Determined to deliver a signature win in her senior season, Alexis McCraw did not disappoint.
Redemption, relief, exhiliration – McCraw felt it all Wednesday as her bouncing infield single brought home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth, lifting Polk County to a 5-4 win over Madison in a matchup of Western Highlands Conference co-leaders at Polk.
There were heroes all around as the Wolverines (10-1, 5-0) completed a two-game sweep this week of defending state champion East Rutherford and the Patriots (5-2, 4-1), who entered the game having scored 102 runs in their past four games. And they did so in dramatic fashion.
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Maranda Gosnell opened the eighth with a single, then stole second with one out. Haley Fowler beat out a slow roller to third, and Ashley Kropp reached on a fielder’s choice, Madison opting to freeze Gosnell at third, to load the bases.
Up stepped the gritty McCraw, still upset after a seventh-inning miscue on a Madison line drive. Shaking off that memory, McCraw bounced a high chopper over Madison pitcher Sam Gosnell, and while the Patriots knocked the ball down, they had no chance to catch Maranda Gosnell at home.
“I just knew I messed up earlier, and the team was counting on me,” McCraw said. “I knew I had to do it in my senior year for the team.”
Madison got a three-run homer from Baylea Loven in the first inning, but Polk County pitcher Ashley Scruggs largely held the Patriots in check the rest of the way, allowing just four hits to, again, a team that had scored 102 runs in its last four games.
“I’m super proud of the girls,” said Polk County head coach Jeff Wilson. “We got down 3-0 on a bad call by me. We gave three runs on a changeup and I wasn’t sure if we could score that many on (Sam Gosnell).
“Our offense really was the difference. Both teams are pretty good defensively, but our offense was the big difference.”
Polk County had 12 hits, but didn’t score until the fourth inning. Kassidy Reynolds lifted a fly ball in the gap in left-center, racing to second, then scored on Hayley Kropp’s single to left, Kropp taking second on the throw home. Maranda Gosnell then ripped a base hit to center to score Kropp and make it 3-2.
Madison loaded the bases in the fifth, but failed to score when Ashley Kropp battled the sun to catch a popup for the final out of the inning. The Wolverines then struck in the sixth.
Autumn Owen hammered a Gosnell pitch over the fence in left field, evening the score at 3. Hayley Kropp singled, eventually moving to third when Haley Fowler beat out an infield grounder. Ashley Kropp then singled up the middle to give Polk a 4-3 lead.
Madison pushed across the tying run in the top of the seventh.
“Alexis got a chance to redeem herself and she showed a lot of poise in that situation,” Wilson said. “Autumn hit the home run and showed us her power. We pitched to our game plan and that was key.”
Fowler had three hits, with Hayley and Ashley Kropp and Gosnell each having two hits. Owen and Reynolds each had one hit, as did McCraw, who had the biggest hit of them all.
“It feels great,” McCraw said. “There is no feeling like getting the hit that won it.”
