South County Softball Continues Playoff Push

South County, no one’s pick to win the tough Patriot District softball championship at the beginning of the season, continued it’s playoff run with a 10-5 weather-delayed win at home Friday night over Langley in the opening game of the Northern Region softball tournament.

Shortly after the 7 p.m. first pitch, skies darkened and lightning flashed, forcing a 90-minute delay. When action resumed in the bottom of the first at 8:46, the Stallions were down 1-0.

But not for long.

After leadoff batter Alex Brown softly lined out to the first baseman, five straight South County batters reached via hit or error, and all five scored to give the Stallions a 5-1 advantage they would never relinquish. Starting pitcher Rebecca Martin and first baseman Britnee Haynes came through with RBI hits in the opening frame.

Langley’s first baseman Courtney Conklin and the Saxons’ coach Jessica Roche said the delay didn’t make a difference.

“We started off with one error and it turned into multiple errors, and we had to pull ourselves out of that,” Conklin said. “It was just a domino effect.”

The Saxons fought back into the game, scoring a run on a passed ball in the second and a pair more with two outs on a two-run double by third baseman Julia Weeks that made it 5-4.

But the Stallions, as they have so often this postseason, had an answer.

After Kyra Ketch, who had stepped in for Martin during the Langley ralley, struck out to open the frame, Haynes laced a double and scored on a wild fielder’s choice play that ended with a pair of errors and designated hitter Meghan Patterson sliding headfirst into third. Courtney Ward drove Patterson home with a single and the rally was on.

The key hit in the frame came from Haylea Geer, who singled with runners on second and third to give South County a 10-4 lead.

Julia Kastner, who launched a long double during the rally, said the Stallions weren’t anxious coming into their half of the inning in spite of the slim advantage.

“We just play half-inning by half-inning and try to win each inning,” she said. “So  we won the inning 5-2 and that’s all we needed to do.”

Ketch, making her first appearance in a few games, was able to limit the Saxons to just one run the rest of the way, going the final 3 1/3 innings while allowing just two hits and whiffing three.

South County coach Gary Dillow said the break may have helped settle his team down after a rocky top of the first.

“We kicked the ball around in the first inning on defense,” he said. “We gave them some extra outs and you can’t do that against good teams.”

The Stallions recovered and will face the winner of the Chantilly/Mount Vernon game on Monday at 4 p.m. Falls Church hosts that round of the Northern Region tournament with four games on Memorial Day.

“We’re just happy to be playing on Monday,” Dillow said. “It’s really, really unexpected for us to be going to the second round of regionals. … It is a bonus.”