VIENNA, W.Va. — The only blemishes on Hurricane’s near-perfect softball season were two losses to Musselman in April. So Wednesday’s rematch at the Class AAA state tournament carried even more incentive.
This time Hurricane dominated 11-4 behind home runs from Paige Scruggs and Amber Null and top-to-bottom production throughout the lineup.
“We didn’t feel like we played very well in April and we had a lot to prove,” said coach Josh Caldwell, whose Redskins (36-2) earned a berth in the championship round with their 25th consecutive win.
“We wanted to beat them more than any team this year,” added Emily Davis, who had three hits and pitched the final four innings in relief to improve her record to 13-0.
Musselman (35-2) can force another meeting Thursday, but first must regroup for its 9:45 a.m. elimination game against South Charleston.
Shannon Demasi was eager to see how her pitchers responded, considering the Applemen had allowed only two runs in their previous 10 games.
“You’re going to have to go on the bus and make that speech. The one where we’re proud of you regardless of how you finish up, but you’ve got to buckle down and go at it tomorrow,” Demasi said.
“We didn’t come in thinking we were going to shut them out. We knew they’re a very aggressive team 1 through 9. And they hit the ball really well.”
South Charleston 7, Wheeling Park 6: The Eagles (28-10) exploded for six runs in the second inning before Amanda McDonald’s four innings of scoreless relief smothered any hopes of a Wheeling Park rally.
McDonald fanned six overall and struck out the side during an emphatic seventh-inning closeout.
Musselman 1, Wheeling Park 0: Taylor Stocks led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, advanced on Haley Fischer’s bunt and scored the game’s lone run when Sabrina Shroads’ grounder was booted.
Mackenzie Amend was the tough-luck loser for Wheeling Park (16-14), allowing only three hits.
Hurricane 9, South Charleston 3: Null went 3-for 4 as part of the Redskins’ 13-hit attack.
Madison Casto, Cassi Sargent and Katie Adams added two hits for Hurricane.
South Charleston, which had a 13-game winning streak snapped, got two hits from Emily Bostic and freshman Kiersten Landers.