SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Winfield and Herbert Hoover’s softball programs pride themselves on strong fundamental play.
In Wednesday’s Class AA state tournament matchup at The Rock, the Generals were the more sound team fundamentally, and it went a long way in their 6-2 victory against the Huskies.
In addition to its 8-4 advantage in hits, Winfield had two errors to the Huskies’ three, and Generals’ pitcher Mattie Carroll made things far easier on her defense by striking out 11.
“You just have to play what you do well. We pitched well today and played well behind her,” Winfield head coach Steve Hensley said. “We took advantage of that today and it worked out well for us.”
The result allows Winfield (24-9) to face Keyser in a winner’s bracket matchup later Wednesday, while the Huskies (26-4) will battle Bluefield in an elimination matchup.
“You get a little break now and don’t have to turn around and play again, but if you can play well tonight and win, you get to sleep in a little bit,” Hensley said. “The biggest thing is to try to win tonight and then take your best shots tomorrow.”
Carole also benefited from pitching with a lead from the second inning on after WHS pushed across a pair of runs in the top of that frame.
The inning began with a Brooklyn Cole double and she came around to score on Alex Hurley’s single to center.
Emeri Nelson’s bunt single prolonged the inning and proved pivotal after a throwing error enabled Lilly Chandler to reach and Hurley to score her team’s second run.
Winfield remained in front 2-0 until doubling its lead in the fourth.
Kennedy Schilling led off with a single and scored her team’s third run on an error, while Chandler added a run-scoring single later in the frame to up the Generals’ lead to four.
The Huskies put runners at the corners in the bottom of that inning, but Carroll struck out Ayva Veltri to keep Hoover scoreless at that point.
“Every time they give us an out, we have to make it. We have to do a better job at the plate of being selective and not pressing so much,” Huskies’ head coach Missy Smith said. “When we had runners on, you could tell we were trying to get the big hit and we chased her pitches. She threw a great game and we didn’t execute. That’s the bottom line”.
However, the Huskies broke through in the fifth and produced all of their offense, scoring first on an Audrey Canterbury groundout that brought in Jaylee Carper, and pulling to within two later that inning on a Laila Varney double to left, which enabled Sadi Wehrle to come home.
Any momentum garnered from scoring quickly vanished for the Huskies.
Hurley followed her one-out single in the sixth with a steal of second, and she took third on a throwing error, before scoring two batters later when Chandler singled to right.
Ava Cole’s sacrifice fly to right marked the final scoring play as Carroll retired the side in order in both the sixth and seventh frames to prevent any chance at a late rally.
“We got two and we were feeling the momentum and then we don’t feel bunts and didn’t make plays when we should’ve made, and they got hits when they needed them,” Smith said. “Every time when they came up in a big situation, they got the hit when they needed it.”
Winfield, the defending state champion that stopped the Huskies’ run of five consecutive state championships last season, got two hits apiece from Brooklyn Cole, Hurley and Chandler.
Wehrle was 2-for-4 to account for half of her team’s hits.
Laila Varney took the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits in seven innings. She struck out seven and issued one walk.
The contest was delayed for 1 hour during the top of the seventh due to lightning.
“Just kind of let them relax a little bit, and said it’s 30 minutes each time lightning flashes, so don’t get keyed up,” Hensley said. “There isn’t any longterm rain, so we knew we’d get it in. Just kind of had to wait through it a little bit.”