MORGANTOWN — There’s not much Olivia Masoner can do on a softball field right now. Stuck in a neck brace after suffering an injury during a game against Steubenville (Oh.) last week, the University sophomore has been relegated to the dugout for the time being.
Just because she can’t go out on the field doesn’t mean she isn’t still helping the team win, however.
The Hawks’ usual starting catcher, Masoner calls her own pitches during games and has continued to do so even after being injured, just now from a seat in the dugout instead of from behind the plate.
“The pitchers have confidence in her and they wanted to do that,” UHS coach Mindy Parks said. “I think that gave them the confidence, still having that connection with her involved in the game.”
Masoner called every pitch Maddie Campbell threw to replacement catcher Josalyn Phillips during University’s 13-2 win over Buckhannon-Upshur in the Class AAA Region I, Section 2 championship Thursday afternoon on Lynch Field at Mylan Park.
“I love this group of girls, I love being around them so every time I get to be here, I just love it,” Masoner said. “Even if I’m not on the field with them, I still love being here.”
Campbell spun a gem in the victory, allowing two runs on four hits across five innings while striking out seven, looking over to get the call from Masoner before every throw.
“It’s definitely different but it keeps me involved in the game, I love it,” Masoner said. “It’s not easy to see what’s working and what’s not working, so you’ve just got to go off of what the other catcher gets. We just talk to each other back and forth.”
Offensively, the Hawks turned in solid at-bats and hard-hit balls up and down the lineup.
The scoring started in the bottom of the second when Sophia Lehoist singled home Phillips, who had doubled down the left-field line. Lehosit and Ally Jansen then both came home on a two-run double off the bat of Carley Voithofer to put the Hawks up 3-0.
BU responded with a pair of runs in the top of the third on a double by Kynnedy Marple and a sacrifice fly from Jansen Kimble. On that sacrifice fly, University’s second baseman and right fielder collided in the outfield and both briefly came out of the game.
Phillips hit a two-run single in the bottom of the third and Voithhoefer hit another run-scoring double as UHS went up 6-2. A few batters later Whitney Cox, who came in to play second base as the injury replacement, hit a two-run single of her own under the second baseman’s glove to continue the rally.
“We worked a lot (Wednesday) about staying back on the pitch and being more patient,” Parks said. “I think really they were more disciplined (Thursday) and hit the ball harder.”
UHS added five more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run single by Voithofer and a two-run triple from Kelsey Park, who re-entered the game at second base.
In total, University’s three players who were in for injuries — Phillips at catcher, Cox at second base and Voithofer as the designated player for right field — went 6-7 with three doubles, nine RBI and four runs scored.
“That’s why I’ve talked about the bench the whole season, how great it is to be able to have the bench,” Parks said. “Last year I wouldn’t have had enough players to put out there. That’s the glory of having kids who can (come off the bench) and those girls went in and got that inning rolling for us. I was really proud of them for that.”
Voithofer was 3-3 with five RBI, Phillips went 2-3 with a couple of RBI and Cox had a two-run hit in her only at-bat.
University now advances to the best-of-three regional series against either John Marshall or Morgantown.
“It’s all neck and neck,” Parks said. “We’ve split, all three teams. We split with Morgantown, we split with John Marshall. I’m excited, it’ll be a good game no matter who we play.”
Morgantown will travel to John Marshall for the Region I, Section 1 championship tonight at 5 p.m. The Mohigans will claim the section title with a win while the Monarchs need two.
BOX SCORE
University 13, Buckhannon-Upshur 2
BU 002 00 — 2 4 1
UHS 035 5x — 13 11 0
BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR — Marple 3 1 2 1; Kimble 1 0 0 1; Abel 3 0 0 0; Spratt 2 0 1 0; Hart 2 0 0 0; Burnside 2 0 0 0; Pastorius 1 0 0 0; Curry 2 1 1 0; Mason 1 0 0 0. Totals 17 2 4 2.
UNIVERSITY — Brown 3 0 0 0; Elza 2 2 1 0; Campbell 2 2 1 0; Phillips 3 2 2 2; Lehosit 2 2 1 1; Jansen 1 1 0 0; Voithofer 3 2 3 5; Weaver 2 2 1 0; Park 1 0 1 2; Cox 1 0 1 2. Totals 21 13 11 12.
2B: UHS (Voithofer 2, Phillips).
3B: UHS (Park)
WP: Campbell 5ip, 2r, 4h, 1bb, 7k
LP: Hart 1ip, 3r, 3h, 2bb, 0k
