Moorefield senior pitcher Garett Haggerty zeroed in on the strike zone and kept the Irish off balanced during a one-hitter dethroning the top ranked defending champion Charleston Catholic with help of the defense in a 2-0 victory in the West Virginia Class A state baseball tournament semifinal at Appalachian Park in Charleston on Friday night.
“To have a pitching performance just like that at the beginning, it has been working all year long so we are going to stick with it. It is easy to call pitches and the defense played great behind him. They are a great ball team. I just wanted our players to compete and that’s all I asked them to do, to compete and give 100 percent,” Moorefield coach Wade Armentrout commented.
“We have one more chance and we still have work to do. It’s great to see these young guys have this opportunity. I don’t think they realize how big it is at this point. They haven’t shied away from any situation. Garett [Haggerty] went out there with the mindset that he wasn’t going to lose and everybody just picked that up behind him. He was confident and we didn’t take advantage of all the offensive opportunities we had, but just enough when you hold a team to one hit as a efficient as he was that was fantastic. Our goal was just to get better as the season went on and didn’t say anything about this stage until we were closer to the section and region. Once we started talking about it, our pitching and defense has been great. We are glad to get it down to one game. Our team was feeding off the energy of the crowd with every out they were cheering.”
The Yellow Jackets endured a two and a half hour delay for their game due to a rain in the Class AA contest early in the afternoon, but remained calm by enjoying some ice cream during the break in the action.
Moorefield took the field for batting practice and looked poise and ready for the game.
Charleston Catholic pitcher Marshall Pile started off dealing three strikeouts and a walk in the opening frame to the Yellow Jackets as Brent Moran went down swinging, Grant Keller was given the free pass, then Blake Watts and Jake Ours struck out.
Haggerty and the Moorefield defense put the Irish down in order as sophomore second baseman Brent Moran snatched a line drive by Charleston Catholic’s Jacob Hufford, then Thomas Blaydes struck out and Dominic Martin grounded out to freshman shortstop Isaac Van Meter.
In the second inning, the Yellow Jackets didn’t find the base path as freshman third baseman Hayden Baldwin flew out to Irish center fielder Timothy Kawash, Van Meter struck out and sophomore catcher Lane Ours flew out to right fielder Brendan Lanham.
Charleston Catholic’s Brandon Combs was issued a full-count walk, then advanced on a sacrifice bunt by John Hufford back to Haggerty.
Sean and Brendan Lanham grounded out to end the inning leaving Combs aboard.
Haggerty drew a full-count walk in the top of the third inning for Moorefield, then sophomore right fielder Thomas Williams bunted into a fielder’s choice.
Moran singled into right field and Williams slid into third base on an error.
Moorefield junior designated hitter Grant Keller took a walk to load the bases and a timeout was called, then Pile countered with strikeouts to junior first baseman Blake Watts and senior center fielder Jake Ours to squash the threat.
Charleston Catholic went down in order as Kawash was tagged out by Watts on the head during a bunt, then Parker Ross grounded out to Haggerty and Jacob Hufford grounded out to Baldwin.
The Yellow Jackets took a 1-nil lead in the fourth inning which started with a double into left field by Baldwin.
“This is great. I was really feeling it with this atmosphere,” Moorefield freshman Hayden Baldwin noted.
After a flyout by Van Meter, Lane Ours ripped an RBI single into left center field for the 1-0 edge.
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Pile sandwiched strikeouts to Haggerty and Moran around a walk to Williams to escape further damage.
Blaydes singled up the middle for the Irish and stole second base, then Haggerty struck out Martin.
Charleston Catholic came up empty as Combs grounded out on a diving save by Moran and John Hufford flew out to Moorefield junior left fielder Derek Hoyt.
The ground crew put out new bases and dragged the field during the break in the action.
Keller and Watts struck out in the fifth inning, then the Yellow Jackets rallied to load the bases.
Moorefield’s Jake Ours singled into left field, Baldwin drew a full-count walk and Van Meter singled to Charleston Catholic first baseman Brandon Combs with the throw to Pile, who was off the bag.
Jake Ours came home on a passed ball to extend the Yellow Jackets advantage to 2-nil before Lane Ours grounded out sliding into first base.
The Irish failed to get on base as Moran, Baldwin and Haggerty fielded grounders over to Watts for the outs.
“I had so much confidence, this was my game to win. I just pitched strikes and knew my defense would be behind me. Whatever was hit, I knew they would be there. We aren’t finished yet and we are going to comeback tomorrow and win it,” Moorefield senior Garett Haggerty stated.
Charleston Catholic pitcher Jacob Hufford came to the mound in the sixth inning and Moorefield junior Ben O’Neill flew out to left fielder Parker Ross.
Williams was issued a walk, then Moran flew out to center fielder Timothy Kawash and Keller struck out.
Charleston Catholic went down in order as Ross grounded out to Watts, Jacob Hufford flew out to Moran and Haggerty struck out Blaydes.
Brendan Lanham entered the game for the Irish as the pitcher switching from right field an forced Watts into a pop-up caught by catcher Dominic Martin.
After a strikeout to Jake Ours, Baldwin singled into center field with Caden Kimble entering as a pinch runner and Van Meter singled into the left center gap before being stranded on a strikeout to Lane Ours.
Haggerty finished the game pitching a strikeout to Martin, then Moran caught a pop-up by Combs and Haggerty fielded a grounder by Hufford for the final out throwing to Watts to earn a spot in the state championship by ousting top ranked Charleston Catholic.
“It’s a great atmosphere. Any time you get to play at Power Park when June rolls around. That’s what you play for, a chance to get back here,” Charleston Catholic skipper Bill Mehle remarked.
“I can’t say enough about the game Garett [Haggerty] pitched, did an excellent job. We knew he was going to be effective if he stayed around the zone and he did. He pounded the zone both with his fastball and was able to throw his curveball for strikes. He kept our guys off-balanced changing eye levels. When we did put the ball into play, we hit right to people. That’s the nature of the game. That’s only the second time we’ve been shutout this year and the other time was to Hurricane and they are playing in the AAA championship game. That was solid pitching and defense. Moorefield didn’t make any mistakes defensively and we were told they were a solid team. Our ball didn’t find grass and a few of theirs did, so that was the difference maker. The best teams in the state are going to make it to the tournament and you expect to be evenly matched. You expect it to be a great battle and it was tonight. I know Coach [Wade] Armentrout is an excellent coach and has been at it a long time. He obviously had very good scouting reports on us and knew where we hit and knew what our tendencies were. Hats off to him for doing his homework and getting his guys ready to play an excellent game.”
The Yellow Jackets were buzzing with excitement and carried the momentum for the title on Saturday.
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