FOREST, Va. – Two Yellow Jackets have earned honors from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference for their work in the week that ended on April 23. Senior Harley Jones (Brodnax, Va. / Brunswick) was honored as the Player of the Week while freshman Madie Rhoads (Portsmouth, Va. / Nansemond River) was named the conferences' Pitcher of the Week.
The week includes games played on Monday, April 23 as the No. 4 Yellow Jackets defeated Randolph twice, 5-0 in the first game and 6-0 in the nightcap.
The week began with a split of No. 1 Virginia Wesleyan, with the Marlins taking the first game 2-1 in eight innings while the Yellow Jackets got the nightcap 2-1. Jones was responsible for scoring the first run in each game, an RBI double in the first game and an RBI single in the second game. Jones was also part of the group that kept the inning going in the sixth when R-MC scored the winning run; she had been intentionally walked by the Marlins.
Rhoads got her 10th win of the season against VWU, striking out nine Marlin batters and pitching the complete game. She allowed just two walks and four hits against one of the top hitting teams in the nation.
Rhoads also got 11 Maroon batters to strikeout on Saturday while allowing just two hits and a walk in a complete game win. She earned her 12th win of the season Monday as Randolph-Macon faced the WildCats of Randolph, striking out seven and allowing no runs on two hits in the complete game. Rhoads has the second best earned run average in the nation at 0.52. Randolph-Macon's entire pitching staff has the best team ERA in the nation at a mark of 0.75. Junior Candace Whittemore (Montpelier, Va. / Patrick Henry) is fifth in the country for ERA at 0.74.
Jones had a tremendous doubleheader against Roanoke. She went 2-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored in the first game and 1-3 with two RBIs and a run scored in the second game. R-MC won both games with Roanoke 8-1 and 11-0.
Against Guilford in the nightcap on Sunday, Jones sent junior Savannah Wood (Tappahannock, Va. / Essex) home on an RBI single to right field to knot the game at 1-1. R-MC eventually won the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, 2-1.
Jones also added R-MC's first runs against Randolph in both games yesterday, both coming on RBI singles. In the nightcap with the WildCats, Jones went 2-3 with the RBI and a run scored.
Randolph-Macon finishes its season 37-3 and 16-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, which is not only the team's best regular season win total, but also the program's best total numbers of wins in history.
The ODAC's double-elimination tournament begins on Friday, April 27 and continues through Sunday, April 29. Randolph-Macon will be the No. 2 seed while Randolph will be the No. 7 seed of meaning the two will play a third time this week at 2:00 PM Friday. All games will be played at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem.