SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Keyser opponents face a tough decision in deciding whether or not to pitch to one of the most feared and productive hitters across West Virginia in Riley ‘Bibs’ Felton.
Class AAA No. 6 PikeView elected not to and intentionally walked Felton to start the bottom of the seventh inning with an elimination matchup tied at 3.
That move backfired when Brielle Root followed by belting a double to deep right field that allowed Felton to easily score the winning run as Keyser prolonged its season at least another game with a 4-3 win at The Rock Field B at Little Creek Park.
“I had the feeling she was getting walked again, but that’s exactly why we have Brielle behind her,” Golden Tornado coach Cody Spotts said. “If you don’t throw to Bibs, you have to throw to Brielle. That’s a tough one-two.”
KHS (25-7) will next face Herbert Hoover late Wednesday in another elimination game.
Root’s winning knock came off PikeView (23-9) pitcher Shelby Maddox, who threw every inning of all three Panther state tournament contests.
“We wanted to show everybody that we belong here our first time here,” Panthers’ coach Steve Compton said. “We had a solid tournament. I’m proud of them. We did well and represented our school well.”
Felton singled and scored to give the Golden Tornado the first run.
PikeView countered in the top of the second to get even, but fell behind again in that inning following back-to-back singles
The Golden Tornado started freshman Sophie Lambka at pitcher, but she was lifted in the third in favor of Leighton Johnson after Maddox hit a line drive that deflected off Lambka’s foot.
“Leighton is our upperclassman and our ace, but Sophie has been fantastic this year as a freshman,” Spotts said. “Unfortunately she caught one right off the foot. Her status for tonight’s game is to be determined. We have the confidence her, but we were trying to save Leighton’s arm a little bit for innings tonight, so we’ll just have to adjust.”
Despite PHS scoring twice in an inning highlighted by Emma Compton’s double, Johnson settled in as her outing progressed. With PikeView in front 3-2 in the fourth, Johnson got out of a jam by striking out Emma Weiss.
“A lot of times, it’s about who gets a timely hit or makes that costly error,” Compton said.
That set the stage for Felton, who led off the fifth with a triple and scored on a productive out from Root to knot the affair at 3.
Johnson retired the side in order in the sixth and overcame an error to keep PikeView from scoring in the seventh, allowing the Golden Tornado to then rely on the heart of their order to deliver, which is precisely what it did.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games against good competition,” Spotts said, “and that’s what’s prepped us for this moment.”