MADISON— The Madison softball team had its way with Winthrop in the regular season, winning two blowouts.

On Saturday, in a Class C South semifinal game, things were different — although the No. 2 Bulldogs (18-1) still prevailed, 4-1.

“This time of year, whichever team make the fewest number of mistakes is going to be in a position to win,” said Madison coach Chris LeBlanc. “We got three or four runs, and with Brooke [Mckenney] pitching, we feel pretty good.”

Madison —which will play top seed Hall-Dale in the regional final on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at St. Joseph’s College — got those runs in the bottom of the third to break a scoreless game.

McKenney, using a tough fastball, struck out 11 in seven crisp innings. Shortstop Landyn Landry went 3-for-4 with a couple of doubles. Arabelle Linkletter was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.

Mckenney struck out four Ramblers in the first two innings while her teammates struggled to drive home runs. However, the Bulldogs began to get into their rhythm in the third. Outfielder Arabella Linkletter drove home third-baseman Mckenzie Robbins in the bottom of the third, before Gilly Bonita added another run for Madison on a sacrifice grounder in the fourth.

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Madison would cap its scoring in the fifth inning.

Linkletter and catcher Lilly Lavesque each had RBI hits, driving in Landry and Linkletter, who had connected on back to back singles.

For Winthrop, Lydia Rice extended her hitting streak to eight before flying out to left field in the top of the fourth. Pitcher Lauryn Wood took the loss, striking out one but doing a good job keeping her team in the game.

“This team has grown,” said Winthrop coach Chuck Gurney. “I don’t think a lot of people thought we were going to be here today and the girls believed that they would be, and we gave them a heck of a game right to the end.”

Winthrop added a run of its own at the top of the sixth when shortstop Maddie Perkins drove home Ella Rice with an RBI triple. The Winthrop momentum was soon halted due to a brief rain delay, before McKenney retired the side in the Ramblers’ next at bat.

“We just rallied,” said Landry. “We put our rally caps on and found ourselves on top by the end of it.”

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