As the Lady Cee Bees invaded Moorefield, swirling winds sent the tarp flying and a torrential downpour caused a two and a half hour delay before the Lady Yellow Jackets coasted on the calmer sails of a pair of three-run home runs by Macie Zirk and Remington Hinkle en route to an 11-3 six inning victory in the first game of the Class A Region II Softball Championship series at Sager Field on Monday night.
“That was wild [wind moving tarp], I thought we were going to end up in Baker or somewhere with all of us holding on to it. It was kind of like the Wizard of Oz,” Moorefield Coach Tammie Ayers remarked.
“I was a little bit worried, as always we just have to keep playing. I keep telling them we have to play all seven innings and not to get down. When we do get down in the numbers, just to keep fighting and they did. Hopefully the rain holds off tomorrow. To go up 1-0 over somebody is much better than 0-1. We just have to go and play our game tomorrow.”
Moorefield players were nearly swallowed by the tarp as it towered above them prior to the game running among the chaos, then the rain plus lightning sent people scattering to their vehicles.
Clay-Battelle (20-5) was willing to wait for the weather to subside and patience paid off as the championship against Moorefield (21-8) finally got underway under cloudy skies with the sun starting to peak out as it set along the mountain skyline.
Moorefield sophomore starting pitcher Hanna Carlson opened the championship contest with a strikeout to Clay-Battelle leadoff batter Abbey Ammons.
Rylee Burnette singled for the Lady Cee Bees into center field, but Carlson countered with another strikeout to Caitlyn Kassay and ended the side inducing a groundout by Alicia Keener to Moorefield third baseman Macie Zirk over to first baseman Alyssa Vetter.
Clay-Battelle pitcher Caitlyn Kassay delivered a strikeout to Moorefield leadoff batter Rebekah Markwood, then jammed Remington Hinkle into a pop-up caught in foul territory.
One of the umpires gave Kassay a warning about an illegal pitch which appeared to be a small hop off the pitching rubber.
Carlson was issued a walk and courtesy runner Gracie O’Neill came in before being stranded on a strikeout to Madison McGregor.
In the top of the second inning, Clay-Battelle’s Ronda Petrucci smacked a single into center field, then Madison Statler hit a line drive to Moorefield shortstop Rebekah Markwood, who turned the first of three doubles plays for the Lady Yellow Jackets making the throw to first base before Ashley Weber grounded out to Carlson.
“That’s been our goal to have a double play and today we had three. I’m really excited about it and I was jumping around at third base,” Coach Ayers noted.
Moorefield’s Tori Humphries launched a double to the center field fence just eluding the Cee Bees defense.
After a sacrifice bunt by Alyssa Vetter moved Humphries over to third base, Zirk reached base on a dropped third strike.
Alyson Simmons plated Humphries on a sacrifice bunt to give the Lady Yellow Jackets a 1-nil edge.
Moorefield’s Anna Riggleman created an RBI scoring Zirk during an error by Ammons at shortstop and beat the throw to first base for a 2-0 lead, then a pop-out by Markwood ended the inning.
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“It was good to see Anna Riggleman back in the lineup, she felt good swinging tonight. She’s a good arm and catch in the field too,” Coach Ayers stated.
Clay-Battelle’s Sydney Wilson popped out to Markwood in the third inning before Hannah Hall sent a deep fly ball into right center field where it eluded Makaleigh Snyder for a double.
Ammons flew out to Snyder and Hall slid safely into third base, then Burnette drew a full-count walk from Carlson.
Assay connected for a game tying, two-run producing double in center field for a 2-all score.
The Lady Cee Bees took a 3-2 lead on Keener’s RBI blooper single near the right field line.
“There were some positive things that happened for us out there. A few breaks went against us and when you play against a good team like Moorefield is, they capitalized on it,” Clay-Battelle coach Butch Varner commented.
“As I told my girls after the game, we’ll live for the game tomorrow. The series moves to Blacksville where we are a lot more comfortable. I’ll be interested to see how the game goes in Blacksville. A good team will take advantage of pitches.”
