KEYSER, W.Va. — After striking out eleven batters in eight innings, Keyser’s Charity Wolfe hit a walk-off home run as the Golden Tornado downed Oak Glen, 3-2 in the Class AA Region I series opener.
Wolfe led off the bottom of the eighth inning and turned on the second pitch of the at bat. She cleared the wall in left field just a few feet from the foul pole, giving herself a win in a quality pitchers duel against Oak Glen’s Maddie McKay.
“(Charity) has hit the ball like that all year,” said Keyser head coach Chris Shoemaker. “I was confident she was going to hit the ball hard somewhere.”
Wolfe scattered five hits and walked just two batters against an Oak Glen (26-1) team that entered the day as one of just three unbeaten teams in West Virginia.
“She has been our workhorse this year. We keep putting her in the circle and letting her go. She is one of those girls with no emotion. You don’t know if she is getting beat 20-0 or winning 20-0. She just goes out there and does what we ask her. She hit her spots today.”
After three scoreless frames, McKay broke the stalemate with a solo home run in the fourth inning to put the Golden Bears up 1-0. Keyser took the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Alexa Shoemaker crushed a two-run homer to left.
“We know Alexa has that capability. That is her 16th home run of the season and she is one of the top home run hitters hitters in the state.”
Oak Glen evened the score in the sixth when Olivia Munoz drove in Sydney Brown with a successful squeeze bunt.
McKay went the distance for Oak Glen. She allowed six hits and struck out sixteen batters. The Golden Tornado (28-3) will travel to New Manchester for game two of the best-of-three series Tuesday at 4 p.m.
“I think our pitching and defense will keep us in the game. It is probably going to be another game like this. Hopefully it is in our favor but if not, we can roll back here on Wednesday for a deciding game three.”