WHEELING, W.Va. — After squandering a chance to secure a sectional championship Monday in a one-run loss to Magnolia, Wheeling Central had no choice but to move forward.
The alternative was a successful season coming to an end prematurely.
With a renewed focus at the plate, the Maroon Knights pushed across a pair of runs in both the first and second innings to help set the tone, then capitalized on extra opportunities to score six runs with two outs in the fifth and prematurely bring an end to a 10-2 victory against the Blue Eagles at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex.
“Kudos to our girls for picking it up and making adjustments in the box,” Maroon Knights’ head coach Buck Davidson said. “We hit a lot of them to right field, so she must’ve been pitching us on the outside part of the plate and instead of pulling them and hitting weak grounders, we were letting it travel.“
Tuesday’s result allows the Maroon Knights (19-5) to prolong their season as Class A Region I, Section 1 champion. Wheeling Central will face St. Marys in a best-of-three regional series next week with one of four spots in the state tournament at stake.
Having scored one run in consecutive contests and seven over three postseason games, Central produced the exact start it desired. Pitcher Josie Frizzell kept Magnolia (14-12) from scoring and the Maroon Knights wasted no time taking the lead, utilizing a double from Maddie Miehle to bring home Bella Rine, who had reached by drawing a base-on-balls.
Following a second walk and a wild pitch, the Maroon Knights doubled their lead when Frizzell sent a ground ball to third that brought home Brooklyn Edge.
Errors in consecutive at bats to start the home half of the second inning allowed the Maroon Knights to up their lead to three, and the advantage grew another run in that inning when Rine sent a ground ball to short that amounted to the second out but enabled teammate Olivia Stephens to come home.
“The girls really stepped up their game at the plate today hitting line drives,” Davidson said. “Even the ones that are hit at you, when you hit them that hard, they’re hard to field.”
Jessa Anderson’s home run to right field with one out in the third got Magnolia on the scoreboard, and later that inning, the Maroon Knights stranded a pair of runners against Blue Eagles’ pitcher Mallory McDiffitt, who kept the home team from scoring in that frame for the first time in the contest.
Wheeling Central’s only error of the outing came with two outs in the fourth and directly led to the Blue Eagles’ second run.
Following a second consecutive scoreless innings from McDiffitt, Magnolia threatened to tie the game in the fifth.
Anderson led off with a single and Haiden Bland accounted for one of her own with one out. Both players were in scoring position with one out, before Frizzell struck out Alyssa Littleton and Madeline Delaney to keep her team’s two-run lead intact.
“She did really well,” Davidson said of Frizzell. “She hasn’t been feeling well the last two days, so hopefully get her rested up and ready to go.”
Frizzell wouldn’t throw another pitch.
Instead, a two-out error in center in the bottom of the fifth allowed Ava Hanson to reach second base and Trina Baker to score from third, upping Central’s lead to 5-2.
Magnolia came undone after the miscue, and Rine’s single to center brought in Stephens with the sixth run, while another error on that play allowed Olivia Kiaski to touch the plate.
Rine scored her team’s eighth run on Magnolia’s fifth and final error, before Frizzell hit a sharp single to center to score Miehle and Edge and bring an end to the matchup.
“We give up that big inning sometimes and it always comes back to bite us,” Magnolia head coach Danny Anderson said. “A couple balls we didn’t make plays on. Our pitcher is battling a back that’s a little tight and she struggled hitting her spots.”
Rine and Miehle had two hits apiece to account for half of their team’s total. Both of Miehle’s hits were doubles.
“It helped that they made errors and we were able to capitalize on them, but that’s what you’re supposed to do in games like this,” Davidson said.
Frizzell struck out five and walked a pair while scattering five hits.
Anderson and Bland had two hits apiece to combine for all but one of the Blue Eagles’ hits.
“We struck out 14 times yesterday and I was kind of surprised we struck out that many times, but we did a lot better job putting the ball in play,” coach Anderson said. “Some of our balls were at ’em today and yesterday they had a lot of at ’em balls where they hit the ball hard, but right at somebody. We made the plays yesterday and today we didn’t.”
McDiffitt allowed eight hits and walked four while striking out one. Central struck out only once against the Blue Eagles over the final two games of sectional play.
“Wheeling Central is a good hitting team and we knew yesterday that because they put the ball in play, they’re eventually going to find holes,” coach Anderson said. “They found those holes today and that’s the difference in the game.”