WHEELING, W.Va. — In Monday’s Class A Region I, Section 1 championship round game between Magnolia and Wheeling Central Catholic, Blue Eagle batters were retired by strikeout 14 times. Central did not strike out once.
However, Magnolia junior pitcher Mallory McDiffitt induced 11 ground ball outs and the defense behind her made just one error as the Blue Eagles defeated the Maroon Knights, 2-1. Magnolia forced a winner-take-all game for the sectional title Tuesday evening back at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex. MHS has won four consecutive games facing elimination.
“That’s what we are capable of right there. This is the first game where we have put it all together,” said Magnolia head coach Danny Anderson.
“Our problem this year is that usually we have one bad inning where we kind of self-destruct and give up four or five runs. We were able to avoid that.”
The teams traded runs in the third inning. Magnolia took an early lead when Haiden Bland’s sacrifice fly sent Sienna McKeever to the plate. Central answered in the bottom of the frame when Maddie Miehle scored on a fielders choice.
The game remained tied at 1 until the sixth inning when Madeline Delaney hit a solo home run to center field.
“When she is hitting the ball well, she hits the ball hard.”
Staked to the lead, McDiffitt retired the final six batters in succession to post the complete game victory. She allowed five hits and walked one batter.
“At the end especially, she started working in a dropball. They were hitting it into the ground and we were making the plays. Danny Tyler is our pitching coach. He was calling the pitches and he did a great job.”
Wheeling Central (18-5) pitcher Josie Frizzell went the distance for the Knights. She allowed seven hits and struck out 14 batters.
Bella Rine, Miehle, Brooke Edge, Jensen Rine and Olivia Kiaski each had a base hit for WCCHS. Jesse Anderson went 3-for-4 for Magnolia.
Magnolia (14-11) lost all three prior meetings this season against Central, including an earlier loss in the sectional tournament.
“The first two times we played them, we didn’t have our full team. Our pitcher was hurt and we had some girls missing. Tuesday when we played them, our left fielder [McKeever] was the OVAC long jump champion. So she wasn’t here Tuesday. She made a couple nice plays that really helped out.”
The fourth-seeded Blue Eagles and the top-seeded Maroon Knights will play the decisive game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the regional round against St. Marys next week.
“You can see right there, their confidence is sky high right now,” Anderson said. “If we can cut down on the strikeouts and get some big hits with runners on base, it could be interesting tomorrow. At this point and time, that’s all you ask for. You ask for a chance. You win and go on.”