CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Five takeaways from Bridgeport’s 9-4 win over PikeView in the West Virginia Class AA state championship:
1. Tanner Furbee rewarded his coach’s confidence.
Before deciding on Saturday’s starting pitcher, coach Bob Shields sought input from his seniors and they chose Furbee, one of their own.
Though Furbee wasn’t dominant, he skirted early trouble to throw 121 pitches in a complete-game nine-hitter.
“We decided to put the ball in his hands and, hey, he threw another complete game,” Shields said. “He was around the zone and hitting his spots pretty good.”
2. PikeView seems snake-bitten against Bridgeport.
After losing to Bridgeport in the 2015 state semifinals, the Panthers (24-4-1) dropped both meetings this season.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, that’s for sure,” said center fielder Carter Shrewsbury. “It’s been a dream to make it to this game, but we just didn’t have the turnout we wanted.”
Bridgeport snapped a 1-1 tie with a seven-run third, fueled by three errors that led to three unearned runs.
“We’ve done a great job all year pitching and defensively, and it kind of faded on us in one inning,” said PikeView coach Josh Wyatt. “We just didn’t weather the storm. One inning doomed us.”
3. Michael Rotenberry suffered his first loss.
The Princeton transfer had been spectacular this season, entering Saturday at 8-0 with 0.48 ERA. But he was lifted after recording only seven outs, in the midst of Bridgeport exploding for seven runs in the third inning.
“Maybe he was carrying too much on his shoulders than he was responsible for,” Wyatt said. “Maybe he was thinking that he had to do too much, and the ball just got up in the zone for him.”
4. Watch Levi Nash’s defensive gem.
Though PikeView’s defense wasn’t up to its typical standards, the right fielder made a terrific throw in the sixth inning to retire a runner going from first to third.
5. Bridgeport’s hitters practiced patience.
Worried his team wasn’t scoring at the clip of past seasons, Shields challenged his offense to put up double-digit runs in each playoff game.
After scoring 10 against Braxton County in the semifinals, the Indians settled for nine Saturday, but collected 11 hits and seven walks, while striking out only once.
“We wanted to get deep in the count and make them make mistakes,” Shields said. “We made (Rotenberry) throw a lot of pitches. We made him work.”