(Photo gallery by Teran Malone)
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, it appeared that Oak Glen might be pushed to a decisive game by Petersburg in the Class AA state championship round.
After a 61-minute rain delay and a five-run outburst in their next half inning, the Golden Bears went on to score ten unanswered runs to win the school’s second state softball championship, 10-2 in 6 innings.
Oak Glen (30-10) was in the drivers seat entering the championship round, needing just one win in two games to take the title. The Bears posted a pair of shutout wins on Day 1 of the tournament over Petersburg (1-0) and Logan (3-0).
“I am real proud of the senior leadership. This has been a dream of mine,” said Oak Glen head coach Sherrie Garner. “To share it with this group, and I share it with everybody. The seasons before with this group made them who they are. I am very, very proud.”
The Vikings (23-12) broke a scoreless stalemate in the third inning. Miley Tingler’s run-scoring double scored Quenlynn Cole and Tingler later scored on a wild pitch. As that half inning concluded, heavy rains delayed play for just over an hour. Immediately after the break, Oak Glen scored five runs on seven hits in the bottom of the third, sending ten batters to the plate in the frame.
“Sometimes I talk too much. We just kind of let them sit there, had some snacks and kind of lightened up. They kept on saying, ‘What does the weather say? How long are we going to wait?’ They were getting antsy and wanted to come out here. And they just turned it on.”
After scoring four runs in their first two games of the tournament, Oak Glen scored nine runs in the third and fourth innings to break the game wide open. The Golden Bears had 14 hits in the game.
“We just coached them to be patient.”
Mattie Carney collected her third win of the tournament in the circle. Against PHS, Carney allowed two runs on four hits and she struck out eight batters.
Carney and Danica Holden each had three hits in the championship game. Holden drove in a team-high three runs.
Four Oak Glen seniors missed graduation exercises to compete in the state tournament — Addison Smith, Maddie Murray, Riley Bruce and Kayla Wright. Garner cited Bruce’s play throughout the tourney, including a quick reflex play at shortstop to record the final out of the sixth inning.
“Riley Bruce, when she made that play here, I have been telling her for four years that is the kind of athlete she is. She just exploded and had a great tournament.”
The Golden Bears closed the season by winning 14 of their final 16 games. Their playoff path included taking two of three from Wheeling Central Catholic in the sectional and a regional sweep of defending state champion St. Marys in the regional.
“I just wanted to put them in a position where they were going to be challenged the entire year through. When we got beat by a team, we were able to come back and beat Weir. We thought that was influential. When we got beat by Logan [in the regular season], we kept on feeling that we could come back and beat Logan. That’s just what we have to teach them, to push through with their abilities.”
Petersburg finished as state runners-up for the second consecutive season. The Vikings defeated Logan, 5-3 in an elimination game earlier on Thursday to move on to the championship round. Tingler had two of Petersburg’s four hits against the Golden Bears.
Class AA All-Tournament Team: Riley Bruce (OG), Mattie Carney (OG), Mikalyn Balch (OG), Danica Holden (OG), Kayla Wright (OG), Miley Tingler (Petersburg), Shyane Tawney (Petersburg), Ella Chew (Petersburg), Myleigh Adkins (Logan), Addison Star (Logan). pic.twitter.com/RGsmdmboLl
— TheWVSSAC (@TheWVSSAC) May 29, 2025