SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Each time it appeared the game was on the verge of getting away from Logan, the Wildcats battled back Thursday against Petersburg, hoping to stave off elimination in a Class AA contest at The Rock at Little Creek Park.
The Vikings always had an answer, and a stellar pitching performance in relief from freshman Kinsley Crites combined with Shyane Tawney’s success at the plate paved the way in a 5-3 victory over the Wildcats for a spot in the Class AA final.
“We’ve been used to this kind of play all year long and here we are again with deja vu. We just don’t have the power pitching that’s going to rack up a lot of strikeouts, so we know balls are going to be put in play and there are innings other teams will have their time,” Petersburg head coach Bubba Hedrick said.
“We have to fight, dig in and claw to get out of them and that’s what we did.”
Miley Tingler, the second batter of the game, tripled to stake the Vikings to an early 1-0 lead, at which point Logan made its second pitching change and brought on its top option in Myleigh Adkins.
It was still 1-0 int he third when Tawney tripled to left with one out. She would score the game’s second run moments later on Tinger’s groundout.
Vikings’ starting pitcher Olivia Kimble encountered her first sign of trouble in the fourth, when Logan (23-8) loaded the bases without an out.
At that point, Kimble was removed from the pitching circle in favor of Crites, who walked Addison Richardson to bring in the first run.
However, a fielder’s choice combined with a pop out and ground ball, allowed Crites to preserve Petersburg’s one-run lead through four.
“I’m surrounded by a good group of guys that help me coach,” Hedrick said. “We’re constantly talking and we know our team. We know the girls, where we are and my starter, Kimble, we could kind of tell she was starting to breakdown and lose it.”
Seizing the momentum, the Vikings got consecutive singles from Tawney and Tingler with a runner on base, the latter of which drove in a pair to leave the Wildcats facing a 4-1 deficit as they came to bat in the fifth.
LHS still trailed by three in the sixth when it produced three straight singles off Crites to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
Following the first out, which came following a PHS appeal for a force out at the plate, Lena Setser ripped a two-run double to left-center that cut the Vikings’ lead to one.
Yet with the tying run at third and go-ahead run in scoring position, Crites again dug deep, getting an out at the plate off a bunt and then a fly ball to end the sixth with Petersburg in front, 4-3.
“We haven’t hit the ball well since we’ve been here. We just couldn’t get anything string together,” Logan head coach Levi Curry said. “We did have some chances.”
Tawney doubled in Quenlynn Cole in the seventh to double the PHS lead, and Crites retired the side in order to prolong Petersburg’s season.
“As a freshman, that was amazing of her to come up big like that,” Tawney said.
Tawney finished 4-for-4 with three runs. She was a home run shy of a cycle.
“I was confident. We work together really well so I knew when they came back, we’d come back stronger,” Tawney said. “We communicate and hype each other up.”
Tingler drove in all but one of the Vikings’ runs.
Kimble allowed one run in three innings and struck out three. Crites surrendered two runs over four frames.
Ashlin Brumfield led Logan with three hits, while Adkins struck out nine over seven innings.
Curry credited his senior class for helping lead Logan back to playing on the final day of the season.
“Softball was an afterthought in Logan County until then and those girls picked it up, ran with it and we saw that they were pretty passionate about it,” he said. “I believe they’re going to start something that’s going to follow and it’ll be a familiar name from now on here in Charleston with Logan softball.”
Petersburg suffered a 1-0 loss to the Golden Bears on Wednesday and will need two victories before one loss for a state championship.