MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown and University High School softball teams each earned victories on Friday evening at Mylan Park to advance to the Region I championship series for a shot at punching their ticket to the state tournament.
The Mohigans moved past John Marshall 2-0 behind a two-hit effort in the circle by Maddie Wisman and some solid defense behind her.
“Maddie’s mental aspect is so strong when she’s in the circle,” MHS head coach Lorri Lipscomb said. “She struggled to hit some spots, but she’s such a great player and so determined that she plays through those things. If she makes a mistake, she comes right back to make up for it.”
The difference-making inning came in the bottom of the third for the Mohigans. Carper Messerly beat out a groundball for an infield single to lead off and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Madi Stone. Messerly was brought around as the next batter, Anne Robinson, smashed a pitch to deep center field for an RBI triple that gave MHS a 1-0 lead.
She was brought in to score to double the lead as the next MHS hitter, Grace Robinson, drove her sister home to score with a sacrifice bunt.
But those two runs would be the only two of the contest as Wisman dealt the Mohigans to the sectional title and into the Region I state championship series.
“I think we came out and stayed mentally tough throughout the game,” Wisman said. “We came into the game with the mentality of staying strong and staying up against our opponent. The dugout was into the game and stayed loud. We went into the season with big goals and knowing we want to do big things.”
Lipscomb echoed the words of her starting pitcher.
“That chemistry is an important thing,” she said. These girls have each other’s backs, and that’s been key for our team all year. Faith over fear.”
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 2, John Marshall 0
JMHS 000 000 0 – 0 2 1
MHS 002 000 X – 2 4 0
John Marshall – Inclan 3000 Shock 2000 Finley 3000 White 3000 Keyser 2010 Babiczuk 3000 Dijkstra 2000 Gonchoff 2000 Finley 2010
Morgantown – A. Robinson 2111 G. Robinson 2001 Alsop 2000 Wisman 2010 Rhodes 3000 Smith 3010 B. Robinson 2000 Messerly 2110 Stone 1000
2B: Wisman
3B: A. Robinson
(W) Wisman: 7.0ip 2h 0r 3bb 9k
(L) Dijkstra: 6.0ip 4h 2r 2bb 2k
University 17, Buckhannon-Upshur 0
The defending state champion Hawks dominated Buckhannon-Upshur 17-0, scoring their runs on the same number of hits. Maddie Campbell pitched a five-inning no-hit effort while also going 4 for 4 at the plate, including a home run in the bottom of the first inning.
University jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage in the first inning, including Campbell’s homer, and added six more runs in each of the second and third frames.
Three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning sealed the deal as the Lady Bucs failed to produce a base hit, giving UHS a mercy rule victory to seal the sectional title and a spot in the Region I championship series against the Mohigans.
Regionals are set to be held the week of May 19-24.
