NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. — Sophomore Mattie Carney broke a scoreless stalemate in the fourth inning and she made sure that lead held up as Oak Glen gained the upper hand in the Class AA Region I, Section 1 tournament with a 3-1 win over Wheeling Central Catholic.
Carney connected on a pitch to lead off the fourth inning and her solo home run into the wind gave No. 5 Oak Glen a 1-0 lead. It was the third outside-the-park home run for the Bears at the newly-revamped Suzan Smith Field. Nevaeh Heath and Danica Holden each homered against Linsly last month.
“When you get Josie [Frizzell] to work that hard and you find a pitch, you’ve got to take advantage of it,” said Oak Glen head coach Sherrie Garner. “And she did.”
Oak Glen added two more runs in the fifth inning to build upon their lead. Macy Hartung scored on a throwing error to double the Golden Bear advantage to 2-0. And Addison Smith hit a double off the wall in right centerfield, allowing Riley Bruce to score the third run of the game.
“I complimented the girls for the baserunning. When we had some runners on there, they were getting down, sliding. The things we asked them to do, they did it.”
Down to their last out in the seventh inning, Central spoiled the shutout when Kaitlyn Jokovich-Palmer scored on a throwing error. However, Carney induced a foul pop with the tying run on base to end the game. Carney allowed four hits. She struck out ten batters and did not surrender any walks.
“She has excellent movement and velocity. Her maturity has come along. She is a sophomore and she is still young but she is working hard to be efficient. I looked at the pitch count and she was efficient. I think it was about 70. That’s a good game.”
Oak Glen (24-6) will host the winner of Friday’s elimination game between the No. 3 Maroon Knights and Tyler Consolidated. The sectional championship round begins Saturday.
“You are in the best position you can be,” Garner said. “We know what we are seeing and we know what we have to do. We have to be patient, find our pitch and stay on plane, put it in play and good things happen. Play strong defense, that is absolutely the important thing.”
Morgan Miehle had two base hits for Central (18-7) while Frizzell and Bella Rine also had hits. Frizzell went the distance in the circle for the Knights. She allowed four hits while striking out nine batters.