Gallery by Greg Barnett
South Charleston – At the highest level the margins for error are slim.
Bluefield and Greenbrier East found that out the hard way.
Errors ultimately cost both teams in their opening games of the state tournament as Bluefield fell 17-14 to Keyser in the Class AA field while Greenbrier East fell 11-9 to University in the Class AAA field at Little Creek Park in South Charleston.
The Beavers committed six errors and walked 12 batters in their loss while East committed two errors in the decisive seventh inning.
For Bluefield the miscues proved harmful from the jump.
The Beavers committed two errors and issued four free passes in the opening frame, allowing Keyser to put up eight runs before they even stepped in the box. It was a nightmare start that saw Keyser bat around and send 22 total batters to the plate in the first two innings.
The Golden Tornado capitalized, putting up 13 runs over that span.
“Coming down here for the first time since 2012 and getting a win like that, that was huge,” Keyser head coach Colton Jones said. “I mean, we’ve been preaching to them in practice all week to believe in ourselves. Coming down here and getting the first one at least guarantees us to get to Thursday. That’s what we were wanting. And once you get to Thursday, anything can happen. So I’m extremely proud of my team.”
The Beavers, to their credit, didn’t let the disasters on defense impact their bats. Every starter that played registered a hit with Abby Richardson leading the way with three and as many RBI to back the effort. Maddie Lawson, Izzy Smith and Sophia Hall all drove in two runs each in the loss.
“It’s a big stage to be in that spot,” Bluefield head coach Justin Hall said. “It’s a big space to do what they did as far as the mentality. It’s always our mentality to go to the plate and let’s be patient. Let’s go with the plan, pick our pitches and hit pitches. (Keyser pitcher Leighton Johnson) struggled with locations in the bottom half of the inning that we had, so that that kind of helped us and let us settle in a little bit. And then when she started bringing the ball in strike zone, we were ready to hit.”
Keyser catcher Taylor Likens made her presence known early, lining a three-run home run, her 17th of the year, over the fence in left to put the visitors on the scoreboard ahead 3-0. Her second at-bat, also in the first inning wasn’t as loud but nearly as effective as she crushed a two-run double to bring her RBI total for five for the inning.
Already in mercy rule territory, the Beavers responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame as the first five batters all reached with Lawson, Taylor Mabry and Abby and Grace Richardson all scoring.
Bluefield starer Izzy Smith labored through the second inning, issuing four walks which Keyser happily turned into five more runs.
Carrying the offensive momentum from the first frame, Bluefield continued chipping away, adding two runs in the bottom of the second to make it a 13-6 game.
Over the following three innings Smith settled in, blanking the Golden Tornado while the Beaver offense continued its uphill trek, adding a trio of runs across the third and fourth innings.
“The bad part was she was making pitches to get them out,” Hall said of Smith. “It wasn’t that she was doing anything wrong. We were just a little bit unsure. I think we were maybe overplaying just a little bit. You know, she did settle in and things started moving good about mid game, and we started putting up some zeros, which is good.”
After the deficit was cut to four at 13-9, the Golden Tornado nailed the coffin shut on Bluefield. With two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth Smith surrendered a two-run double to freshman Bibbs Felton. A wild pitch and an error plated two more runs for Keyser, putting the mercy rule back into effect.
Bluefield answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame with the top four in the lineup all collecting an RBI each. Down to their last gasp though, the Beavers mustered just one run despite getting the tying run to the plate.
“It’s hard to put ourselves that far behind,” Hall said. “Starting off the game, hats off to them for taking advantage of those errors. And hats off to our kids for standing by. And they could have ever easily packed it in at that point, but that’s not our mentality. That’s not what we do. They gave it all they had.”
Bluefield will play the loser of Herbert Hoover-Winfield in an elimination game at 4:45 while Keyser will play the winner.
While Bluefield failed to pull off a rally in its contest Greenbrier East fell victim to one on the next field over. Leading 9-4 after five innings, the Spartans saw University pinch-hitter Courtney Voithofer collect five RBI in the final two frames the key the comeback bid.
The loss erased stellar efforts at the plate from Taylor Boswell and Lily Carola, who hit a homer each.
Carola’s solo blast in the bottom of the third opened the scoring and her two-run double in the fourth, combined with an RBI from Boswell, gave the Spartans a 4-2 lead after University pulled ahead in the top of the frame.
East stacked another four-run frame in the bottom of the fifth with Boswell swatting a two-run homer and Carola adding another double, her third extra-base hit of the morning.
It was all downhill from there.
University pulled within three with a two-run single from Voithofer, pinch-hitting for starter and No. 3 hitter Olivia Masoner, in the sixth.
The seventh was a nightmare.
An error allowed the leadoff batter to reach and another error four batters later loaded the bases. A single from Lexi Elza brought University to within a run a 9-8 before East cut down the tying run at the plate on a fielder’s choice.
With bases loaded and facing a full count with two outs, Voithofer unloaded them with a triple to cap the comeback. East brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the frame but an out on the base paths closed the door.
East now turns its attention to its 4:45 elimination game where it will face the loser of Washignton-Cabell Midland.
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On the other side of the park in the Class A tournament Midland Trail’s young team was given a rude welcoming to the state tournament, falling 19-0 in five innings to St. Marys.
Pitchers Cali Masters and Kyleigh Rupert split duties in the winning, allowing just one base runner. The Blue Devils were just as sharp on offense, scoring 14 runs in the first inning to put the game away. Their cause was aided by eight Trail errors, chasing starter Madison Rader after facing 14 batters and securing one out.
Of the 13 runs she allowed, only one was earned.
Trail will play Buffalo in an elimination game at 4:30.
