Patriots are two-and-out in state tourney

May 26—Two Wahama long balls put Midland Trail in an early hole against the defending champs on the opening day of the 2022 WVSSAC State Softball Tournament.

And, try as valiantly as they might, the Patriots could never claw back in their Class A opener, falling 5-3 to the White Falcons in seven innings at Little Creek Park in South Charleston.

The loss put Midland Trail in an elimination game against St. Marys later on Wednesday. The Blue Devils lost to Petersburg 5-3 in the first game of the day. They recovered, however, to dispatch the Patriots 15-5 in five innings in the first elimination game.

In the opener, Wahama drew first blood against Trail when Lauren Noble deposited a two-out, 1-1 offering from Midland Trail pitcher Meghan Gill over the fence in left-center field in the top of the first inning. The White Falcons added two more runs in the top of the third, one on a solo homer by pitcher Mikie Lieving and the other on an RBI single by Kalyn Christian, for a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, Midland Trail's Chezney Skaggs hit a single and Gill walked, but the Patriots eventually stranded two baserunners as Lieving fanned three Patriots, the first of three innings in which she struck out the side. Lieving struck out 15 on the afternoon.

The Patriots responded, however, pushing across two runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning. Jesse Skaggs walked, Sydney Sheets rapped a single to left, then Chezney Skaggs stroked a single to left that brought Jesse Skaggs home for the first tally. Two batters later, Jenna Stonestreet added a sacrifice fly RBI, as Sheets slid in under the tag to pull Trail to within 1, 3-2. The Patriots stranded two runners in that inning.

After a 1-2-3 inning by Wahama in the fourth, followed by the Patriots squandering a two-out walk by Jesse Skaggs in the bottom of the fourth, Wahama produced two more runs in the top of the fifth to take control. Amber Wolfe doubled, then scored on a suicide squeeze by Emma Knapp to make it 4-2, then Christian delivered an RBI on a groundout to push the margin to 5-2.

Midland Trail scratched across a run in the bottom of the fifth frame. With two outs, Madison Campbell and Stonestreet both delivered hits, and Campbell broke for home and scored when Wahama tried to get Stonestreet going to second.

With Stonestreet relieving Gill on the mound in the sixth, Wahama left two on base. But, the Patriots couldn't take advantage in the bottom of the sixth, as Alexis Dozier singled to short center but was eventually stranded as Lieving punched out three more batters.

After a groundout, the Patriots got singles from Gill and Campbell in the seventh, but Lieving struck out Stonestreet and Layla Tompkins to end the final threat.

"In the first game, we came out and had a real good showing against the reigning state champion," said Midland Trail head coach Candace Young. "I don't know that anybody but our fans thought we would have played them as tight as we did.

"A couple hits here and there ...," she said wistfully, adding, "We definitely had a quality effort."

In the opening Class A game Wednesday, Petersburg plated four runs in the top of the third inning to take control before St. Marys eventually crept to within 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Petersburg pitcher Samantha Colaw pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh, and the Vikings escaped with the 5-3 win to advance to the winners' bracket.

In the elimination game, Midland Trail took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. Sheets walked, Chezney Skaggs singled, and Gill got on board via an error. A short chopper off the bat of Stonestreet in front of home plate scored Sheets, who slid home safely under the St. Marys tag. Skaggs later scored on a St. Marys error, and the Patriots carried the 2-1 lead into the second.

The Blue Devils upped the ante the rest of the way. They plated two runs in the second, four in the fourth and two more in the sixth, carrying a 9-2 margin into the fifth. Then, they tacked on six more scores as they more than batted around in that inning to create a 15-2 cushion.

The Patriots pushed across three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but it wasn't enough to avoid the 10-run rule. Sheets and Chezney Skaggs reached on base hits and Gill produced a sacrifice fly, and a Stonestreet base knock brought Campbell home.

"We just kind of ran out of gas in Game 2," Young said. "They hit the ball and put the ball in play.

"And we also had a few early mistakes that we didn't have against Wahama, and that dug us a hole."

Midland Trail, making its second straight tournament appearance, finished its campaign at 12-12.

Young anticipates the team continuing to move forward in a positive fashion.

"This is year 10 for me, and it's taken time to build a program," she said. "I'm definitely looking forward (to the future). We're definitely in the right direction.

"This is just another positive experience, and we keep moving forward."

Email: skeenan@register-herald.com or follow on Twitter @gb_scribe

W: 102 020 0 — 5 6 1

MT: 002 010 0 — 3 8 0

Pitching — W: Mikie Lieving and Amber Wolfe; MT: Meghan Gill, Jenna Stonestreet (6) and Sydney Sheets; WP: Lieving, LP: Gill. Hitting — W: Lieving 1-3 (hr, rbi), Wolfe 2-4 (2b), Lauren Noble 1-3 (hr, rbi), Emma Knapp (rbi), Morgan Christian 2-4, Kalyn Christian 1-3 (2 rbi); MT: Chezney Skaggs 2-4 (rbi), Sheets 1-4, Gill 1-3, Madison Campbell 2-3, Lexi Dozier 1-3, Stonestreet 2-4 (2b, 2 rbi)

----SM: 124 26 — 15 8 4

MT: 200 03 — 5 6 2

Pitching — SM: Ella Smith; MT: Meghan Gill, Jenna Stonestreet (5) and Sydney Sheets; WP: Smith, LP: Gill. Hitting — SM: Breanna Price 2-3 (4 rbi), Ava Giovinazzo 3-4 (rbi), Zoey Winland 2-5 (2b, rbi), Smith 2-4 (3 rbi), Ava Childers 1-2 (3 rbi), Ella Bullman 2-4 (2b, rbi), Layne Kincaid 1-1 (rbi), Cara Masters (rbi), Cali Masters 1-3; MT: Chezney Skaggs 2-3 (2b), Sheets 1-2, Gill 2-2 (rbi), Madison Campbell 1-3 (rbi), Stonestreet 1-3 (2 rbi), Katie Hawkins 1-2 (2b)