Tourney tune-up: Madison, Clear Fork help each other prepare for big weeks ahead as Rams win

MADISON TOWNSHIP — If both teams could have somehow come away with a win Monday night, they would have gotten exactly what they wanted from a matchup of two great Richland County softball teams.

But, the game is played until there is a winner and a loser and the Madison Rams knocked off the Clear Fork Colts 7-5 in a tournament tune-up game for each squad. The Rams kick off their quest for a Division I district championship on Wednesday at home against Oregon Clay and the Colts host the winner of Perkins and Bellevue on Saturday for a Division II sectional championship.

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And they are both in a league championship race, so giving each other a test was what Monday night was all about.

"That is a really great team that plays very well and we needed a good win against a quality opponent to help boost our confidence heading into the postseason," Madison senior Kyleigh Reiter said. "Everyone played well and we played as a team."

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the Rams planted four runs to take their first lead of the night and scored two more in the bottom of the seventh for a pair of insurance runs. Ashley Markley and Kendyll Kershner both had two-RBI base hits in those innings to help break out some offense. Libby Bekeleski drew a bases-loaded walk and Reiter and Izzy Wamsley also had RBI hits. Reiter collected three hits on the day with two doubles, after a huge week at the plate last week when she had 10 hits, 12 RBIs, two doubles, two triples and a home run across five Rams wins.

"I am just trying to look for a certain pitch at the beginning of every at-bat and if it doesn't come, I change my perspective and look for anything close that I can drive hard somewhere," Reiter said. "It is super important to go up there with confidence. You have to be confident if you are going to succeed."

She swung the bat with confidence and even the at-bat she made an out in was a rocketed line drive right at first baseman Macy Ousley.

"The nights she is dialed in, man, she is special," Madison coach Tim Niswander said. "The good news is we have kids behind her who can protect her. Otherwise, she wouldn't see a pitch to hit. It is nice those kids step up and do their jobs as well. She has been walked intentionally a couple of times after hitting a home run and Ashley Markley comes up and hits a home run right behind her. So that has been nice to see."

The Rams (17-5) had 12 hits as a team and just two strikeouts, but stranded the bases loaded in back-to-back innings and left 12 runners on base.

"And we still scored seven runs," Niswander said. "We keep telling them that if they continue hitting it hard, eventually, they will drop and those things will work for us. We left the bases loaded twice and we have to clean that up because in the tournament, every run counts."

Renee Anders continued to swing a hot bat for the Colts with three hits and two RBIs after having six hits, nine RBIs and two home runs in three victories last week. Mya Perry had a pair of hits with an RBI and Jada Brokaw produced two RBIs herself.

But in the end, the Colts played one of the best teams in Richland County and a Division I school at that.

"This was a great game for us going into Thursday and Saturday," Clear Fork coach Chris Clapper said. "We normally don't play Madison twice in a year, but we agreed on a home and home. I know what we are facing this week and to play against great competition like Madison only helps us try to win a conference championship and a sectional title this week.

"It stings a little bit because we don't like to lose, but it showed we could compete with them as long as we clean some things up."

The Colts (14-7) travel to River Valley on Thursday where a win will clinch at least a share of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship before Saturday's sectional final. To be playing meaningful softball in the final week of the season is a joy for Clapper.

"It is really nice. I wish it was a little less meaningful and we could have the conference championship wrapped up, but Shelby got us in that second game," Clapper said. "It feels nice to be in the spot we are in because not a lot of people expected us to be here starting six freshmen at times. We just have to finish it."

Layla Azmoun, who became the single-season and career strikeout record holder for the Rams, pitched well allowing five runs on eight hits with six strikeouts after piling up 66 across five games last week. Playing a team that put the ball in play as much as Clear Fork did was just what the Rams needed heading into a huge week.

"It prepared us very well because Clear Fork is very good and they never beat themselves," Niswander said. "You have to have your A-game if you want to beat them just like we are going to have to in the tournament. What really helped is Layla didn't strike a ton of batters out which made us have to play defense and we played it well. We haven't had to play much defense lately and that can worry you as a coach because we can get used to her ringing everyone for us and we get back on our heals. Our kids were ready to play defensively tonight."

Madison has now won 12 straight and 14 of their last 15 games. They play Wooster on Tuesday and with a win can set up a shot to take a piece of the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship next week in a big game against Lexington.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Tourney tune-up: Madison, Clear Fork help each other prepare for big weeks ahead as Rams win