WHEELING — It was proven on Thursday why defeating the same team three times in a season can be such a difficult task.
In Class AAA, Section 1, Region 1 softball action on the hill at Wheeling Park, Morgantown upended the hosting Patriots 7-2 to avoid its third loss to Park this season.
The triumph sends the Mohigans to play top-seeded John Marshall today for a 5:30 p.m. contest, while Wheeling Park hosts Brooke at the same time in an elimination battle.
“We beat Morgantown twice this year and they were really good games,” Park coach Pat Durkin said. “But, maybe we kind of relaxed a bit (Thursday) thinking we had it made and we know that we can’t do that. I think our kids will come excited to play (today) against Brooke.”
Wheeling Park fell behind 4-0 after two-and-a-half innings, a hole that was simply too deep to climb out of for Durkin’s squad.
“I think we fell behind early and we couldn’t get any clean innings,” Durkin said. “They had baserunners every inning and we never had a nice inning for our pitchers to relax. I thought we played too cautiously on defense, as well.”
Morgantown pitcher Micah Wilson didn’t make it any easier for the Patriots as she tossed a complete game with five strikeouts and no walks allowed.
“Mo has been our go-to pitcher,” Morgantown coach Lori Lipscomb said. “She’s been our workhorse and we are going to ride her through the playoffs.”
Maddie Wisman got the ball rolling in the second for the Mohigans as she belted a solo home run to right-center field for an early 1-0 edge.
More fireworks were provided in the top of the third as Abigail Harki delivered a two-run double to right-center and Kate Larimer followed with an RBI knock of her own to soften the Morgantown cushion to 4-0.
“Our hitters have been consistent,” Lipscomb said. “Maybe the first time through the lineup sometimes our bats aren’t so great but they make adjustments throughout the game and that’s been a big improvement for us.”
The Patriots didn’t go away quietly, though. In the bottom of the third, Katelyn Kozlowski led off the frame with a double to right-center that was immediately followed by a two-run blast over the left-center field fence by leadoff hitter Makiyah Strothers, cutting the deficit in half at 4-2.
However, Park only collected one hit that reached the outfield for the remainder of the game, while Morgantown added two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to pull away.
A wild pitch and a RBI double by Wilson brought in runs in the sixth for the Mohigans and Larimer launched a homer to center in the seventh.
“They say it’s hard to beat a team three times,” Lipscomb said. “We learned in those first two games that we could play with them. We know they are a good-hitting team and they play good defense. Mary (Derrow) in left field is just phenomenal so we just have to stay our course, put the ball in play and play good defense too.”
Summer O’Bryant recorded a pair of hits for the Patriots, while Derrow added a double.
Amber Thompson threw four-and-a-third innings of relief for Wheeling Park and even induced a double play to end the fourth inning as she forced Morgantown’s Liz Alsop into a pop-out to shortstop Faith Randolph, who quickly secured the catch and fired a cannon from shallow left field to first base to double up the runner.
By CODY TOMER/For The Intelligencer
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