SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Seconds before Winfield’s Rylee McClellan stepped into the batter’s box with the Class AAA title game against Frankfort tied at 1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Generals had potentially squandered a golden opportunity to score a walk-off win with a double play after the first two batters of the inning reached.
Still, the winning run remained on second base in the form of Allison Hoffman, who had come on for Ella Black after Black’s leadoff single.
Looking to simply put the ball in play against Falcons’ pitcher Rylee Mangold, McClellan did one better, hitting a relatively soft single to center that allowed Hoffman to slide into home plate, sending Winfield to a 2-1 victory on Saturday for its third straight state championship at The Rock at Little Creek Park.
“All day, I’d been hitting the ball pretty well with a bunch of solid contact,” McClellan said. “I knew that I just had to put the ball in play. I was really focusing on trying to hit the ball down, but it worked out. I felt like it was going to fall in. It felt like a solid hit.”
Winfield’s Rylee McClellan with a walk-off single with 2 outs in bottom of 7th inning to lift Generals to 2-1 win against Frankfort in Class AAA final. #wvprepsb pic.twitter.com/yrC1bYXOkL
— Greg Carey (@gcarey938) May 31, 2025
The Generals’ one-run victory wrapped up a Class AAA state tournament in which all six games were decided by two or fewer runs. After defeating Herbert Hoover and Weir by two runs Friday to position itself in the driver’s seat, Winfield (29-7) was again tested by a Falcons’ team that came to South Charleston unbeaten.
The Falcons (29-2) reached the championship round by topping Weir 3-2 earlier Saturday.
“This is what you expect when you get to this tournament. You expect for one team not to dominate the other,” Frankfort head coach Kim Root said. “You expect it to be the best of the best and it came down to the four best teams. Even though it’s not the first-place trophy, to have a season like they had, be here and recover from their first loss, I’m very proud of the girls.”
Winfield started in the exact fashion it desired, with pitcher Mattie Carroll retiring the side in order in the top of the first and then lifting a sacrifice fly plenty deep enough to score Evelyn Loyd in the bottom of that inning for the game’s first run.
That was also the only run until the sixth, with Mangold keeping FHS well within striking distance by escaping trouble in the fourth after Kenlie Zigmond led off with a double and Caraline Dunn followed with a walk.
Raley Nestor’s double to start the third served as Frankfort’s only hit through five frames, but that changed when pinch-hitter Dayahna Imes singled to start the sixth.
Tayler Likens followed with a double to left-center, and though Carroll then struck out Aubrie Root, Avery Noel sent a ground ball to shortstop that brought Imes in with the tying run.
Carroll recorded a pivotal strikeout of Mangold with the go-ahead run at third to end the sixth.
The Falcons again had the go-ahead run in scoring position after Addison Pritts led off the seventh with a double, but Carroll remained poised and retired three straight batters to keep the matchup tied at 1, setting the stage for a walk-off win.
“When she stays ahead in the count, she’s really, really good and we try to talk to her about dictating to them what we’re trying to do and we’ll take the results,” Winfield head coach Steve Hensley said. “She’s cool, calm and collected and I’m happy for her.”
Carroll struck out 12, allowed four hits and did not issue a walk in earning the win.
Loyd and McClellan had two hits apiece to lead Winfield, which finished with seven hits.
“Two-out hitting is probably the difference in the tournament,” Hensley said. “When you can get hits with two outs and score runs, it makes such a difference.”
Hensley felt his team was well-equipped for tight games in the state tournament after overcoming significant challenges in a tightly-contested best-of-three regional series that went to a decisive third game against Chapmanville.
“We told them in practice after going through what we went through in the region and being down on the road against an all-state level pitcher, there’s not going to be anything that happens here that’s going to catch you by surprise,” Hensley said. “They were prepared and they stepped up. I’m just so proud of them.”
Mangold was stellar in defeat, striking out three and issuing four base-on-balls over 6 2/3 innings.
“I know it hurts right now,” coach Root said. “Hopefully at the end of the day, they realize they did a really big thing today.”
Class AAA all-tournament team
Avery Noel, Frankfort
Tayler Likens, Frankfort
Mattie Carroll, Winfield
Evelyn Loyd, Winfield
Kenlie Zigmond, Winfield
Eliza Utt, Weir
Rylee Mangold, Frankfort
Kylie Dean, Weir
Hannah Shamblin, Herbert Hoover
Bella Haas, Herbert Hoover