MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown High softball team has to feel good heading into this week’s Region I championship series with Wheeling Park.
The Mohigans knocked off the Patriots twice this year on the road and at home, and that’s what it will need to do beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday at I-470 fields in Wheeling. The series will head to Morgantown on Wednesday, and then back to Wheeling again Thursday if necessary in the best 2-of-3 series.
While a chance to play in the state tournament is always the goal, MHS has never gotten there. With an 18-6 mark, an OVAC regular season championship and sectional title, this is as good a time as any, according to coach Lorri Lipscomb.
“We’ve accomplished a lot this season record-wise — it was our best yet,” she said. “We beat them twice this season but both were close games, so it should be a good matchup.”
The first game was April 3, a comeback win for the Mohigans. Trailing 7-4, they scored five runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and held off a Patriots’ comeback in the seventh to clinch a 9-8 win.
The second meeting April 17 was the opposite with MHS jumping out to a 3-0 lead early and rode pitcher Brooke Pyles to a 3-1 win, as she tossed seven innings and gave up six hits.
“That first meeting, we got out ahead, but errors cost us later and Morgantown had a big inning,” Park coach Pat Durkin said. “In that second game, we pitched a freshman (Emily Ashton) and she got into some trouble, but once we put Ashley Linder in, she shut them down the rest of the way.
“We’ve had a mixed bag against them this year, but it should definitely be a good series — Morgantown is a good team.”
The Patriots (11-10) are led at the plate by speedy outfielder Shea Wright, who is hitting .333 from the top of the order. She relies on the middle-of-the-order threats of Izzy Miller, Kieran Johnson and Linder to drive her in.
Wheeling Park thrives on contact and speed to score runs, as the lineup doesn’t have much power. The Patriots have just two home runs all season, both by Ashton, but they do put the ball in play and make defenses play soundly.
“They can definitely hit the ball,” said MHS pitcher Grace Haines, who went seven innings in the first matchup this year. “We for sure cannot take them lightly. We have beat them twice but that doesn’t matter. Each team gets better as the season goes on, and I know this team is one of them. The top of the lineup definitely has strong bats and we have to be cautious pitching wise. You have to throw the right pitches at the right time.
“I believe if we can get them off balance in the box we can minimize hits, which will be the difference in a win and a loss.”
The Mohigans will likely rely on Pyles to start Game 1 on the rubber, while Haines may take Game 2. Linder, who Durkin said is his best pitcher, will oppose Pyles today.
Linder pitched in both games against MHS with vastly different results. In the first meeting, she gave up nine runs (four earned) in seven innings. In the second, she gave up just one hit in four innings.
“I know she can throw pretty well,” Haines said of Linder. “Her pitches aren’t as fast as some of the pitchers we have faced, but she definitely has some movement on her ball. The first game we played them, she dominated the outside corner and we struggled to hit it. We have gotten better and have learned that we need to put those pitches in play.”
