MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Long-time Morgantown softball coach Lorri Lipscomb has seen plenty of ups and downs in her career, and it may very well be that this year’s team might just have what it takes to finally earn a coveted spot in the state tournament.
The unbeaten Mohigans certainly staked their claim as one of the top contenders in the region with a thoroughly convincing 20-0, 3-inning whitewashing of their injury-depleted crosstown rivals University on Monday at sunny Mylan Park.
After MHS senior pitcher Grace Haines stranded her one baserunner in the first — the Hawks’ (4-3) Anna Voris’ base on balls turned out to be the only blemish on Haines’ near-perfect outing — Morgantown (4-0) got rolling at the plate in a big way, sending 16 to the plate to score 11 runs.
Both Mihalie Moser and Breonna Marietta collected two hits and three RBIs to lead the way. In the second, the Mohigans continued their hot-hitting, scoring nine more runs, the biggest blows being a pair of RBI triples from Katie Lemley and Abigail Harki. Freshman defensive substitute rightfielder Emily Peterson capped the impressive win with a fine running catch to end the ballgame.
UHS coach Mindy Parks, who found out just hours before the game that she’d be missing five of her starters, admitted the Hawks were, at least in Monday’s game, out-manned and out-gunned.
“We had several JV players who had to step in to a rivalry game for their first varsity experience, and that’s tough,” she said. “But it’s certainly a teaching moment for us, and I know that they can play better, and I also know that when we’re at full strength, we are a good team. We beat John Marshall and Wheeling Park last week, so we know we can do it. Tomorrow’s another day.”
For Lipscomb, she loves what she’s seeing in her confident Mohigans.
“We’ve had a different attitude since the beginning of the year, even in our intrasquad scrimmages,” she said. “They’re so anxious to play, to show what they can do as a team, and they’re intense and aggressive in all parts of the game. We’ve got depth at pitcher and catcher, and quality bats up and down our line up, and we’re all very excited to find out just how good we can be. ”
The Mohigans are back in action on the road at Wheeling Park today, while the Hawks travel to Robert C. Byrd on Wednesday.
UNIVERSITY (4-3)
Lindsey Vondran cf 2 0 0 0 Anna Voris lf 0 0 0 0 Meysa Heilmann ss 1 0 0 0 Ally Jansen 3b 1 0 0 0 Hannah Andrigo p 1 0 0 0 Alyssa Spadafore c 1 0 0 0 Hannah Brown 2b 1 0 0 0 Sydney Hawk 1b 1 0 0 0 Erin Yocum rf 1 0 0 0 Totals 9 0 0 0
MORGANTOWN (4-0)
Emma Phares cf 2 2 0 1 Ava Biafore ph-cf 1 0 0 0 Maris Anthony 2b 1 2 1 1 Makenna May 2b 0 0 0 0 Mihalie Moser lf 3 3 3 5 Katie Robinson lf 0 0 0 0 Breonna Marietta 3b 3 3 3 3 Grace Haines p 2 2 2 3 Micah Wilson 3b 0 0 0 0 Katie Lemley c 2 1 2 2 Lillian Kooser rf 2 2 0 0 Emily Peterson rf 0 0 0 0 Mikala Rogers 1b 1 2 0 0 Abigail Harki ph-1b 1 1 1 1 Jocelyn McCartney ss 1 2 1 0 Aubrey Nicholson ph-ss 0 0 0 1 Totals 20 10 4 6.
UHS 0 0 0 – 0
MHS 11 9 x – 20
EXTRA-BASE HITS
2B – MHS 1 (Moser). 3B – MHS 2 (Lemley, Harki).
PITCHING
UHS – Andrigo (L) 2 ip 20 r 15 er 13 h 6 bb 1 so.
MHS – Haines (W) 3 ip 0 r 0 er 0 h 1 bb 7 so.
Baseball
University 11, John Marshall 6
The Hawks were stagnant on offense to start the game, but they erupted for 10 runs in the final three innings to grab the road win.
The Smith twins were the stars for UHS (3-2), led by Evan’s three hits, including home run, and three RBIs. Casey also had three RBIs and tacked on two hits, and pitched six innings, allowing one earned run and striking out 11.
Chase Edwards had three RBIs for the Hawks, while Cam Musgrave and Drew Herter drove in the other two runs.
The Hawks will play at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Grafton.
Girls’ lacrosse
Morgantown 21, Wheeling Park 4
The Mohigans were dominant against the Patriots, led by six goals and two assists from Hannah Calvert. Sammie Gray had three goals and an assist for MHS, while Rachel Dennis also added three goals.
The Mohigans (2-0) will host Fairmont Senior on Wednesday.
Tennis
The Morgantown boys’ tennis team remained undefeated with a 7-0 win over Bridgeport.
The Mohigans (4-0) will travel to Linsly at 3:30 p.m. today.
Singles: #1 Ataes Aggarwal (9) / Ty Gandy (7); #2 Max Phillips-Hartley (8) / Paul Hong ( 1); #3 Adien Aggarwal (8) / Jacob Holbert (4); #4 Bennett Hall (8) / Josh Jackson (5)
Doubles: #1 Ataes Aggarwal / Max Phillips-Hartley (8) / Ty Gandy / Josh Jackson (1); #2 Adien Aggarwal / Bennett Hall (8) / Paul Hong/ Kyle Walker (3); #3 Dake LaSala / Doug Liu (8) / Jacob Holbert / Gregory Noone (3)
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