MORGANTOWN — The giggles at church. The sniffles at daycare. Your coworker’s huge yawn during an afternoon budget meeting.
Well, last night at ISS Field at Mylan Park, the Morgantown softball team identified something else that belongs on this highly contagious list, hitting.
The Mohigans batted around — twice — in the second inning on their way to an overwhelming 18-2 win against Wheeling Park in their sectional tournament opener.
MHS (17-7) actually pulled out of the gate a little sluggishly against the Patriots (12-17), who surprised the homestanding Mohigans, 2-1, a few weeks ago. An infield error and a two-out single put WP up, 1-0 at the end of one, and Park had a runner in scoring position in the second before MHS pitcher Maddie Wisman struck out a pair to squelch the rally.
Then the Mohigans’ offense got busy. Seriously busy.
Wisman started things off with a sharp single, followed by battery-mate Kira Smith’s base knock. An infield error pushed across the tying run, then three straight patient at-bats led to three walks and two more runs.
Then it was time for the MHS bats to crank up the power, as Emily Peterson pounded a bases-clearing double, followed by three straight RBI doubles from Liz Alsop, Micah Wilson, and Wisman. A comfortable 9-1 lead and two quick outs didn’t slow the momentum, as Beth and Grace Robinson stroked RBI singles, Anne Robinson walked, and Peterson collected her second hit and fourth RBI of the inning.
And we haven’t even gotten to the two biggest swings of the game — Alsop pounded a three-run home run to left, and Wilson followed with a back-to-back jack way out to deep dead center.
That’s 19 to the plate, and 16 across, and all that was left was getting the mandatory five innings in. Alsop’s RBI single and Wisman’s second double of the day closed out the home team scoring in the fourth, and Wisman capped her day after surrendering a meaningless run in the fifth, closing out Park on a complete game three-hitter.
After the game, Morgantown coach Lorri Lipscomb grinned when asked if that low-scoring loss to Park was discussed before this one.
“Yeah, we might’ve mentioned it,” she laughed. “Of course, you never want a rival to beat you in your house, and our bats were so quiet that day, so it was great to see them really get after it tonight. They made good adjustments and started swinging at strikes. That second inning had a little bit of everything, didn’t it? Patience, line drives, and a lot of power. Very nice to see.
“We’ve had a different attitude and have been playing well in all parts of our game since coming back from Myrtle Beach,” she explained. “We got together, worked through some things, and realized that we had a chance to do some special things. We have an OVAC championship over John Marshall in our pocket — and I know that they’re thinking about that loss just like we were tonight — but we aren’t satisfied. We just want to keep the momentum, the energy, and the confidence going.”
The Mohigans are back in action on the road at John Marshall today in game two of the sectional tournament.
BY MARK SCHRAF/For The Dominion Post
BOX SCORE
Wheeling Park 1 0 0 0 1 – 2
Morgantown 0 16 0 2 x – 18
WHEELING PARK (12-17) — Kyla Cunningham c 3 1 1 1 Kate Kozlowski cf 3 0 0 0 Faith Randolph ss 1 0 0 0 Delaney Randolph p-lf 2 0 1 1 Bryn Ernest 3b 2 0 1 0 Haley Doyle 1b 1 0 0 0 Abby Harmon lf-p 1 0 0 0 Belle Thomas 2b 2 1 0 0 Rylie Braunlich rf 2 0 0 0 Brooke Reynolds p 0 0 0 0 Totals 17 2 3 2.
MORGANTOWN (17-7) — Anne Robinson lf 2 2 0 1 Emily Peterson 1b 4 2 2 4 Liz Alsop cf 4 3 3 5 Micah Wilson dp 3 2 2 2 Maddie Wisman p 4 2 3 2 Kira Smith c 4 1 1 0 Kate Larimer 3b 3 1 0 0 Beth Robinson ss 2 2 1 1 Grace Robinson 2b 1 3 1 2 Madi Stone rf 0 0 0 0 Totals 27 18 13 17.
E- WP 1 MHS 1. LOB – WP 3 MHS 3. 2B – WP 1 (Cunningham), MHS 5 (Peterson, Alsop, Wilson, Wisman 2). HR – MHS 2 (Alsop, Wilson). SH – WP (Doyle).
WP – D. Randolph (L) 1+ ip 6 r 5 er 2 h 3 bb 2 so, Reynolds 0+ ip 3 r 3 er 3 h 0 bb 0 so, Harmon 2 ip 9 r 9 er 8 h 3 bb 2 so.
MHS – Wisman (W) 5 ip 2 r 1 er 3 h 2 bb 4 so.
