FOREST — Madison Brown has been working on hitting outside pitches lately, and the Jefferson Forest shortstop saw one she liked late Friday night.
Brown delivered a walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Cavaliers downed visiting Amherst, 3-2. Her hit also helped freshman pitcher Emma Lemley walk away with the win after turning in a sterling performance in the circle.
“Just basically threw my hands and let it go,” Brown said of her single to right field, which brought teammate Pfieffer Trent home from third and ended a pitchers’ duel between Amherst’s Braelyn Cooper and Lemley.
“Me and my dad went to practice at the field this morning and that actually helped me out with seeing her outside pitches,” said Brown, who went 2 for 4 for JF, which improved to 10-2 overall.
JF has two future Division I pitchers this season in Lemley, a Virginia Tech commit, and University of Connecticut commit Meghan O’Neil. That’s always a good thing, but it is especially beneficial for the Cavs since a handful of their games have been postponed recently, meaning they’re forced to play several days in a row.
The decision to start Lemley in the circle paid off.
The freshman hurled her way to 20 strikeouts, a new career high that eclipsed her 16-strikeout performance against Staunton River in March, and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
And while Amherst’s Cooper wasn’t too bad herself — the lefty Liberty University signee struck out nine over 8 2/3 innings and allowed just five hits, Lemley was particularly in the zone.
She relied on her rise ball and curve, often placing pitches high and away, forcing Amherst hitters to chase down pitches that ended up out of their reach.
“It was a great team effort. Yeah, I pitched a lot,” said Lemley, who threw 129 pitches, “but we also made some really good plays out there.”
Brown dove for a popup behind the circle to preserve the no-hitter in the top of the sixth. But Amherst’s Katie Rosser, the only other player on either side to finish with two hits Friday, ended the no-hit bid with a single one batter later.
The Lancers scored once in the sixth off a double by Holland Saunders, and Forest countered in the bottom of the frame with Taylor Austin’s run-scoring single.
JF took a 2-1 lead in the seventh off an RBI double by Jazmyne Smith and looked poised to take the game with Cooper in the circle in the bottom half.
But Forest’s Alex McCray had other plans. She laced a shot to center field and Mikayla Keesee raced in toward it. But Keesee’s diving attempt came up short, the ball scooted past her to the center-field fence, and McCray wound up with a game-tying inside-the-park homer.
“That was very exciting, because that doesn’t happen very often in high school ball,” Lemley said. “Alex, she’s so fast. And so when that ball got past [Keesee] and [McCray] got to second, I knew she was gonna get in there. That was a big run for us.”
Both teams went scoreless in the eighth, setting the stage for Brown’s walk off. International tie-breaking rules went into effect in the ninth, so both teams started with a runner on second. Amherst had its runner on third with one out in the top of the ninth, but Lemley fanned the next two batters.
“JF has always been good competition for us,” Cooper said. “I need to stay on top, because it’s always a pitching war with them. … You don’t want an easy game, like 10-0. These games are fun and they’re fun to watch.”
Brown, who plans to play softball at Randolph College, was impressed by Lemley, who threw 86 of her pitches for strikes.
“I look forward to seeing her pitch some more games,” she said with a smile.
Ben Cates covers high school sports for The News & Advance. Reach him at (434) 385-5527.