ELKVIEW, W.Va. — Three first-inning runs and an impressive pitching performance from Mattie Carroll allowed No. 4 Winfield to avenge an earlier loss to Herbert Hoover, 6-3 in the second game of their regular season home-and-home series.
The No. 2 Huskies won at Winfield, 6-3 on April 9. However in the rematch, the three-time defending state champion Generals outhit the Huskies, 9-2 as their first six batters in the first inning posted productive at bats.
“I think getting the early lead helped. I think that kind of took a little bit off the team in general, so we could just relax and play our game,” said Winfield head coach Steve Hensley.
Winfield opened the game by working out three consecutive bases on balls off of Herbert Hoover starter Jocelyn Schafer. Following a pitching change, each of those runners scored in WHS’ next three at bats. A sacrifice fly from Brooklyn Cole, a run-scoring double from Carroll and an RBI groundout from Madeline Taylor allowed Ava Cole, Emeri Nelson and Rylee McClellan to score in succession.
“That’s kind of the one thing we have gotten a little bit better at the last couple of weeks. I think we are getting a more consistent at bats with runners on base. That’s something that’s got to improve little by little throughout the season.
“It is a game of adjustments too. So we’ve got to adjust to situations. I thought we did take good advantage of that early in the game and it was probably the difference in the first couple innings.”
The Generals added runs in the third and sixth innings. Ella Black’s infield single in the third allowed McClellan to score her second run of the game. Cole added a second sacrifice fly to score Nelson in the sixth.
Staked to an early lead, Carroll tossed a two-hit shutout for the Generals. She walked two batters and struck out ten.
“I just think she competes. If there is a pitch that is a little bit off, she puts the time in to get it right and to fix it. I think it is just her competitive juices. She wants to be really good and she wants to throw strikes on every pitch. She wants every pitch to be really good. For the most part, she threw a lot of early strikes. I think she did a really good job dictating the zone inside and out.”
Nelson and McClellan had multi-hit games for the Generals.
Herbert Hoover (17-4) and Winfield have combined to win eight state titles over the last nine completed seasons.
“Winfield and Hoover is always a good game. Anytime you can come up here and win, I think it says a lot about our team. We’ve been in big games with Hoover before so our team knows what to expect. Coming in late in the season, coming on the road and winning a game like this, it will help their confidence, for sure.”
Kaylyn Harper allowed two runs in seven innings of relief for the Huskies. She did not walk a batter and she struck out three. Taylor Jones and Bella Haas had the base hits for Herbert Hoover.