SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Twelve hours or so after both teams discovered their matchup had been postponed from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, No. 5 Pendleton County and No. 8 East Hardy squared off at Rock Field B at Little Creek Park in an effort to avoid elimination.
Both teams had a similar goal in mind of forcing the opposition to consistently make defensive plays, and the Wildcats executed that plan at a higher rate, which went a long way in their 12-4 five-inning victory that featured seven Cougar errors.
“Maddie [Strosnider] is a great pitcher. We see her in the regular season so the game plan was to try and force errors,” Pendleton coach Hillary Fox said. “They have a solid defense, but everybody makes mistakes and fortunately, we were on the lower end of those mistakes today.”
PCHS (19-7) will play another elimination contest later Thursday, while the Cougars finish their campaign 10-13.
After EHHS gained a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Wildcats countered with a two-run single off the bat of Kinsley Price to go on top in the home half of that inning.
The Cougars capitalized on four free passes, a hit batsman and an error to score three times in the third, all of which came off walks. Those were drawn by Jaylynn Combs, Gracie Heishman and Taylor McReynolds, with the latter working a walk that left her team on top, 4-2.
In the bottom of the third, however, PCHS flipped the script and gained control of the matchup by scoring four times. The first run scored on an error off a dropped fly ball, before Chesnee Colaw drove in a pair on a single three batters later, and the Wildcats wrapped up the scoring in that frame with Lexy Tingler coming home from third on a wild pitch to make it 6-4.
“It was obvious that our game plan and Pendleton’s game plan to put the ball in play and force each other to make plays or errors,” East Hardy coach Noah Orndorff said. “Overall, the heat got to us a little bit. This is a new environment for us and it’s always tough your first time trying to figure things out. I’m proud of their effort.”
Pendleton pitcher Susan Vincell allowed a single in both the fourth and fifth innings, but kept the Cougars off the scoreboard, and the Wildcats scored six in the fifth to ensure Vincell wouldn’t need to return to the circle again.
That frame featured three walks and a pair of errors as the Cougars came undone.
Tingler drew the first-base-on-balls and later scored on a Callie Judy sacrifice bunt, before Colaw, who had also reached on a walk, crossed the plate via a wild pitch.
A groundout from Laney Bowers was enough to plate Judy with the Wildcats’ ninth run and Vincell later added a two-run double that left her team clinging to an 11-4 lead.
Price then wrapped up the win early with a single up the middle that brought Madison Arbaugh home.
Pendleton finished with six hits, six walks and four stolen bases, while fully capitalizing on East Hardy’s defensive miscues.
“Aggressive base-running was part of the game plan today. Run on the catcher until she throws you out,” Fox said. “In a tournament like this when it’s hot and you’re a little tired from yesterday, that comes into focus and it helped us feed off momentum.”
Price was 3-for-4 to account for half of her team’s hit total.
Vincell allowed four runs on two hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in five innings.
“The maturity of the group is so solid,” Fox said. “Keeping the energy alive was my main concern. Susan’s resilience is unmatched. She’s a phenomenal player and helped us get through it.”
Of 10 runs allowed by Strosnider, only one was earned. She walked six and struck out nine.
“The goal from Day 1 was to get here and we accomplished that goal and we were trying to exceed that goal,” Orndorff said. “It’s been an incredible experience for the players. I’m so glad they’ve gotten the opportunity to experience it because they earned it.”