Pendleton County got stunned by Wheeling Catholic Central in game one, but returned with their claws armed and ready for game two. Awaiting them was regional rival East Hardy who had given the White Falcons of Wahama all they wanted in the first game, losing only 2-0 to the powerhouse program from Mason County.
The first Cougar runner got aboard on a miscue and made her way to scoring position at second base. A sacrifice bunt advanced her to third. The next batter slapped a soft grounder to third, putting the East Hardy run across.
Susan Vincell ended the inning with a strikeout and her squad took over at the plate.
With one out and no one on, Callie Judy laid a bunt down, rolling it slowly in front of the plate. East Hardy pounced on the ball, but Judy reached safely on an error. Next up came Jessica Parker, to whom the first pitch came over for a strike, but the fleet footed Judy swiped second. Parker ended up earning a walk in the at bat.
Two batters later, Kinsley Price fired a line drive to right field. Wildcat base runners took an aggressive posture all day. That helped two runners come in to give Pendleton County the lead, 2-1.
Vincell set the Cougars down in order in the second, striking out two in the half inning and East Hardy dispatched the Wildcats in their half of the inning.
In the top of the third, East Hardy posted three runs to take the lead. But that would not last long.
Pendleton County started off the bottom of the third with a Judy base on balls. Parker stepped to the plate next. After evening the count at one ball and one strike, she drove a line shot into centerfield, but a Cougar’s leaping catch deferred the third Pendleton County run, at least for a bit.
Vincell put in the work at the plate to help her cause on the mound. With one out, she sent the ball into right field where it caromed off the glove of the fielder. One run scored, Vincell reached third, and once again the game was tied, this time at three.
With Madison Arbaugh running for Vincell on third, Price laid down a bunt and outlegged the throw to put runners at the corners. In another example of softball as a “game of inches” at times, Chesnee Colaw drove a pitch off the glove of the left fielder, sending in two runs and putting her squad back on top to stay.
The sixth run of the game and fourth run of the inning came across during a wild pitch.
Neither team gained advantage on the other until the Pendleton half of the fifth inning.
Lexi Tingler patiently outworked the East Hardy pitcher, gaining a base on balls on six pitches. Colaw followed with a walk of her own.
Next came Abby Judy, one of the freshmen with great potential that head coach Hillary Fox mentioned prior to the season. She came through in her at bat, coolly laying a bunt down the third base line, then accelerating to first and beating the throw. Her bunt also earned her a run batted in as the score moved to 7-4.
Next up came Laney Bowers. On her fourth pitch, the ball escaped the glove of the catcher, giving Colaw an opportunity to sprint in and score the eighth run. Bowers’ at bat concluded with a sacrifice when she angled a ground ball to third. Though out at first, she earned the RBI when the ninth run crossed the plate.
East Hardy desperately tried to stave off the mercy rule in the face of their own fatigue and the rising momentum of the Wildcats. Callie Judy earned a walk with two outs recorded. Then Parker drove a ball off of the pitcher and reached safely herself.
Vincell stepped to the plate with runners at the corners and pulled the ball with authority past third base and into left field. Her stand up double came with two RBIS and put her team one run away from closing it out against East Hardy.
Arbaugh stood in as the courtesy runner as Price entered her at bat. Four pitches in, she laced a ground ball into centerfield for the 12th run and the end of the contest with the score 12-4.
