SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The way Oak Glen’s Maddie McKay was pitching against Independence, the Golden Bears didn’t need to provide her with much run support Tuesday in the Class AA state tournament opener at Little Creek Park.
Still, after going on top with a third-inning run, Oak Glen scratched across two more in the fifth and added a pair in the seventh for good measure to pull away for a 5-0 victory over the Patriots.
“Our girls see a lot of pitches throughout the year, so we try to encourage them to be patient, look at the pitches,” Oak Glen coach Sherrie Garner said. “You’re going to come back around. The nature of the game is you get another chance. They were patient and got some extra-base hits and scored some runs. One run is not enough, so it’s good we came back after getting one and got some more runs.”
The victory moves Oak Glen (29-1) into the winner’s bracket, where the Golden Bears will face Sissonville later Tuesday. Independence (22-15) meets Herbert Hoover in an elimination game later Tuesday.
McKay held the Patriots without a hit until Sarah Bragg’s seventh-inning single, which was followed by a double play that sealed the victory for the Golden Bears.
“She moves the ball well and puts it around the plate,” Garner said. “She changes speeds and catches them off-guard and can put them off balance. She had all of her tricks in line today for sure.”
Oak Glen struck first in the top of the third after Sydney Brown led off with a triple and scored on a squeeze bunt by Grace Smith.
Still clinging to the one-run lead in the fifth, OGHS took advantage of a pair of walks and got a two-out, two-run double from Sarah Brown to up its lead to 3-0.
McKay helped her cause with an RBI double in the seventh, before the Golden Bears capped the scoring on a Brown bunt that brought home Lizzie Kell.
McKay struck out nine over seven strong innings.
Brown scored three of the game’s five runs and reached base in all four plate appearances — drawing two base-on-balls and being hit by a pitch in addition to her triple.
“She is fantastic. She’s very disciplined and plays a lot of ball throughout the year,” Garner said of Brown. “They had the investment to play hard today and come here and back each other up.”
Despite suffering the loss, the Patriots’ Delaney Buckland held the Golden Bears to five hits and struck out four over seven solid innings.
SISSONVILLE 7, Herbert Hoover 3: Ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with three-time defending Class AA champion Herbert Hoover in the state tournament, Sissonville coach Travis Hill figured a tight contest was in store. After all, the Indians had beaten the Huskies in two regular season meetings by a combined score of 5-3.
Fortunately for Hill, Madison Long and Autumn Bailey each hit a home run and the Indians had the better defensive showing to put Hoover (24-4) on the brink of elimination. Sissonville (20-4) advances to face Oak Glen in the winner’s bracket, while the Huskies will need to defeat Independence to prolong their season.
Long’s home run to centerfield came in the top of the fifth inning and upped Sissonville’s lead to 3-1. With a 4-1 advantage in the seventh, Bailey belted a two-run shot to left.
“Early on, we couldn’t get our bats going together at the same time to get back-to-back hits it seemed like,” Hill said. “But then it started coming on. Madison Legg with a long ball to center and then Autumn went yard. That’s just a plus. We don’t practice that. We practice barrel up the ball and if you barrel up the ball, things happen.”
Four hits, including Bailey’s RBI single, enabled the Indians to take a 1-0 lead in the first. But the Huskies responded immediately and drew even on Sydney Bright’s run-scoring single in the home half of the inning.
The 1-1 tie stood until the fourth, when SHS went on top for good with a Emma Meade double that brought home Taylor Oxley.
After Legg’s long ball doubled the Sissonville lead, the Indians added another run in the sixth by capitalizing on three Huskies’ errors, the last of which allowed Oxley to score.
“Playing against Hoover, I always tell them whoever makes the least amount of errors is probably going to come out the winner,” Hill said. “We’re so evenly matched on paper.”
Cortney Fizer led off the sixth with a double for Hoover and scored on Grayson Buckner’s groundout to second to cut the deficit to 4-2.
After Bailey’s two-run shot, Meade drove in the seventh and final Sissonville run on a single to center.
Hoover generated one final rally in the seventh, first benefiting from an error and then scoring its third run on Brooklyn Huffman’s RBI single.
After a Caroline Woody single put the tying run on deck, Meade robbed Bright of a hit with a diving catch for the first out.
“She smoked that ball,” Hill said. “I don’t know that you can hit it harder, but Emma had great reaction time and made a great play right there.”
Legg retired the next two batters to seal the victory. She struck out six and allowed 11 hits over seven innings to pick up the win.
Buckner took the loss after allowing seven runs — four of which were earned — and 11 hits in seven innings. She struck out three in defeat.