By Stephen Smoot
The National Weather Service forecast no thunderstorms in the relentless band of showers that pounded South Charleston’s Little Creek Park last Wednesday.
But Pendleton County sure brought the lightning in game one, likely making the opposing Trinity squad feel like it was rainin’ all over the world.
Head coach Eric Crites’s own forecast of what might come in the first round caused him worry, especially concerning Trinity’s recent record coming into the tournament. “Trinity is a great team,” he shared, adding, “They’re very hot right now. They’re on a six game winning streak.”
The Rock softball field complex selected for the games is a newer, perfectly symmetrical artificial turf field complete with a warming track. South Charleston through this complex provided a first-class venue to host the state championship.
On the field directly next door, similar to how the school’s districts sit side by side, Petersburg battled Oak Glen in Class AA tournament opening round action. The games started at the same time, 9:30 a.m.
By virtue of their record and seeding, Pendleton County had earned home team status, meaning that Trinity would face Baylee Beachler on the mound in the top of the first.
The first three pitches came across as Beachler nibbled around the edges. She gave up three straight balls to the delight of the Trinity dugout. Their celebratory mood ended quickly as Beachler then delivered three straight strikes to set the leadoff hitter down.
One Trinity player hit a line drive single, but it came to naught as the Wildcat pitcher shut down the half-inning with a strikeout.
Avery Townsend led off for the Wildcats, promptly dropping a hit into shallow left field that she extended into a two-base hit. That prefaced the thunder as Beachler powered a no ball and two strikes pitch over the left field wall, a line drive that seemed to not go more than 20 feet off the ground. Pendleton County then enjoyed a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats took advantage of a softball specific rule that allows a coach to lift pitchers from the game at one point and then put them back in the game later. Teams can exercise this prerogative seven times in a single game. Crites inserted Susan Vincell into the game for the top of the second, rotating his dual aces to keep the team from Morgantown off-balance at the plate. This also provided Beachler valuable rest time for her pitching arm that paid dividends the rest of the tournament.
Vincell got the first batter to ground out, but the second walked on seven pitches. The next two who came to the plate, however, succumbed to her mixture of fastballs and a wickedly precise breaking ball to strike out. Her approach to pitching differs enough from Beachler that hitters cannot get into a rhythm from one at bat to the next when Crites rotates them.
Julia Mongold set the table for subsequent hitters in the bottom of the second, earning a walk. Two batters later, with Townsend at the plate, the catcher fired a ball to first to try to catch Mongold off guard. Instead, she caught the first baseman unawares and the ball rolled into the right field corner. The speedy Mongold rounded the bases and scored the third run.
Townsend drew a walk, then quickly stole third on consecutive attempts as Beachler went through her at bat. The hitter put a bloop single into right, giving Townsend space to score easily. Next, Jenna Smith came to the plate. As she worked through the count, Beachler took second base. That put her in scoring position when Smith grounded a seeing eye single into center field. Beachler came home, putting her squad up 5-0.
In the top of the third, the Trinity leadoff batter enjoyed a bit of luck as she hit the ball off the front of the mound. It popped up and rolled back towards home plate, giving her an infield single.
Crites trotted Beachler back out to face the subsequent batter, who hit the ball sharply to the second baseman Smith. She executed a nifty flip to shortstop Townsend to get the lead runner at second. Townsend fired the ball to first, missing getting the batter out by inches. During the next at bat the runner tried to steal second, but overran the base. Townsend missed the first application of the tag, but not the second as the runner slid off base, getting the second out.
With one out, the next batter walked then successfully stole second. Shortly thereafter, Trinity built their biggest threat of the game as they loaded the bases. The next hitter drove the ball to Townsend, who fired a missile strike to home base to get the lead runner, preventing the score. Beachler then struck out the last batter of the inning.
In the bottom of the third, Vincell led by earning a walk and the Wildcats returned to business. Jaiden Mitts came in as a runner. Chesnee Colaw followed with a single, but as Mitts hustled to third base, an exceptional Trinity throw got her out.
Mongold came to the plate with two outs and Colaw at second. Another move from Crites’ bag of tricks started to figure more and more prominently as the game went on. Colaw moved toward third to try and bait a throw to second. The strategy behind this serves to keep the pitcher and catcher focused on the base runner, hoping for a mistake of some sort that the Wildcats can use for the team’s advantage.
“We wanted to put pressure on them,” said Crites, who then explained that the team had worked on plays specifically for the tournament, but that at this point “there’s no need to hold anything back.”
He then shared that “coaching is like chess” in that each tries to make moves the other does not expect.
From Mongold came a single that brought Colaw home and pushed the lead to 6-0. Molly Rowe dropped a bunt that died near home plate, sacrificing to move Mongold to scoring position. Townsend followed with an RBI line drive to left field that set the tally at 7-0.
Trinity intentionally walked the Robert Morris commit Beachler to get to Smith, the Potomac State recruit. Smith hit a single to short and made it safely as Townsend baited a throw to try to get her out. An error on the play scored Townsend, while sending Beachler to third. The half inning then ended with an 8-0 lead, enough to close the game early if it held up.
Vincell pitched through the top of the fourth without incident, then led off the bottom of the inning. She took a ball on the first pitch.
After that, the deluge.
Clouds had been spitting rain all morning, but not enough to affect the game. Now, intense showers drenched the players and the field, leading the umpires to call a rain delay. Never ones to let the rain drown their spirits, the Wildcat girls belted out tunes from the dugout as the rain banged on the roof – the Journey anthem “Don’t Stop Believing'” among them.
In the longest at bat timewise all year, Vincell drew a leadoff walk on five pitches to set up Colaw. Madison Arbaugh filled in to run for Vincell. Shortly thereafter, Rowe laid down a skillful bunt and outran the play to load the bases for Townsend.
All three scored on a Townsend blast to right that left the batter on third base. Had the Trinity player not sprinted to the ball and knocked it out of the air, Townsend would have certainly had an inside the park home run. That did not hold up Townsend long as Beachler hit into a sacrifice that sent her teammate home for the final run of the game.
Up 12-0, Vincell set down the side in order. The last batter struck out on three straight pitches. Both hurlers delivered command performances for the Wildcats and Vincell earned the win.
