MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — After falling behind early Monday, the Morgantown High softball team woke up in a big way.
Jocelyn McCartney had three hits and drove in three runs and the Mohigans pounded rival University High, 9-2 at Mylan Park.
The game was completely different from a 20-0 MHS victory earlier in the season against a depleted Hawks’ roster. UHS made sure of that in the early innings.
After stranding a pair of Mohigans in the top of the first, University (8-7) played some classic small ball to manufacture an early lead.
Speedy lead-off hitter Meysa Heilmann worked a walk from Morgantown starting pitcher Grace Haines (who had signed her letter of intent with Concord University earlier in the day), then used her legs to steal second, then third, then trot home on Lindsey Vondran’s RBI grounder.
The Hawks doubled their lead in the third when Heilmann led off with a single, stole second, and scored on Stemple’s two-out RBI single, and UHS had a chance for more, but a base running error ended the inning.
As if pouncing on the mistake, Morgantown (10-2) took the lead in the top of the fourth on RBI hits from Haines, Lillian Kooser, and McCartney.
Looking for the counter-punch, University got their first two hitters on base against Haines, who had been extended to 79 pitches by the patient, pesky Hawks. MHS coach Lorri Lipscomb decided to replace her ace with Mikala Rogers, who pitched her way out of the two-on, none-out jam without giving up a run.
Surviving the push with their lead intact, MHS unloaded on the tiring Stemple for five runs on four hits, including consecutive RBI doubles from Emily Goldcamp and Haines, followed by a big two-out, two RBI single by McCartney.
Another Mohigans run in the sixth on Breonna Marietta’s sharp single made it 9-2, and Rogers finished it with her fourth scoreless inning for the victory.
After the game, University coach Missy Parks recognized that her Hawks are still trying to develop the depth and experience they need to compete against the best teams this year.
“The game was right there for us,” she said, “but some rookie mistakes and an inability to consistently move runners around and in really cost us. If you want to hang with the big dogs, you need more than one pitcher and a couple hitters, and today’s game showed that. We’ve beaten some good teams this year already, but our youth has hurt us, and I hope we can learn from this moving forward.”
Lipscomb, on the other hand, truly appreciates her deep, productive line-up, and the luxury of a stable of quality pitchers to count on.
“Hitting is contagious,” she smiled, “and we don’t care who gets us started. Today, the bottom of the order really did a great job for us. And even a quality pitcher like Grace is a little less effective the third time through the lineup, especially after 75 pitches, so it’s such a huge advantage to be able to bring in someone like Mikala. She has a different movement and gives a different look, and it just presents another challenge to the hitters.”
The Mohigans face Wheeling Park at home on Senior Night at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, while the Hawks host Weir at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Box score
MORGANTOWN (10-2)
Emma Phares cf 4 0 0 0 Maris Anthony 2b 5 0 0 0 Mihalie Moser lf 4 2 2 0 Breonna Marietta 3b 1 2 1 1 Emily Goldcamp 1b-c 4 1 1 1 Grace Haines p-1b 4 2 2 2 Katie Lemley c 0 0 0 0 Lillian Kooser rf 3 2 2 1 Mikala Rogers p 0 0 0 0 Abigail Harki dh 3 0 0 0 Jocelyn McCartney ss 4 0 3 3 Totals 32 9 11 8.
UNIVERSITY (8-7)
Meysa Heilmann ss 3 2 1 0 Anna Argrabrite 3b 4 0 1 0 Lindsey Vondran cf 4 0 1 1 Autumn Stemple p 4 0 2 1 Ally Jansen 1b 3 0 1 0 Maddie Moon 2b 3 0 0 0 Hannah Andrigo lf 2 0 2 0 Alyssa Spadafore dh 3 0 1 0 Anna Voris c 3 0 1 0 Sydney Hawk rf 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 2 10 2
Morgantown 000 351 0—9
University 101 000 0—2
2B–MHS 2 (Goldcamp, Haines) UHS 1 (Voris).
Pitching
MHS – Haines 3+ ip (Faced two in 4th) 2 r 2 er 5 h 4 bb 4 so, Rogers (W) 4 ip 0 r 0 er 6 h 0 bb 2 so.
UHS – Stemple (L) 7 ip 9 r 7 er 11 h 3 bb 13 so.
