suddenly cut the Monroe lead down to just three runs in the fifth inning.
No matter. Woolford steadied herself and allowed just one more hit and one more walk over the next two innings to finish off an 8-4 victory over Skyline and vault the Dragons into the state tournament for the first time since Woolford joined the squad.
“It’s amazing, I’ve never been to states with softball and if feels really great,” Woolford said. “I feel like we all deserve it.”
Woolford finished with three strikeouts and three earned runs, giving up five hits and seven walks. But everytime she needed something big to end an inning she and the defense found it.
“My coaches helped because I definitely like to walk a lot of people, I throw a lot of balls,” Woolford said. “They just wanted me to maintain my composure and not let the way the other team played influence my play.”
Monroe gave Woolford cushion to work with early on, starting with an RBI double from Rachel Hill in the bottom of the first and then a sacrifice fly from Kendyll Eddins that scored Morgan Pursel. Then in the third, Monroe manufactured four more runs with a couple of walks and some savvy baserunning.
Hill went 3-for-4 with two RBI on the night while catcher Kara Baker-Jones went 2-for-4. Riley Rocha had an RBI and went 1-for-1 while also drawing a walk.
The Dragons will square off with Brentsville in the Region 3B title game on Thursday before heading to next week’s Class 3 state tournament.
