MORGANTOWN — The University softball team christened the new turf on sunny Lynch Field Wednesday afternoon by opening its season with a 9-0 mery-ruling over Buckhannon-Upshur in five innings.
So new was the artificial playing surface on Lynch Field that the Hawks (1-0) had not set foot on their home field until just before the game Wednesday.
“I had never stepped foot on this field,” UHS coach Mindy Parks said. “Thank goodness we have the turf field down below (at Mylan Park) to practice on.”
The team previously played on the dirt at Lynch Field and would use the lower fields at Mylan Park to practice on. Now Parks said she might have to find a dirt field to use so the girls don’t get too used to turf.
“It plays a lot different,” she said. “The ball skips, it’s a lot faster. It’s definitely a different game.”
Sophomore Sophia Lehosit had the honor of taking the circle for the first time on the new turf and delivered a masterpiece, one-hitting the Buccaneers (0-1) while striking out seven in five innings.
“Pitching was on point,” Parks said. “Sophia did a really good job on the mound controlling everything and I thought she played the position real well.”
The only blemishes on Lehosit’s line were a single in the first inning and a pair of walks in the top of the fourth.
On offense, catcher Olivia Masoner got things started in the bottom of the first with a towering three-run home run that nearly cleared the building just beyond the left field fence.
“The pitch I had before that was the exact same one that I hit the home run on,” Masoner explained. “I took it as a strike so I was assuming I’ll get it again and I turned on it.”
“That home run kind of fired us up,” Park said. “(Tuesday) night we scrimmaged and our bats were a little flat, but I thought that kind of sparked us and got us going.”
Adalyn Brown walked to start the inning and moved into scoring position on a single by Maddie Campbell. That’s when Masoner got ahold of a pitch and sent it over the fence.
“It really felt good to start the season with solid contact,” Masoner said. “And I feel like it started the energy for the game.”
UHS added a run in the second on a sacrifice fly from Campbell, two in the third on a bunt by Kelsey Park and a throwing error and another in the fourth when Masoner hit a sharp single back up the middle.
The Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth and the game ended when Campbell’s single into left-center field brought home two runners to make the score 9-0.
Masoner finished 2-3 with the home run and four RBI. Campbell also went 2-3 with a pair of singles and three RBI.
University travels to Wheeling Park on Thursday for a game that will begin at 5 p.m.
BOX SCORE
University 9, Buckhannon-Upshur 0, 5 innings
BU 000 00 — 0 1 3
UHS 312 12 — 9 10 0
BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR (0-1) — Marple 2 0 0 0; Kimble 1 0 1 0; Abel 2 0 0 0; Mason 1 0 0 0; Hamer 2 0 0 0; Pastorius 2 0 0 0; Burnside 2 0 0 0; Hebb 2 0 0 0; Curry 2 0 0 0. Totals 16 0 1 0.
UNIVERSITY (1-0) — Brown 3 2 1 0; Cox 2 0 0 0; Elza 1 1 1 0; Campbell 3 1 2 3; Masoner 3 1 2 4; Lehosit 1 1 1 0; Phillips 1 0 0 0; Jansen 1 1 0 0; Haney 1 0 1 0; Weaver 1 0 0 0; Walls 1 0 0 0; Park 1 0 0 1; Mayle 1 0 0 0; Roye 2 1 1 0; Stevens 1 1 1 0. Totals 23 9 10 8.
2B — UHS: Lehosit.
HR — UHS: Masoner.
WP — Lehosit 5ip, 0r, 1h, 2bb, 7k.
LP — Marple 3ip, 6r, 4h, 4bb, 2k.
