By Stephen Smoot
“Climb every mountain/ Ford every stream/ Follow every rainbow/ ‘Till you find your dream.”
Making the dream of winning the Bub Riggleman Tournament a reality, for the Wildcats last weekend, meant climbing a number of mountains that must have seemed like facing Mount Everest and Mount McKinley over and over, fording not streams, but the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
The path to victory for Pendleton County, one of three Class A schools invited, gave the Wildcats nothing easy.
They competed in two games on Friday, then four on Saturday. The last three of those came in a row.
To get to the final, they had to upend Williamsport of Maryland, which would be Class AAA in West Virginia. Subsequent games came against Class AAAA Hedgesville, Class AAA North Marion, Class AAAA Spring Mills (ranked 10th by West Virginia Metro News — the voting came after Saturday’s results) and then Hedgesville again.
In the finals, Pendleton County took on the current 10th ranked team in Class AAA, the rapidly improving Keyser Golden Tornadoes.
Miserably cold and windy conditions predominated over the two-day event, with the wind only easing for the championship game on Saturday night.
Simply put, the Bub Riggleman Tournament is less a friendly series of softball games and more a war of attrition where teams battle each other, the elements, and also the physical, mental, and emotional demands of playing six games in two days.
Pendleton County 10 Hedgesville 4
After Baylee Beachler held off Williamsport in a 6-3 victory, Susan Vincell took the mound against Hedgesville. The Eagles had posted a five and seven record on the year against entirely Class AAA and Class AAAA competition.
Avery Townsend led off with a single to left field. During Beachler’s subsequent at bat, Townsend made her way to third, stealing two bases during different pitches. Townsend’s hustle put her in perfect position for Beachler’s sacrifice to get her home for the initial run of the game.
Hedgesville evened the score in the top of the second, but the Wildcats took the lead right back in their half of the second. Vincell reached on an error. Shortly thereafter, with two outs and Lexi Tingler running for Vincell, Jayden Mitts reached on an error, but also got a run batted in when Tingler crossed home plate to retake the lead 2-1.
Hedgesville scored two in the top of the third to gain the lead right back, but gave it up again in the bottom of the third. Then, Townsend led off with a bunt single.
Four batters later, Wildcats filled in all the bases and Jessica Parker drove in Townsend on a sacrifice. Next with Vincell back at the plate, a wild pitch brought in Jenna Smith, then Lizzie Alt scored on a single to push the lead to 5-3. The final run of the inning came on a Mitts double, driving in Tingler.
At the close of the fourth, Pendleton County led 8-3.
Vincell got into some trouble in the top of the fourth, but got the last two outs without giving up any runs. She finished with a complete game victory.
Pendleton County 19 North Marion 4
The Wildcats opened play on Saturday morning against Class AAA North Marion. The Huskies earned a four and six record coming into the game, with most games played against schools their size. Notably, they also had a recent loss to Tucker County.
Eric Crites, head coach, turned to Molly Rowe to handle pitching duties. She had pitched only sparingly so far this season, but was asked to start against the Huskies. Rowe scattered two hits and four bases on balls over three innings and gave up only a single earned run.
While North Marion scored first, the Wildcats established and expanded their advantage until taking a 19-4 advantage by the bottom of the third. The game concluded at that point.
Pendleton County 6 Spring Mills 4
The Cardinals of Spring Mills, looking objectively at the Bub Riggleman field of teams, likely looked like they would end up making their way to the title game. This week, they enjoy a ranking of 10 in Class AAAA and have beaten decisively a number of quality schools.
In the first inning, Spring Mills accomplished what few have all year. They struck out Townsend, Beachler, and Smith in order. Cardinal batters then put up two runs in the bottom of the first.
The second inning saw no hits from either team, but the Wildcats finally responded in the top of the third. The cardinal pitcher put the leadoff batter, Chesnee Colaw, on base. Two batters later, one out recorded, Rowe laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Colaw to third.
