RIPLEY, W.Va. — Lincoln County pounded out 14 hits, including four that left the yard, in a 16-8 win at Ripley to secure the Class AAA Region IV championship. The Panthers (23-4) won the regional series 2-0 and will open up state tournament play on May 25.
Becca Pennington connected for a pair of home runs while Haleigh Adkins and Ryleigh Shull each had one round-tripper. The Panthers had five multi-run innings and never trailed in the game.
“We have averaged 10.5 runs per game. We have been contained since the first game of sectionals. We have not squared the ball up to our capabilities. I told them that we were going to come through. It is going to break the ice. We were going to start squaring the ball up. That’s what we did tonight. We started squaring the ball up well,” said Lincoln County head coach Tom Barrett.
“We tell them, ‘Look, we might strike out but we are going to swing it hard’. We continue to swing the bat hard. When we hit it, we are going to square it up and it is going to go.”
The Panthers built leads of 6-1 and 9-4 before the Vikings answered with a three-run fourth inning to pull within 9-7. Elli Hershey capped the fourth with a two-run home run for Ripley.
Lincoln County scored seven runs in the final two innings to put the game out of reach. Adkins and Maci Lunsford led LCHS with three hits apiece. Adkins scored four runs and Allison Ramey crossed the plate three times. Shull, Pennington and Lunsford drove in three runs each.
Meghan Stump pitched the final three innings for the Panthers. She allowed just one run on three hits.
Lincoln County will face the Region III champion in the opening game of the state tournament. St. Albans defeated Greenbrier East, 4-3 in the opening game of their series Tuesday evening.
“In the state tournament, you have to stay on top and don’t go into the losers bracket. But if we do, we’ll work our way out. We have plenty of pitching to be able to get us out of it.”
Kaitlyn Swisher, Cassidy Cummings and Mya Casto had multi-hit games for Ripley (14-14).