SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With Rylee Mangold battling a cut on her pitching hand, Keyser elected for her not to pitch in Wednesday’s Class AA state tournament opener against Bluefield.
Mangold returned to the pitching circle for a winner’s bracket matchup with defending state champion Winfield, and the Generals at bats progressively got better as the game wore on, culminating with a seven-run fourth inning that allowed them to defeat the Golden Tornado 11-3 in five innings.
“We haven’t seen her. She’s a nice pitcher. She threw the ball down in the zone really well,” Winfield coach Steve Hensley said. “Her movement pitches are good and she threw hard. Unfortunate for them and her that she has the injury, but she’s a good pitcher. We adjusted as it went on and did pretty well as the game continued to go.”
Keyser (26-10) gained an early 2-0 lead against Winfield starting pitcher Lilly Chandler, who surrendered a two-run home run to Tayler Likens in the first inning. Likens also homered earlier in the day against the Beavers.
Winfield (25-9) pulled even in the top of the second when Chandler and Rylee McClellan provided run-scoring singles, though the Golden Tornado wasted no time going back in front in the home half of that inning on a Brielle Rout run-scoring single.
In the fourth, the Generals scored seven runs — all with two outs — to gain complete control.
Winfield gained a 4-3 lead on Kennedy Schilling’s ground-rule double that drove in a pair, while Emeri Nelson followed with a single that provided one run and led to an error that brought in a second run.
Evie Loyd’s two-run single and a Golden Tornado defensive miscue made it three more runs for the Generals, who carried a 9-3 lead into the fifth.
“It was a gutty performance by her going out there,” Keyser coach Colton Jones said of Mongold. “It was hour by hour. She had a good warmup and looked good. She gave us everything she had. She has a nice cut and it’s hard to grip the ball, but she gave us everything she had and threw the ball well and had us in there for three or four innings. That’s all you can ask for.”
Chandler drove in a run on a single that led to an error and brought in another in the fifth, while Mattie Carroll worked 3 1/3 scoreless frames with nine strikeouts a and four walks for Winfield.
“Our pitching has been pretty good today and for the most part, when you can throw strikes to work ahead in the count, you can maybe get batters to expand a little bit and put a little bit of doubt on their mind,” Hensley said. “Lilly threw it well and just didn’t get the duration maybe that we wanted. Matti comes in and throws a lot of strikes.”
Jones recognized his team’s struggles against Carroll in particular.
“She’s a good pitcher and threw the ball well,” Jones said. ”We didn’t make adjustments and do enough there, but that’s the team to beat in Double-A. They’re here all the time. We wanted to get in a game like this. We competed and unfortunately just came up short.”
Mangold finished with nine runs and eight hits allowed over 3 2/3 innings. She struck out five and walked six.
Loyd and Chandler each had two hits and drove in two runs.
Keyser was tagged with all three of the game’s errors. The Golden Tornado will next take on Herbert Hoover in an elimination game.
The Generals are one win away from a second straight state championship.
“We’ll give it our best shot,” Hensley said, “and hopefully get a great result.”