A timeout was called and the Lady Yellow Jackets brought in freshman Lauren Arbaugh to the pitching circle and she caught a line drive by Petrucci to end any further damage.
“Hanna did a good job the first couple of innings and they just started hitting her. When they start hitting, I’m going to switch pitchers and we needed somebody to come in with a low ball and quite honestly Lauren is my best to throw low and inside. She did an awesome job coming back as a freshman and I like to see that. She made a great diving play and we had three double plays,” Coach Ayers said.
After a groundout by Hinkle started the bottom of the third inning, Carlson was given a free pass and McGregor doubled into left center field to put runners in scoring position for Moorefield.
Humphries knocked an RBI single into center field tying the game and advanced to second base on the throw to third base with McGregor safely arriving there.
Vetter was tagged out by Lady Cee Bees third baseman Keener during a bunt as the runners stayed.
Zirk stepped up to the plate and smashed her first career three-run home run giving Moorefield a 6-3 advantage.
Kassay ended the inning with a strikeout to Simmons.
“Macie [Zirk] came up to bat and she’s been struggling at the plate, so I told her after two strikes I want you off the plate and extend the arms. That’s what she did, so she came through and I think that’s the first time she’s ever hit a home run even in practice for her career. It was really exciting that she did it in a regional game against one of the better pitchers that we’ve seen. We have to keep fighting 110 percent, 100 percent of the time,” Coach Ayers commented.
Arbaugh pitched a strikeout to Statler to commence the fourth inning, then Weber grounded out to Vetter at first base.
Wilson reached first base on an error by Arbaugh, who wasn’t able to pick up the ball in time.
Moorefield catcher Alyson Simmons made the pickoff throw to first base to retire the side.
Hinkle drilled a double into right field after a strikeout to Riggleman and a pop-out by Markwood for the Lady Yellow Jackets and Carlson drew a walk before advancing on a passed ball.
Both runners were stranded on a strikeout by Kassay to McGregor.
In the fifth inning, Hall grounded out to Zirk prior to Ammons hitting a single into center field.
Clay-Battelle added another baserunner as Burnette reached on an error with Markwood’s pass not cleanly scooped up by Vetter in time.
Kassay barreled a line drive to Vetter, who turned a double play simply by touching first base.
Humphries and Vetter struck out for Moorefield in the bottom of the fifth inning before Zirk reached base on an error in right field.
After a pitch was called a ball, Kassay asked the home plate umpire about the location and finished with a 2-2 strikeout to Simmons for her ninth overall.
Keener singled into center field to begin the top of the sixth inning, then Riggleman caught a fly ball by Petrucci.
The Lady Cee-Bees batter Madison Statler got on board during an error by Arbaugh, knocking the ball down and not able to retrieve it in time as it rolled toward third base.
Arbaugh made up for it by making a diving snatch on a low hit by Weber and turning a double play with a throw to second base to escape the side.
Riggleman got things going for the Lady Yellow Jackets with a single into center field and Markwood made a slap hit to Keener at third base for a single.
Hinkle crushed a three-run home run over the right center field fence to put Moorefield on top 9-3.
“Remi came through with a home run too and she’s been struggling. We have this saying, ‘no P hits this game’ and she didn’t hit any ‘P’ hits this time. She did very well tonight,” Coach Ayers said.
Kassay walked Carlson for a fourth time in the game, then McGregor notched a single.
Humphries executed a bunt and the throw eluded Hall at first base creating time for Carlson and McGregor to come home for the game-winning mercy rule score of 11-3.
The Moorefield fans were cheering loudly and members of the baseball team came on the field to congratulate the softball squad and assist with putting the tarp back on the field sans the wind.
“When you have your fans cheering outside the fence yelling for you and cheering you on, everybody is more comfortable when they’re at their own home field. It just can’t be like that all the time. We were the regional hosts this year and they had to come here first, so we will have to see what happens there. We will come out with a ‘W’ there too. There is one more week before state,” Coach Ayers concluded.
The Lady Yellow Jackets travelled to Clay-Battelle for the second game of the championship series on Tuesday seeking one more victory to earn a return ticket to the state tournament in Vienna.
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