ELKVIEW, W.Va. — Herbert Hoover’s Laila Varney has been one of the more productive pitchers in West Virginia throughout the 2024 season, evidenced by the 10 shutouts the Class AA No. 1 Huskies had ahead of Wednesday’s winner’s bracket matchup with No. 6 Roane County in Region II, Section 2 play.
The Huskies, and more specifically Varney, were intent on adding to that total against the Raiders, and did just that, with the senior throwing six innings of no-hit ball and creating an easy day on her defense by striking out 15 to lead Herbert Hoover to a commanding 8-0 win.
“She throws hard for one, and then she spins on both sides of the plate,” Huskies’ head coach Missy Smith said. “You can never look at it like she’s more effective on the inside, so we’re going to jump on that or she’s more effective on the outside, so we’re going to look for that. She spins on both sides of the plate, which makes it harder for her to be hit.”
With the result, the Huskies (23-2) are in the driver’s seat of the sectional at 2-0 in the postseason, and need just one win before two losses to advance to regional play. They can clinch a sectional championship Thursday night against the winner of Roane County-Lewis County — an elimination matchup that comes first at HHHS.
Varney was locked in from the start in what marked the Huskies’ second 8-0 victory against RCHS this season.
She struck out the first two batters and retired the side in order in the first, then struck out the side in the second before her team went on top for good.
The first two batters reached on an error and walk, respectively, in the home half of the second, and it would prove costly for the Raiders (20-3).
After a successful sacrifice bunt, Ayva Veltri brought in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Jaylee Carper followed with a double to center that scored Addi Chapman and left the visitors facing a two-run deficit.
“It doesn’t matter who gets the hit. When we score the run, it goes on the scoreboard under Hoover and not under somebody’s name,” Smith said. “Our dugout is great all the time and they’re involved. In order for us to be successful, all 16 have to contribute and right now they are.”
Roane generated its first baserunner with one out in the third when Joscelyn Cox drew a base-on-balls, but Varney followed with consecutive strikeouts to give her eight through three frames.
Raiders’ pitcher Mahailey Nicholson retired the Huskies in order in the home half of the third, but Hoover took complete control during its next at bat.
Lexi Kennedy led off with a double to left, and two batters later, Bella Haas sent a ground ball to second that allowed courtesy runner Liz Turner to score her team’s third run. An error — one of the Raiders’ six in the contest — allowed Veltri to score with two outs in the third as the Huskies upped their advantage to 4-0.
That was more than enough support for Varney, but the Huskies added more for good measure. They scored once in the fifth on Kennedy’s groundout to first, which allowed Hannah Shamblin to touch the plate after she’d walked and moved to third on Varney’s double, which trickled off the third base bag.
“Our girls are unselfish, which as a coach, it makes me so happy that they’re willing to put down a bunt or lift a fly to move a runner around and they understand it’s just as important as a base hit,” Smith said. “We have faith in everybody in our lineup and even if we move a runner to third base with two outs, we believe the next hitter up can get her in. That was definitely on display tonight and it has been the last couple games. I hope it continues, because we’re in the right mindset for that.”
Varney struck out the side in the sixth and wouldn’t need to pitch the seventh as Hoover scored three times when it came to bat that inning to end the game early on the eight-run mercy rule.
“Too many errors, we didn’t hit the ball and everything went bad,” Roane County head coach Sam Salvucci said. “They were clearly the better team tonight.”
Hass worked a walk to start the inning and Veltri followed with a single, with an error later during that play allowing Hass to come all the way around from first.
Sadi Wehrle drove in the seventh run and scored the final run on a wild pitch with two outs.
Veltri had two of her team’s five hits and the Huskies also drew five walks.
The Raiders had three batters reach — one by walk, one on an error and the other on a hit by pitch.
Nicholson struck out a pair in the loss.
“It’s hard when you have to get five outs to get out of an inning,” Salvucci said. “We made six or seven errors tonight and you can’t play softball like that. We’re better than that.”