MORGANTOWN — Morgantown freshman Breonna Marietta struggled at the plate through six innings Tuesday night, as the Mohigans battled rival University in the sectional tournament.
In the end, none of that mattered. Her first hit of the evening was the only one she needed — a walk-off double with the bases loaded that drove home three runs to secure a 6-5 Morgantown victory.
“She just came up and cleared the bases,” MHS coach Lorri Lipscomb said. “The thing about her is that she kind of struggled with the bat the whole game, but on her last one she came through — that’s pretty exciting to see for a freshman.”
The play completed a massive rally by the Mohigans to overcome a five-run deficit, after being held scoreless through the bottom of the fifth. The Mohigans scored two runs to close the fifth before kicking into gear in the bottom of the seventh following a lead-off triple from pinch-hitter Emma Phares.
“It all started off with Emma hitting her triple,” Marietta said. “All the girls were really positive and hype from her hit, and when I got to the plate and saw we had girls on the base, I knew I had to get the hit to drive them all in.”
This type of rally isn’t uncommon for Morgantown, according to Lipscomb, as the team excelled at supporting each other and finding a spark of energy to gather behind all season long, which has led to their success thus far.
“Everyone is so positive — they stay hyped and they love when people do good. If someone has a bad at-bat, they still come back to the dugout with their heads up. We have girls who pick other girls up,” Marietta said. “Everyone is focused, and when they’re focused, they’re on and they do well. You just have to stay positive throughout whatever is going on.”
In an uncharacteristic performance, University freshman Autumn Stemple recorded five walks and appeared to falter late in the game as MHS rallied for the comeback. Despite holding Morgantown to just five hits and recording eight strikeouts, her performance wasn’t enough to seal the win for her team.
“That’s not common for her — that may be the most she had all season. A couple calls didn’t go our way, then she walked a couple more after that and then the bases were loaded. Maybe she was running out of gas a little bit — she pitched the night before,” Hawks coach Mindy Parks said. “A good hitting team, to hold them to five hits, that’s impressive. She’s a freshman, she’s young and that’s going to happen. It’s a tough loss because we were up and in control and it just didn’t go our way.”
For Morgantown, the win secured a bye through Thursday, while UHS will host Buckhannon-Upshur at 5 p.m. today in an elimination game — the Buccaneers eliminated Preston from sectional play with an 8-0 victory Tuesday. The winner of today’s advances to play Morgantown on Thursday in a must-win scenario.
MHS can lose Thursday but will have another chance Friday in the double-elimination format.
Lipscomb is happy to see her team in the driver’s seat, but hopes the advantage gives her team confidence rather than a cushion.
“I hope it gives us the confidence. It’s nice to be sitting in that position — we’re the owners of our own destiny. I’m hoping that we come ready to play Thursday, not overconfident, but we have to come ready to play and have that championship mentality,” she said.
While the Hawks now face a significant wall to climb to advance, Parks is confident in her team’s ability to handle the position they find themselves in and are excited to get back on track.
“We’re not giving up. We’ve felt like the underdogs all year, and we’re going to take it one game at a time. You can never take any team lightly. It is what it is,” she said.
