SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — University had an opportunity to wrap up its first state championship Thursday afternoon against Washington at The Rock.
But after winning twice Wednesday to position themselves in the driver’s seat, the Hawks failed in their first attempt at their desired ending, falling behind by six runs in what amounted to a 6-3 loss.
Twenty minutes later, the teams met again and for a third time at this year’s Class AAA state tournament. University wasn’t going to be denied again and Maddie Campbell made sure of it.
Campbell was effective pitching to contact and worked around the strike zone throughout the matchup, holding the Patriots scoreless and never issuing a walk to key the Hawks to a commanding 10-0 victory in six innings.
“I changed my formula,” Hawks’ head coach Mindy Parks said. “I like to go Sophie [Lehosit] and then Maddie, but I talked to Maddie and asked her how she was feeling. I didn’t want to over pitch her, but she said she felt good. I went with her knowing she’d held them to less hits and I looked at the game yesterday. I had that plan and I was happy for Maddie to step in and finish that game for us. She did her job and I’m very proud.”
Campbell had pitched 6 2/3 innings of effective relief and yielded only half of the six runs the Patriots scored to force the decisive contest.
She returned to the pitching circle on a warm day and hardly faced trouble in the all-important meeting.
When she did, such as allowing two Washington (25-8) hits in the opening frame, Campbell maintained her poise and escaped trouble — in that instance by inducing a fly ball to left off the bat of Anna Wedlock.
“I just stay calm,” Campbell said. [Catcher Olivia Masoner] does a good job keeping me intact and if I get a little nervous, I sing.”
The Hawks (25-10) failed to score until the sixth inning of their first contest Thursday, but gained a lead in the third with a pair of pivotal two-out hits — the first a run-scoring double from Olivia Masoner, which was followed by a Josalyn Phillips single that brought in a run.
Campbell continued to shine in the circle and after working around a two-out single in the third, she retired the side in order in the fourth for the first time in the game.
When she came back out to pitch the fifth, University had gained complete control thanks in large part to the Patriots coming undone defensively in the fifth.
Errors on three straight plays created a bases loaded opportunity for Phillips, and she capitalized by lacing a two-run single to left.
At that point, Washington’s Zoe Kesterson, who had started at pitcher, re-entered at the position for Chloe Consantino, but Sophia Lehosit greeted Questers with a two-run single that left the Patriots trailing 6-0.
Ashlyn Weaver’s sacrifice fly provided the final run of the fifth, and Campbell retired her first strikeout to end the fifth.
“We’ve worked hard for this moment. We started back in November utilizing flex days and we kept working and never let up. The team definitely got better throughout the lineup,” Parks said. “At the beginning of the season, we only had the top carrying us and by the time we got to sectionals, we’d figured it out and rode a winning streak.”
The Hawks weren’t done providing Campbell with more insurance runs. They scored an additional three runs in the sixth, with Phillips providing another RBI single, Lehosit driving in a run with a ground ball to shortstop and an error bringing home the 10th run.
Campbell allowed a leadoff single in the sixth but retired the next three batters, including her second strikeout that capped off a six-inning contest.
“We went in and said, this is our last game and we have to put everything on the line,” Campbell said. “We had a meeting and built each other up and our seniors did a good job regrouping all of us. We came out and did what we had to do.”
Phillips went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs, while Lehoist had three RBI in the victory.
Kalyn Dean and Courtney Greenfield had two hits apiece in defeat and combined for all but two WHS hits.
Kesterson allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings. She surrendered seven hits, struck out one and walked a pair.
Consantino threw 1 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on three hits.
“Kind of speechless trying to wrap my head around actually being done,” Washington head coach Amanda Orkoskey said. “There are only two teams playing in the last game and we were one of them. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we made a bunch of history and broke records. We couldn’t ask for more other than a win. It’s tough on that second day and third game especially on a hot day. University is a good team and congratulations to them. We’ll build upon the things we did this season and make a goal to come back next year again.”
It was a disappointing ending to a long and otherwise successful day for Washington, which staved off elimination early Thursday with a 6-3 win against Cabell Midland.
About two hours later, the Patriots took on the Hawks some 16 hours or so after UHS had moved into prime position to win the state championship with a 6-5 nine-inning victory against WHS.
But Orkoskey’s team knew it could compete with the Hawks, and in the first meeting Thursday, it did far more than that, scoring three times in the opening inning off Lehosit to set the tone.
Lehosit faced only four batters and three reached by hit, including a Greenfield run-scoring single, while the lone out she recorded came on a sacrifice fly from Dean.
Morgan Cave brought in the third run of the inning with a double, the Patriots added a single run in both the second and third frames to gain complete control and lead, 5-0.
Carly Constantino drove in the fourth run with a double, while the fifth was driven in by Kesterson, though Washington left the bases loaded that inning.
Washington scored once more in the sixth on a Sedlock single, although UHS didn’t go away quietly.
The Hawks countered with a three-spot in the sixth, scoring first on Masoner’s single and then making it a three-run deficit when Ally Jansen drove in two with a single.
That was all the Hawks could muster off Kesterson, who threw seven innings to earn the win.
“Zoe did great. Definitely proud of her,” Orkoskey said. “She did what we needed her to do and just kept rolling with it. I’m proud of her for locking in and rolling.”
Additionally, Washington had four doubles.
Although Parks’ team couldn’t complete the comeback, she felt the strong ending to make the matchup more respectable was significant leading into the next contest — one that won’t soon be forgotten at UHS.
“They had a little pow wow out there and knew they could pull it together,” Parks said. “We were a little tense going into that first game and it’s a lot of pressure. But they pulled it together and that’s the relationship and bond they have with each other.
“Scoring those three runs really did shift that momentum. That meant a lot to me to make it 6-3 with a close game. At 6-0, I don’t know how they’d have felt.”