MORGANTOWN — The third time is the charm. That’s how many tries it took for University and Preston softball to finally play the first game of the Class AAA Region 1, Section 2 tournament on Thursday.
Originally scheduled for Tuesday, the game was pushed back two days due to rain but the clouds finally parted on Thursday for the teams to be able to meet on Lynch Field at Mylan Park.
“It was a crazy week, the fields were crazy, but they were playable,” UHS coach Mindy Parks said. “We were both okay with (the field condition).”
Parks said rain forced her Hawks inside for practice the first three days of the week, something nobody liked.
“It was so hard going into the gym,” Parks said. “We’ve been outside a lot, that was our first gym practice and it was three gym practices in a row…Everything is weird about the gym, the lighting, the batting, the fielding. It was a tough three days.”
The gym practices seemed to have no negative effects on the team, however, as the Hawks (22-5) stormed to a 29-3 victory over Preston in five innings.
Despite the final score, it was actually the Knights (2-14) who scored first, as senior catcher Dalaynie Meyers hit a two-run home run to deep center field in the top of the first inning for a 2-0 advantage.
“It was a slow start, they kind of woke us up,” Park said. “Their catcher popped a home run then it was 2-0 and it was like ‘what’s happening?’”
The Hawks responded with six runs in the bottom of the frame, however, as their bats were busy all afternoon.
Lauren Huebsch led UHS at the dish with four hits, five runs scored and seven RBI. Batting twice in the bottom of the second, she hit an RBI double to right field in her first appearance and then a three-run home run to left her second time up.
“I love how she took the ball to the right in the opposite field (on her double) and then she smacked the home run to the left,” Parks said. “I was really proud of her for that.”
Catcher Olivia Masoner finished 5 for 5 with two doubles, four runs scored and an RBI, Kelsey Park had two hits, a double, and six RBI, Maddie Campbell had three hits, scored three runs and had three RBI out of the leadoff spot, Anna Argabrite had two hits and four RBI and Ally Jansen collected three hits and two RBI.
Campbell, Ashlyn Weaver, Bree Royce and Park all hit a double as well.
In the circle, Sophia Lehosit struggled in the first two innings, allowing three runs and six baserunners, but recovered to finish with 10 strikeouts, allowing just five hits and two walks.
“The ball’s wet, it’s muddy and it’s a mush pile out there,” Parks said of the pitching circle. “She had to get her footing. I told her to dry off the ball and take her time more. She was fine, I wanted her to work through it and I was confident in her.”
For Preston, Myers hit a single in the fifth inning to finish with two hits and two RBI. Myla Wotring had two hits and an RBI and Gracie Wilson was on base three times with a single and two walks.
Both teams will have to wait to find out their next game in the bracket. The other first-round game between Bridgeport and Buckhannon-Upshur was rained out Thursday. Second-round opponents and locations will be determined upon completion of that game.
University 29, Preston 3, 5 innings
PHS 210 00 — 3 5 5
UHS 697 7x — 29 24 1
PRESTON — Wotring 3 1 2 1; Metheny 3 0 0 0; Myers 3 1 2 2; Wilson 1 0 1 0; Carrico 3 0 0 0; Bolyard 2 0 0 0; Conn 1 0 0 0; Mckinon 2 1 0 0; Smith 1 0 0 0. Totals 19 3 5 3.
UNIVERSITY — Campbell 4 3 3 3; Gutta 0 1 0 0; Argabrite 5 3 2 4; Masoner 5 4 5 1; Huebsch 5 5 4 7; Lehosit 4 1 0 0; Weaver 3 3 2 1; Barnhart 1 1 1 1; Jansen 4 3 3 2; Riffle 2 0 0 0; Royce 2 2 2 0; Park 3 3 2 6. Totals 38 29 24 25.
2B — UHS: Masoner (2), Campbell, Huebsch, Weaver, Jansen, Royce, Park.
HR — PHS: Myers. UHS: Huebcsch.
WP — Lehosit 5ip, 5h, 3r, 2bb, 10k
LP — Conn 2ip, 9h, 15r, 3bb, 3k
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