Townsend drove her in with a triple to left field with Beachler coming up next. During that at bat, which resulted in a Beachler walk, Townsend stole home on a ball two pitch.
Currently, Townsend has 25 stolen bases and is one of the state leaders in that category.
In the bottom of the inning Spring Mills edged ahead once more, but then quickly surrendered the lead.
In the top of the fourth, with two outs, Tingler on third, Colaw on second, and Julia Mongold on first, Townsend belted another triple, giving the Wildcats a 5-3 advantage.
Pitching dominated on both sides until the bottom of the sixth where the Cardinals scored their fourth run, but also gave up their third out on the same at bat. Beachler then boosted her own cause by driving a home run to right field for the final run of the game.
Pendleton County 11 Hedgesville 10
Arm weariness seemed to settle in for both Pendleton County and Hedgesville as they battled to reach the tournament finals.
Hedgesville put up two in the first, but then gave up nine in the bottom of the same inning. Townsend led off with a bunt single. Beachler then hit a ground ball to third on her first pitch, driving in the fleet-footed Townsend.
Smith and Alt walked to load the bases for Parker, who singled to first and drove in her team’s second run. Two batters later, Smith scored on a sacrifice put in play by Colaw.
Two batters later and with two outs, Mongold hit a line drive to right, sending in courtesy runner Madison Arbaugh and Alt to extend the lead to 5-2.
Two batters later, with Mongold, Townsend, and Mitts on base, Beachler drove a one ball and one strike pitch out over the center field wall to give her team what likely seemed an insurmountable 9-2 lead.
After a loud first inning, scoring ceased for two innings. Hedgesville picked up three runs in the top of the fourth, but a Parker single scored Smith for a 10th Wildcat run in the bottom of the inning.
The Eagles came all the way back and tied the score in the top of the fifth and got the wildcats to go down in order in the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Beachler got a lead off single, stole second, then reached third on an error during Smith’s at bat. Smith hit into a sacrifice, but sent Beachler home for a narrow 11-10 lead.
Beachler then mowed down the Eagles one, two, three in the seventh and earned a berth in the title game.
Pendleton County 12 Keyser 4
At this point, Crites pulled a wild card from the deck. He called upon Alt, normally at first base, to start as pitcher, something she had not done in a game situation in years. Now her head coach asked her to not only start in a tournament championship game, but against Keyser, currently ranked 10th in Class AAA.
Alt features a pitching style somewhat different than the Wildcats’ standbys. She has long arms and a subtly deceptive delivery. The senior also relied on her defense to get outs rather than trying to overpower with speed.
Keyser picked up a run in the top of the first, but gave the lead right back in the bottom of the inning. Townsend led off with a double and stole third during Beachler’s at bat. She scored when Beachler drove her in with a double. Two batters later, Alt sent in Beachler on a fielders choice and set the score at 2-1 Wildcats.
The Golden Tornadoes drew a lead off walk in the top of the second, but quickly gave up a double play and ended the inning soon after. In the bottom of the inning, Pendleton County continued to surge. Vincell led with a walk, then went to second on a sacrifice by Colaw. Mitts then put runners on the corners with a single through second into center field.
Next, a Mongold line drive landed in right, allowing both Mitts and Vincell to score and take a 4-1 advantage. A triple by Townsend and a single by Smith drove in two runs and the inning ended with a 6-1 lead.
Runs two and three came across for the Golden Tornadoes in the top of the third, but every Keyser score in the top of an inning seemed to spur the Wildcats to do more. In the bottom of the third, with Vincell and Parker on, Colaw’s hit to center field scored them both. Another run came across when Mitts hit a sacrifice to first that sent in Tingler.
Keyser’s first hitter walked to lead off the top of the fourth, but Alt allowed nothing after. After a strikeout and a ground out, Mongold shut down the inning with a crowd pleasing play in right field, hustling after a well-hit fly ball to get the third out.
The Wildcats earned the tournament championship title with the 12-4 win.