Patterson Mill senior softball star Madison Knight came up big Monday to lift the Huskies to a 2-0 walk-off win over visiting Rising Sun in an eight-inning, Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference Chesapeake Division softball game.
Knight, the Syracuse University commit, blasted a two-run home run over the center field fence to end a pure pitchers’ duel between herself and Rising Sun junior Cadence Williams.
In the extra inning, with her younger sister Kenzie Knight, a freshman starting at second base with the international tie-break rule, Madison Knight was due up second. Savannah Reedy, also a freshman, put down a sacrifice bunt, moving the younger Knight to third with one out.
Madison Knight stepped in with most in attendance expecting the Tigers to intentionally walk the big hitter, but Tigers manager Paul Taylor had other thoughts.
“I thought about it, to be totally honest with you, playoff game I would have walked her, in a heartbeat,” he said. “This game I wanted to see what we would do. We had gotten her out a couple times before, wanted to take a chance.”
The chance ended on the first and only pitch Knight saw.
“To be honest, I don’t really know what [the pitch] was, it was letters in,” Knight said. “It could have been a rise ball, maybe, but I got it before it rose all the way, so that’s what I’m gonna guess it was.”
The win was the Huskies’ 26th in a row.
In the top of the eighth, Rising Sun (4-1 overall, 3-1 UCBAC) had courtesy runner Alexis Haywood at third with one out. Knight struck out Catherine Meadows for her 11th strikeout of the game and then got Abby McBride out on a bit of a tricky line drive to left field.
Knight’s pitching effort ended with her allowing two hits and one walk. Williams was equally impressive for the Tigers. She scattered four hits, walked two and hit two batters, while striking out 10.
“You’ve got to give it to Cadence, too. She pitched one outstanding game, too,” Knight said.”
Both teams had minimal chances to score over the first seven innings.
Patterson Mill (4-0, 4-0) had the first real opportunity in the second inning. Williams walked Audrey March leading off the inning, then hit Tara Caprinolo with an 0-2 pitch and followed with another walk to load the bases with no outs.
Williams, though, bore down, striking out the next three batters to end the threat.
The Huskies had another opportunity in the fourth after Caprinolo was hit by another Williams pitch with one out. Ella Laurentius followed with a check-swing single over first base, sending pinch runner Lexi Gresko to third.
With Izzy Hiebler at the plate, Laurentius stole second. Tigers catcher Bri Cole threw down, but second baseman Faith McCullough alertly cut the ball off with Gresko breaking for the plate. McCullough fired the ball home to Cole, who easily tagged Gresko out.
Laurentius moved to third on a passed ball, but she was stranded there as Williams struck out Hiebler to end the inning.
Rising Sun’s best chance came in the fifth with Meadows lacing a two-out double. Meadows, though, was tagged out trying to steal third after over-sliding the base.
The Huskies did have one more chance in the sixth. With two outs and Caprinolo on first, Laurentius (2-for-2) singled to left field. The ball bounced away from Tigers left fielder Grace Boyd and Huskies manager Jeff Horton waved Caprinolo around third.
Boyd quickly recovered the ball and relayed it to shortstop Dixon, who threw to Cole to nail Caprinolo.
“I will say this, when push comes to shove, this team finds a way to win,” Horton said. “We just continue to find a way to win, no matter what it is, somebody steps up and somebody delivers. Obviously today, Mayday (Madison Knight) delivered in a really big way.”
