Madison Central softball walks off Germantown
Madison Central softball defeated Germantown in a 3-2 thriller at home on Tuesday night, thanks in part to a walk-off hit in extra innings to secure the win.
It was a pitcher’s duel throughout the first seven innings, with the two Madison County rivals tied 1-1 going into extra innings. Germantown was able to score one run in the top of the eighth, giving the Lady Mavericks the lead going into the bottom half of the inning.
Down 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Madison Central scored the tying run on a Germantown error, before Emma Fletcher Perry stepped into the box and drove a single into right field to score Rebecca Barbour and give the Lady Jaguars a crucial region win.
“This has been a roller coaster of a year for us,” Madison Central Head Coach Valerie Thames said. “This is the game that made us compete, we told our team to play with heart and to play for each other and that’s what they did.”
Madison Central pitcher Ella Tierce put together a phenomenal pitching performance, throwing a complete game, striking out seven, and only giving up one earned run and four hits on the night.
Kate Simpson led the way for Madison Central on the offensive side, totalling two hits, while Sophia Phyfer, Elizabeth Pullen, Emma Fletcher Perry, and Crews Boyer added one hit each as well.
The win now allows Madison Central the opportunity to control their own destiny in winning the Region 2-7A regular season title and securing the one seed in the region tournament. With a home win over Starkville on Thursday night, the Lady Jaguars will do just that.
“It feels like a long time coming for us to be at the top, we have been building towards this as a program for a long time,” Thames said. “For this particular group, they have come together and competed in games that really matter.”
If Madison Central falls to Starkville on Thursday night, the Lady Jaguars will enter a three-way tie with Clinton and Germantown at the top of the Region 2-7A standings.
Regardless of Thursday's result, Madison Central will hope to capitalize on the momentum they have created late in the season, after getting off to a shaky start at the beginning of the season.
“Consistency is what we talk about all the time as a program,” Thames said. “That’s one of our core values, treating every game as if it's the last one we are going to play and we have gotten better with that as the season has gone along.”
Madison Central moves to 12-10-1 and 5-2 in region play with the win over Germantown. The Lady Jaguars’ matchup with Starkville will be at home on Thursday, with first pitch set for 6 PM.
As for Germantown, the Lady Mavericks fall to 16-8 on the season with the loss and sit at 5-3 on the season. They will wrap up the regular season on Friday with a doubleheader against Florence and Lewisburg.