MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — Defending Class A state champion Moorefield avenged a loss to Pendleton County from last week, defeating the Wildcats 2-1 in a matchup of top ten teams. The top-ranked Yellow Jackets were defeated by the No. 7 Wildcats, 6-1 on April 10th in Franklin.
Moorefield sophomore Isaac Van Meter emerged victorious in a quality pitchers duel with Pendleton County junior Aiden Cooney. Van Meter went the distance, striking out ten batters.
“(Isaac) just has a quiet composure,” said Moorefield head coach Wade Armentrout. “He got stronger as the game went along with his fastball. He was able to spot that. He threw in his breaking ball to really keep them off balance. And our defense played well tonight.”
Cooney pitched a complete game for the Wildcats, striking out four batters.
Pendleton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Timothy Thorne drove in Kole Puffenberger on an RBI single. Moorefield answered in the third inning when Coleman Mongold scored on a fielders choice.
The Yellow Jackets took the lead in the fifth when Blake Watts tripled to right centerfield, allowing Hayden Baldwin to score the eventual game-winning run.
“(Blake) has been struggling at the plate.” Armentrout said. “He has been putting in a lot of extra work so it was great to see him get rewarded for that.”
Moorefield (14-7) and Pendleton County (10-5) figure to be the top two seeds in their upcoming sectional tournament, so it is likely that they will meet again at some point when the playoffs open in May.
“They are one of the best opponents that we are going to have in our section and our region,” Armentrout said. “It is a game we needed. We are at the point in the season now where we really need to start playing well.”