Bluefield – There will be another high-stakes Wyoming County rivalry match.
Wyoming East and Westside secured victories Monday, downing Mingo Central and Bluefield, respectively, in the Class AA Region 3 Section 1 tournament at Bluefield High School to advance to the winner’s bracket.
The two rivals will meet on Tuesday at Bluefield with a spot in Wednesday’s sectional championship game on the line.
Mingo Central, which fell to Wyoming East, eliminated Bluefield 15-6 in the third and final game of the night to extend its season and will face the loser of Westside-East 30 minutes after the conclusion of that game for the other spot in the sectional title game.
Westside, which bested Bluefield 2-1 in nine innings, relied primarily on pitcher Paisley Shannon who did a little bit of everything. She fanned 14 in a complete-game effort and drove in Kinley Morgan for the game-winning run with a safety squeeze bunt.
“At first I was just gonna hit,” Shannon smiled. “Then I was like I’ll go ahead and bunt. But I trusted my coach and went all in.”
Shannon allowed 10 hits but just one run that came in the opening frame.
“We left eight runners on base if my count was correct and you just can’t do that in a close game like that,” Bluefield head coach Justin Hall said. “The kids fought and clawed, we just couldn’t string it together when we needed them. It was a drastic difference from when we played them at their place and they beta us 9-0. We were in it. Maddie (Lawson) pitched her tail off, probably the best game she pitched all year. She was locked in and gave every bit of heart she had. We just couldn’t push the runs across we needed.”
Lawson put Bluefield on the board with an infield single in the first while Westside had to wait until the bottom of the fifth to match. A Shannon single led to her courtesy runner Morgan eventually moving into scoring position on another bunt. Tinley Hicks knotted the game on another bunt, with Mackenzie Morgan jetting for home after the throw to first was made.
Bluefield nearly answered in the top of the sixth when Lawson hit a fly ball to left field and rounded the base at third but a throw to the plate was in time with Kinley Morgan tagging Lawson to prevent the inside-the-park home run.
Bluefield had another chance to end the game early in the eighth when it put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out but Shannon fanned the next two in order to preserve the tie.
“I work better under pressure, personally,” Shannon admitted. “I feel like I have a good team behind and it helps me a lot.”
Wyoming East followed that matchup with a different approach, swinging for the fences and clearing them three times in an 11-3 victory.
Mak Hatfield homered twice, going 4-for-4 with five RBI while Kaydee Shrewsberry notched her third dinger of the year. The dam largely broke in the third inning where East put four runs on the board, starting with a ground-out from Carli Raye.
Carlee Rollins followed with a single before Hatfield went over the wall in center for her first home run of the night. Alivia Monroe and Victoria Smith followed with an RBI double each in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 7-0 lead, threatening to run-rule Mingo.
But the Miners worked out of the jam and answered with three runs in the top of the sixth for new life. That life quickly faded when Shrewsbury opened the bottom of the sixth with her solo-home run before Hatfield launched another ball out of the park.
Smith did the final honors with a single to invoke the mercy rule.
Mingo showed little wear from that contest, though, putting three runs on Bluefield in the first inning of the final game of the evening, an elimination contest. The Beavers got one back on a Sophie Hall homer but trailed 6-3 going into the fourth inning.
There the Miners exploded, sending 13 to the plate and scoring eight runs. Hall got three back in the bottom of the frame with a bases-clearing double but Mingo’s cushion proved too large to overcome in a 15-6 victory for the Miners that lasted only five innings.
“They were able to put the ball in play,” Coach Hall said. “I think the first game did take a lot out of us. I think we were mentally in it. The physical aspect – it’s cold, it’s midnight, so there’s a lot in play and they had to deal with it too. It’s not all that. We dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t get out of it.”
