SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Having watched closely as Keyser scored five runs in the sixth inning to rally for an 8-5 win in its Class AAA State Tournament opener against Point Pleasant on Tuesday, John Marshall coach Robby Blake figured the top seed Monarchs were in store for a significant challenge in Wednesday’s winner’s bracket contest.
Although John Marshall jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead, that proved to be exactly the case.
The Monarchs trailed by one after four innings, but scored three in the fifth and pitcher Lily Dijkstra wrapped up her complete game with three consecutive scoreless frames to finish off a 9-7 victory at The Rock Field B at Little Creek Park.
“We watched them play yesterday and saw they’re a scrappy bunch,” Blake said. “My kids are just as scrappy. I figured it would be a dogfight. They’re a pretty good team and don’t look like a No. 5 seed to me.”
The Monarchs (27-5) played the cleaner game and it went a long way toward determining the outcome. Trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth, JMHS loaded the bases with one out courtesy of two hit batsmen and a walk.
A run-scoring groundout from Masyn Inclan knotted the affair at 7, before a two-out throwing error allowed Nora Shock to score the go-ahead run and teammate Kaylee White to score from second, leaving the Golden Tornado (24-7) facing a two-run deficit.
“John Marshall is a good team. We killed ourselves with too many costly errors that turned into runs,” Keyser coach Cody Spotts said. “We outhit them [9-8]. The road is a little bit tougher now, but the determination and mindset still needs to be there.”
Bibs’ Felton’s leadoff single in the sixth was the lone baserunner KHS mustered that inning, while Dijkstra worked around a two-out single from Leighton Johnson in the seventh to finish off the complete game victory.
One day after the Monarchs’ 14-0 five-inning win over Robert C. Byrd, Blake’s team was pushed to the limit.
“Figured we’d have to play really well and we played well enough,” Blake said. “We hit just enough, and whether you win by 14 or twin by two, the key is to move on.”
Inclan and teammate Ella Finley each accounted for run-scoring singles during the four-run first for JMHS, which also got a bases loaded walk drawn by Elaina Taylor that inning.
Keyser countered immediately with a four spot in the second — an inning that featured separate two-run singles from Aleah Smith and Suzy Cosenza.
Taylor’s two-run double in the bottom of the second allowed the Monarchs to go back on top at 6-4, before Keyser scored three in the fourth to gain its first lead of the outing. Brielle Root’s two-run single initially tied the game at 6 and Cosenza hit a ground ball for a fielder’s choice to score Root with the go-ahead run.
Unfortunately for Keyser, it marked the team’s final run as the Golden Tornado squandered a prime opportunity in the fifth following a leadoff double from Kailynn Burns, who got to third with one out, but was stranded there.
Keyser committed three errors to one for John Marshall.
“Our defense played really well and that was a key,” Blake said. “It’s been a key all year. We turned our 21st double play of the season in this game and continue to be very sound fundamentally.”
Inclan was 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in a pair, while White was 2-for-3 and scored twice.
Johnson got the start in the pitching circle for Keyser and split those duties with Sophie Lambka.
Root and Smith recorded two hits apiece.
“Most games you’d win, but you have to play clean,” Spotts said. “That was the biggest thing that killed us. We had a lot of ground balls we should have been able to get to and that we normally get to. Just an off game I guess.”