Feeling the effects of a bad chicken dinner the night before, the Wyoming East hurler put together her best outing of the season, pitching a five-inning perfect game as the Lady Warriors bounced Mingo Central 9-0 in five innings to secure the Class AA Region 3 Section 1 title Wednesday at Bluefield High School.
Raye fanned five and was backed by a stellar defense that made every play it was tasked with. She even backed her own cause at the plate, blasting a two-run home run and driving in three runs on the day.
It was a drastic turnaround from the eight errors East committed in Tuesday’s win over Westside.
“I think we came into the game with a different thought,” East head coach Doc Warner said. “I told them don’t come in here and make a dumb play. Making an error is okay, but don’t make a bone-headed play.”
East’s defense stepped up early with Raye’s first three outs all recorded on balls in play.
“(Mingo) pulled off two upsets and I knew they were hype,” Raye said. “I had to be able to pitch the ball and throw strikes. I didn’t really pitch well the other day against them so I knew I had to change something.”
Raye’s gem was backed early by the offense as well with the Lady Warriors putting on a two-out clinic. Seven of their nine runs came with two outs.
East’s first two runs came via a two-out, two-run single from Alivia Monroe, another player who was suffering from food poisoning, in the bottom of the first inning on a ground ball through the hole at second base. Raye drew a bases-loaded walk in the following frame and Carlee Rollins drove in a run on a fielder’s choice to extend the advantage to 4-0.
Then came the third inning where the Miners completely derailed.
Three errors led to a five-run frame, with all five runs coming with two outs
No. 9 hitter Kendra Cook pushed two across with a single before a fly ball error off the bat of Kaydee Shrewsbury plated another.
Then came Raye who blasted the third pitch of her at bat over the fence in center for the final two runs of the game.
“I saw it and it was right down the middle and knew I had to hit that one,” Raye laughed.
All nine of East’s starters reached base at least once with six of them recording hits. It followed a trend from Tuesday’s game where seven different Lady Warriors recorded a hit.
“Make contact, hard contact,” East head Warner said off his message to the team.. “Just come up to the plate and hit it hard. All nine hit the ball hard today.”
Whether or not the food poisoning is to credit for the performance, Raye had on answer as to whether or not she’d use it as fuel again.
“Me and Alivia Monroe, very sick,” Raye said. “We went out and we were the only ones that had the chicken and it really came back to bite us. I’m never going back there.”
East will play the Section 2 winner the week of May 19 in a best-of-3 series for a spot in the state tournament.
