MORGANTOWN — The University softball team is in the driver’s seat after two days of the Class AAA sectional tournament, and the Hawks are loving every second of it.A five-run third inning propelled the Hawks to a 7-4 win over crosstown rival Morgantown on Tuesday night, leaving them the only undefeated team remaining in the double-elimination tournament and securing a coveted bye May 2.
“Now Buckhannon-Upshur or MHS has to beat us twice. The pressure isn’t on us, it’s on them,” UHS coach Mindy Parks said. “I think that’ll make us more confident and help us play better.”
The two squads split a pair of regular-season match-ups, with MHS nabbing a victory over UHS just last week. Now, the Mohigans will have to battle Buckhannon-Upshur, a team they defeated Monday night, for the right to play UHS in the finals.
“What I told them after the game, this is where you’ve got to get a fire under you. We made it harder on ourselves, but that just means we can play harder and come back with more vengeance,” MHS coach Lorri Lipscomb said.
“We just have to come out and play our game, and not worry about the little mistakes. We have to get up and play seven innings of softball.”
UHS caught fire at the plate in the third, with a Layne Assif hit driving home three runs to pace the Hawks on a comeback after falling down, 1-0, early. Parks noted her team’s hitting as a deciding factor in the contest.
“The hitting was the highlight of the day. Just having that top of the lineup carry us through the year, now the bottom lineup is hitting and that is helping us,” Parks said.
“Getting up 5-1 in the third gave us some confidence. They kind of battled back a little, but when we got those two quick outs in the seventh I knew it was going to be pretty tough for them to come back.”
Both teams earned eight hits at the plate, but MHS earned just half the number of RBIs as UHS.
Lipscomb said her team needs to capitalize on more opportunities to score.
“In the past few games, when we have played well and won, we’ve had timely hits. In the last inning today, in the heart of our lineup, we get a popup on the infield,” she said. “You have to get those timely hits and not leave our runners on base.”
Parks hopes the win will help improve her team’s confidence, knowing that it can get ahead, stay ahead and beat local foes.
“We’re going to improve on confidence, just knowing we can beat them,” she said. “The bottom of the lineup needs to get more aggressive; none of the teams left have great pitching, so it’s going to be a hitting game. “I’m looking forward to Thursday.”
MHS and Buckhannon will meet at 6:45 tonight, at Mylan Park. The winner will advance to battle UHS at 5 p.m. Thursday.
