SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Three-time defending state champion Winfield and Herbert Hoover have long established themselves as two of West Virginia’s premier softball programs.
Both showed precisely why Wednesday afternoon at The Rock Field B at Little Creek Park.
In the latest version of one of the state’s top rivalries, a two-run double from Rylee McClellan in the bottom of the 10th inning allowed the Generals to overcome a deficit and claim a 5-4 victory.
“That’s just a senior at bat,” Winfield coach Steve Hensley said. “She’s been in these situations and won a championship last year. Just really thrilled for her. I always have faith and confidence in Riley. She’s a team leader.”
The result allows WHS (26-10) to remain in the winner’s bracket and next face top seed John Marshall, while the Huskies (25-9) are back in action Wednesday afternoon against Point Pleasant in an elimination game.
“We’re playing right now and that’s exactly what I told the girls,” Hoover coach Missy Smith said. “We can be mad about it while we stand out here, but once we break the huddle, we’re on to the next game.”
McClellan’s game-winning hit occurred after the top of the Generals’ lineup set the table for her. Ava Cole beat out an infield single diving into first base, and Emeri Nelson followed by laying down a bunt that she also beat out, leaving McClellan to bat with two on and none out. She then connected with a clean hit to left, enabling Cole to come home with the tying run and Nelson to cross the plate with the winning run.
“A really gutty effort from our team,” Hensley said. “You’re in the state tournament against Herbert Hoover and you know what you’re getting into with them. We battled all the way.”
Hoover had gained a 4-3 lead momentarily in the top of the 10th courtesy of Campbell Lunsford’s leadoff triple that amounted to her scoring on a fielder’s choice.
The Huskies also held a one-run lead by scoring first when Katelyn Board came home from third on a wild pitch in the second, though Hoover made outs at third base and at the plate that inning, preventing the No. 3 seed from likely leading by more.
Still, Hoover pitcher Jocelyn Schafer prevented Winfield from scoring across the first three innings, and the Huskies doubled their lead in the fourth after Lunsford doubled and advanced a base on both a sacrifice bunt and error.
“We had some adversity in this game,” Hensley said. “We fell behind and there were a few plays we probably could’ve made that we didn’t, but it’s part of the game.”
Smith’s team looked to be on the verge of adding to its two-run lead after Ayva Veltri’s one-out triple in the fifth, but Nelson’s diving catch at third base on a bunt attempt helped prevent Hoover from scoring.
That proved especially important when the Generals finally broke through in the fifth as they capitalized on an error to have Kennedy Hyller score their first run, while a Sienna Smith sacrifice fly later that inning knotted the game at 2.
Veltri’s diving catch led to an inning-ending double play and Hoover gained the lead back in the sixth when Board came in from third via a wild pitch.
Trailing by one in the home half of sixth, Winfield again erased a deficit, this time as a result of a Mattie Carroll run-scoring double.
Neither team mustered offense over the next three innings, though they weren’t without opportunity, including Winfield having a runner at second with no outs in the eighth, before Hoover pitcher Kaylyn Harper retired three consecutive batters to send the game to the ninth.
Carroll overcame Kyleigh Elmore’s leadoff single in the ninth, and though the Generals didn’t produce a baserunner when they came to bat that inning, they generated offense when it was most needed in the next frame.
“We executed earlier instead of later,” Smith said. “We didn’t keep the momentum going. We left a lot of runners out there and when you leave runners on base against pitching like that and their hitters, you’re not going to hold them down for long. We didn’t execute at the end when we needed to.”
Carroll pitched all 10 innings for Winfield and struck out five.
Schafer and Harper combined to pitch all 10 frames for Hoover. The duo combined for five strikeouts.