GLENVILLE, W.Va. — In a game where Wahama’s first base hit didn’t come until extra innings, the White Falcons broke a scoreless stalemate in the tenth to claim the Little Kanwaha Conference Tournament title with a 1-0 win over defending league champion St. Marys.
Class A No. 2 Wahama scored with two outs in the tenth when Payton Staats hit a double off the wall in left field. Zoie Mayes, who reached on an infield single for WHS’ second hit of the game, scored all the way from first base to break the stalemate.
“I thought it had a chance to go. The ball carries here,” said Wahama head coach Wes Riffle. “She put the bat on the ball when we needed it and got in scoring position there. She had a great swing on the ball.”
St. Marys put the potential game-winning run on base in the bottom of the tenth inning after a pair of hit batsmen. However, Elissa Hoffman ended the game with back-to-back strikeouts. Hoffman allowed four hits, walked one and struck out nine.
“Elissa is not an overpowering pitcher. She is a finesse pitcher. She does a good job of changing the eye level and changing speeds. She was getting pop ups and ground balls. She gave up four hits to a really solid St. Marys team. Kudos to her for going the distance.”
Both teams played ten innings error-free. The White Falcons made a handful of impressive defensive plays, including a running catch from Staats against the wall in center field in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“It has been one of our strong points this season. We’ve had a couple games where the errors kind of hurt us a little bit. But they came up big tonight. Payton made a play against the wall. Marlee Carr made some good plays at second. [Hoffman] had a supporting cast behind her tonight.”
Cali Masters went the distance in the circle for Class AA No. 3 St. Marys. She struck out 21 batters and allowed just three hits. Masters had two of the four hits for the defending state champions (21-5).
Wahama (20-4), state champions from 2021-2023, has won ten of their last twelve games.
“That’s this team and that is their mantra — they don’t give up. They haven’t given up all year on anything. We’ve had some games where we have been down and fought back. Tonight was just another example. The girls stayed true, dug in and got to work.
“It is huge. It is one of our goals to start the season. They knew it was realistic. Coming to play St. Marys, that’s a tough team. We knew if we could get a couple runs on the board, we’d be fine. This is big for our season and big for our seniors. It is a good boost going into the tournament.”
In the third place/consolation game, Ravenswood defeated Ritchie County, 9-0.