MORGANTOWN — On two different occasions, Emily Goldcamp’s bat was the difference in Morgantown High advancing to the finals of the sectional tournament with a 12-11 victory against Wheeling Park.
She stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runners on base with the game tied at seven and hit the first pitch out of the park.
“I was just trying to get the ball in play honestly,” the Mohigans first baseman said of her go-ahead homer that gave her team a 10-7 lead late in the game. “I saw the pitch come in and just kind of went for it but was not expecting it to go out.”
She likely didn’t expect to find herself in another decisive moment, but that’s exactly where she was an inning later, after Wheeling Park scored four runs to take its first lead of the game in the top of the seventh.
Goldcamp came to the plate with the game tied once again. After Marris Anthony tied the game at 11 with an RBI double, Goldcamp slapped the ball hard between the first and second basemen, allowing Anthony to round third and score the game-winning run unchallenged at the plate.
This is the second consecutive game against Wheeling Park the Mohigans have won on a walk-off, and the second consecutive game they’ve done it after allowing the Patriots to make a comeback.
MHS took control early in the game, scoring seven unanswered runs in the first two innings. Pitcher Mikala Rogers was dealing early as well, holding WPHS to just one run through four batting appearances. Rogers threw seven innings for MHS, striking out seven batters in her return from concussion protocol.
“It’s Mikala’s first day back from protocol and having her in the circle helped us,” MHS head coach Lorri Lipscomb said. “She had some issues with balance on the mound, but once she figured it out she was fine. They did well to adjust to her throughout the game.”
But just as it went last week, the Patriots would find an offensive rally and score six runs in the top half of the fifth to tie the game at seven. Then after Goldcamp’s home run, rallied once again, this time taking the lead 11-10 on a single by right fielder Mary Darrow that scored two runners.
Lipscomb knows the Patriots always play a hard game and that resiliency has been a theme for her team this year.
“We were feeling more comfortable [after the home run] but that’s something we’ve done all year is we’ve fought throughout the game and fought to comeback.” she said. “Even up 7-0 we want to keep strategy involved and make sure we keep doing what we need to do and keep our foot on the gas.”
The Mohigans will now move on to face John Marshall at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the sectional finals. With sectionals being double-elimination, MHS would need to beat the Monarchs twice in order to advance to regionals.
“It’s going to take some good defense, we can’t have some of the mistakes that we had tonight against John Marshall, they are a good rival and always in midseason mode.” Lipscomb said.
MORGANTOWN
McCartney 5 2 1 0 Anthony 5 4 4 2 Goldcamp 5 2 3 4 Marietta 4 1 0 1 Harki 4 0 2 2 Rogers 4 0 1 0 Wilson 3 0 1 1 Biafore 1 0 0 0 Peterson 4 0 2 0 Alsop 4 1 1 0
WHEELING PARK
Derrow 5 2 1 2 Randolph 5 0 1 1 Strothers 4 1 1 1 Kelly 2 2 0 0 Kozlowski 4 2 2 4 Thompson 3 0 1 0 Crow 3 0 2 1 O’Bryant 1 0 0 0 F Kozlowski 4 1 2 1 Nolte 4 2 1 0
WP 001 060 4–11
MHS 430 003 2–12
