By Stephen Smoot
In Dante’s Inferno the Narrator wishes beyond anything else to find his place in Paradise, but finds that the road to that promised land went first through a much less pleasant realm.
For the Wildcats, their promised land in the short term is Charleston. On April 16, the baseball team enjoyed a 14-2 triumph over rival Moorefield. Ever since, the schedule has pitted the squad against some of the state’s best talent, almost exclusively playing for much larger schools. The sole Class A team played, the number five ranked Tygarts Valley Bulldogs, escaped with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Wildcats in Mill Creek.
Such a stretch of games can do one of two things. The fiery furnace can either consume, or it can forge a team into something stronger.
Last Friday’s game against Tucker County would give an indication which direction the Wildcats would go in the final games leading into the postseason.
The Parsons park field in which the teams battled has unusual dimensions. Like the old Major League parks, the shape of the field conformed to the city around it rather than vice versa. Different shapes and sizes of ballfields add to both the challenge and the allure of baseball.
From home plate, the left field corner lies not much farther than that of most other fields. Center field extends perhaps 15 yards past that of most high school fields while right field is even more cavernous.
Additionally, on this beautiful sun blessed evening, distinct and contrasting shadows held a slow march across left and center field as the game went on, creating a challenge for outfielders.
The Wildcats went straight to work as Caleb Armentrout led off the game with a hard hit single to centerfield. He then stole second on the very first pitch to Travis Owens. Pendleton County brings speed to the basepaths and will challenge catchers who have not demonstrated consistency in throwing out runners.
Two pitches later, Owens drove a one ball and two strike pitch to the left field wall for a run batted in and a stand up double.
Next up came James Vincell who has slowly assumed more and more work as he recovers from his football injury. He launched a shot to deep center, but directly at the outfielder standing right at the wall. The sacrifice pushed the baserunner to third.
Several Wildcat long balls that would have left other parks stayed in play in Parsons on the night.
With his brother anxious to add to the early lead, Chase Owens worked a walk on eight pitches. Mason Harper duplicated the feat on six to load the bases for his brother, Cole Harper, whose single brought in two more runs. That closed scoring for the inning, but served as only a small taste of the meal served up by Pendleton County on the evening.
The Mountain Lions then had to face Chase Owens as he took the mound. He took the hitter to a one ball and two strike count, then the fireballer got the batter to swing and whiff, fooling him with an offspeed pitch, his first of eight strikeouts on the night.
After Tucker County went down in order, Josiah Kimble led off. He squared around on the first pitch and gracefully directed the ball down the third base line with a bunt. The third baseman made a strong play, but Kimble’s hustle down the line beat the throw by a few steps.
Armentrout came up next. Before the first pitch to him, Kimble swiped second base, then the hitter promptly slapped a pitch to center field. The fielder kept his eyes on a Kimble feint toward home plate, which gave Armentrout the opportunity to stretch the hit into two bases.
After a Travis Owens double that hit the left field wall and pushed in a run, Chase Owens walked to load the bases. Mason Harper then laid off four straight pitches after the first strike to push a run in. Cole Harper then lofted a ball deep enough into right field, which was caught, but sent in the sixth Wildcat run.
Cooper Smith followed that by sending the first pitch to him deep into center, which scored Tucker Smith who was in as a courtesy runner.
The bottom of the second brought no challenge to Chase Owens, who mowed each batter down in turn, bringing the red hot bats of the Wildcats back to the diamond. With one out, Armentrout walked on four pitches. He picked up a steal during the next at bat, whose highlight was Travis Owens driving a towering fly ball over the left center field fence for a 9-0 lead.
With the bases empty, Vincell drove the ball to the right field fence, likely a home run in nearly any other high school ballpark. The fleet of foot Jonas Turner ran for him and scored in the next at bat. Mason Harper was out on a dropped third strike thrown to first but Turner took the opportunity to score on the same play, creating an odd strikeout sacrifice situation.
Even as head coach Sam Yokum started substituting his bench, the Wildcats still dominated. After Kimble was struck by a pitch to lead off the top of the fourth, he stole second before the Tucker County pitcher could even deliver the initial pitch to subsequent batter Ty Armentrout. His single into left field left him and Kimble at the corners for Travis Owens, who drew a base on balls on five pitches.
Vincell with the bases loaded provided another long single to the wall, sending home both Kimble and Ty Armentrout to set the score at 12-0. Chase Owens’ sharply hit ball to third was well-fielded, but the throw to first could not beat Owens as he hustled down the first base line.
Still with no outs and the bases loaded, Mason Harper hit a screaming line drive to left for a run batted in. That, plus Cole Harper reaching on an error and driving in Turner (again running for Vincell) set the score at 15-0, but the Wildcats had not finished putting runs on the board in the inning.
After a Cooper Smith walk, a Cashton Kisamore deep fly ball to left allowed Mason Harper to tag and score for the 16th run of the game.
As the bottom of the fourth opened, Chase Owens’ fastballs still created a resounding pop when they hit the catcher’s mitt, but Tucker County batters had started getting a bead on him. A one out double gave them their sole hit of the game. Two batters later and with two outs, Owens put the hitter on with four straight balls, but struck out the subsequent batter on three straight pitches to end the inning.
The top of the fifth brought Brody Sites to the plate with one out. He landed a looper behind the shortstop, then went to second as Will Smith got a single to shallow left field as well. Spencer Hartman took a walk on four pitches to load the bases with Wildcats.
Tucker Smith then came up and punched a single through short, sending one run in for a 17-0 advantage. Connor Hartman then drew a walk with the bases loaded to pick up his own run batted in.
Kisamore repeated the same feat in his at bat, bringing home the final 19th run of the game.
Travis Owens then took the mound to close out the ball game. On eight pitches he got the first two batters to weakly hit to his fielders, then struck the final out swinging.
In the middle of April, Pendleton County had cracked the Metro News top 10. The streak of games against powerhouses from every class dropped the Wildcats out of the ranking and left them with a record of seven wins and 13 losses before play resumed this week. Behind that overall record, however, the Wildcats performed very well against competition in their own class.
The big win over the Mountain Lions proved that the past two weeks augmented, rather than sapped, the determination of Pendleton County as it approaches the postseason. Pitching, hitting, and defense all appeared crisp. While winless Tucker County did not provide much challenge, the Wildcats took care of business.
Friday, Pendleton County meets Jefferson in Cumberland, Maryland. On Saturday, they host Notre Dame to close out the season.