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The curtain closed on the Rockbridge County High School softball season with a 3-2 loss at Liberty (Bedford) in the first round of the Region 3C tournament last Wednesday evening in Bedford.
The 10th-seeded Wildcats concluded the year with an overall record of 6-13, going 2-6 in the Valley District. Seventh-seeded Liberty would go on to upset second-seeded Monticello (17-3) in the regional quarterfinals to improve to 7-13.
The game was tied 2-2 in the sixth when Liberty’s Brooklyn Gunter recorded the Lady Minutemen’s only extra-base hit of the day with two outs to bring in the winning run. Gunter’s double brought Chiara Albertin home from third to give Liberty the lead for good. Albertin had recorded a leadoff single on a line drive to center field, with Ashley Goff bunting to advance Albertin to third. The Wildcats then made a double play, but Gunter’s hit put the Lady Minutemen ahead.
Earlier in the game, the Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, with RBIs on hits from Lilly Purcell and Kaydence Wilson, before Liberty tied the game 2-2 in the second.
After Liberty took the lead in the sixth, the Wildcats threatened to score by loading the bases with two outs in the seventh, but the Lady Minutemen ended the game with a groundout.
RC and Liberty each recorded five hits. Kelsie Caldwell and Marla Zollman led RC with two hits each, while Chasity Southers added one hit. Five different Lady Minutemen each had one hit.
Kady Gordon pitched a complete game for Liberty, striking out six and allowing five hits, three walks and two runs. Before the Wildcats’ loaded the bases in the seventh, Gordon had retired 13 consecutive batters.
Zollman pitched the first two innings for the Wildcats, allowing one hit, two walks and two earned runs. In the final four innings, freshman pitcher Sadie Moore struck out two and surrendered four hits, no walks and one earned run.
RC committed one error, while Liberty had none.
Reviewing the contest, RC head coach Keston Pelter said, “Overall, we couldn’t ask for the girls to play a better game. They had clean field plays.”
The fourth-year RC coach said that Wilson, the Wildcats’ third baseman, “had one of the best defensive games of the season. She had several line drive shots hit to her for instant outs, and she fielded everything hit her way down third base for outs at first.”
Pelter said that, after the last out of the game, “It was bittersweet. I think it hit the girls that we were done – when we were really just starting to put it all together and playing ball.”
The Wildcats missed the playoffs last year, when they went 7-13 overall and 2-6 in the district, and Pelter was pleased that they were able to take their season a step further this season. One of the highlights was defeating Valley District rival Harrisonburg 4-3 on Senior Night on May 17, a win that ended the Wildcats’ 10-game losing streak, to secure the playoff spot, thanks to a walk-off double by Wilson. RC swept both Harrisonburg and Staunton and split the season series with rival Parry McCluer.
The Wildcats will miss their four seniors: Caldwell, Purcell, Southers and Wilson. In postseason honors, Wilson was an all-district first team selection, while Caldwell and Purcell were named to the all-district second team.
Despite these losses, under the direction of Pelter and her father, assistant coach Wayne Beverley, the Wildcats have a lot to look forward to. The Wildcats were a young team this year, with one junior, Zollman, along with three sophomores and three freshmen.
Pleased with how her team finished, Pelter said, “No one thought that we would get a [tournament] game, and we all wanted just one more game, but we are just getting started. I’m excited for this group and their potential to do big things for our program over the next several seasons!”
