By Stephen Smoot
Last Thursday gray overcast skies, even deeper gray rain clouds hovering on the west and north horizons, and raw temperatures greeted Tygarts Valley as they drove into Franklin for sectional play.
The deluge was coming, but not the rain shower type.
Pendleton County earned a first round bye and waited on the Bulldogs to beat Pocahontas County.
Tygarts Valley could get nothing started in the top of the first as Baylee Beachler took the first three batters down in order. Bulldog pitchers seemed to try and pitch around the lead off hitting Avery Townsend, whose season average of .525 was second only to Beachler’s .553.
Towsend tried to bunt at the first pitch, sending it foul. Four straight pitches outside the strike zone put her on first. Beachler followed her in the order and belted a deep ball to the right field wall, walking into third and driving Townsend home for the first run.
With Callie Judy coming in as the courtesy runner for Beachler, Jessica Parker went to the plate. She placed a bunt perfectly between the pitcher’s mound and third base. Some indecision on the part of fielders allowed both Judy to score and Parker to reach second base safely.
Next at bat, Lizzie Alt worked the count to three balls and one strike. Lexi Tingler, who was in to run for Parker, stole third during the at bat. Alt drove a sharply hit ground ball directly at the shortstop, who fumbled the play. Tingler got home on the play. Alt got to third base on the next at bat as Molly Rowe hit the sacrifice for her teammate.
That was a pivotal play for Alt because it allowed her to steal home on a wild pitch to Susan Vincell, setting the score at 4-0. Vincell ended up taking a base on balls.
Still in the bottom of the first with two outs, the Bulldog pitcher got ahead of Chesnee Colaw on a no balls and two strikes count, but the batter drove a hard grounder past third into left field. With Colaw on first and Vincell on second, Julia Mongold powered a seeing-eye hit into left center field for a double, sending home Vincell and giving the Wildcats a 5-0 lead.
All in all, the tone of the game stayed one of taking care of the business at hand. Instead of explosions of power and great plays, the Wildcats relentlessly pushed forward inning to inning.
Beachler announced her second trip to the plate of the game with a leadoff shot to the wall that missed leaving the field of play by about two feet. Three batters later, with Judy running for Beachler and Alt having earned a walk, Rowe once again hit into a sacrifice and advanced her teammates. This time, she picked up a run batted in for her effort as Judy crossed home plate.
Up 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Jaden Mitts led off by reaching base safely on an error. Colaw came up next and got on base in the same fashion.
During Mongold’s at bat, a one ball and one strike pitch got away from the Bulldog catcher, allowing both runners on base to move up. She then got the lead runner home by grounding into a fielder’s choice.
That brought Townsend back to the plate. The first pitch to her flew past the catcher’s mitt again, allowing an alert Colaw to get home and secure the eighth run. Townsend battled and picked up a single, but the play allowed her to get to second and Mongold to third. A Beachler looper to shallow left field brought home both base runners and pushed the advantage to 10-0.
Three batters later came Rowe, who probably had one of the most productive no hits and two at bats box score lines imaginable in this game. With Judy on second base, running for Beachler, Rowe swung on and missed strike three. The catcher, however, dropped the ball. As Rowe sprinted down the line, the throw to first missed the first baseman.
Another error allowed the Mercury-footed Rowe to rocket around the base paths, following Judy home for a 12-0 lead.
Vincell followed by hitting a deep shot nearly to the wall in left field, giving her a stand-up double. Izzy Lockard came on to run for Vincell and saw Mitts hit the first pitch to her into center, allowing Lockard to score the 13th and final run of the contest.
In the top of the fourth and fifth, Beachler walked one, but struck out four to close out the game.
The double elimination format meant that the two teams had to compete again on Saturday night. The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard right away, getting two runs in the first. Tygarts Valley then got out of the bottom of the first allowing no runs.
The bottom of the second, however, saw the Wildcats score seven runs on their way to a 22-3 victory and sectional title. Thirteen of those runs came in the bottom of the fourth, a highlight being a Beachler grand slam.
Next, Pendleton County will start a best of three series to determine the Region II title. This coming Monday at home, they will take on Tucker County, who eliminated East Hardy.
In other area related action, Petersburg beat Moorefield in a 12-11 thriller to take their section in Class AA. Frankfort won their section in Class AAA by defeating Keyser 6-0. Those two winners represent the only losses endured by Pendleton County during the season.
