Spartans drop title to GW in 8 innings

May 19—FAIRLEA — A game filled with one pivotal moment after another ended in elation for George Washington.

Addie Armstrong's home run to lead off the top of the eighth inning held up and the Patriots defeated host Greenbrier East 3-2 to win the Class AAA Region 3 championship on Friday, securing their first state tournament berth in five years.

The Patriots (21-11) will take on Jefferson (21-6) Wednesday at about 12:15 p.m. at Little Creek Park in South Charleston.

In winning, GW did something the teams had not done in their four previous meetings this season — win on the road. That includes the first two games of this series — the Patriots put themselves in a hole by losing Game 1 Wednesday at Greenbrier East, but evened the series the next day on their home field.

"I can't say enough about the resilience of this group," first-year GW coach Stacy Hobbs said. "And (pitcher) Alexis Adkins. The kid did it all season long and we constantly got counted out. Week in, week out. Game in, game out. And we were counted out in this one. And to see us do what we do — we teach discipline and patience and trust each other. We have a saying and it's on the back of that shirt right there (pointing), 'Why not us?'"

Clutch hitting helps, too.

After the Spartans left the bases loaded in the seventh to send the game to extra innings, Armstrong lined a 1-0 pitch from Josi Ervin over the center field fence to put her team on top for the second straight day. Her two-run homer in the fifth inning of Game 2 put the Patriots ahead to stay in an eventual 8-4 victory.

"There's not much you can say. The kid has so much ice water in her veins," Hobbs said. "She hit one (Thursday) and she heard so much crap from everybody else, 'Well, it's a little field,' and she comes here and she does it."

GW took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the third and added another in the fifth on Passion Holley's sacrifice fly that drove in Addie Kelly.

East answered in the bottom half, doubling its hits total to that point with three. Hailey Ervin and Josi Ervin led off with singles and Lindsey Black's single loaded the bases with nobody out. Taylor Boswell drove in Hailey Ervin on a sac fly, and the throw back to the pitcher got away, allowing Josi Ervin to score the tying run.

The rest of the game brought wasted chances or clutch defense, depending on perspective.

GW got its first two runners aboard to start the sixth. Ava Sitler then struck out when she squared to bunt and pulled back, but not fast enough — Ervin's pitch went off her bat and into foul territory.

Spartans first baseman Lily Carola then made a heads-up play when she charged in to field Lauren Ballard's bunt and tagged Ballard before forcing Armstrong — who led off with a double — to retreat back to third.

Irvin got Kelly to strike out to end the inning.

The Patriots turned one of their two double plays in the bottom half when Olivia Plybon led off with a single but couldn't get back to the bag in time after trailing too far off base on Gracie Gumm's popup to first.

Irvin singled and took second on an error with two outs in the eighth but was left there.

In all, the teams combined to strand 23 runners on base — 12 by Greenbrier East and 11 by GW.

"These girls were never going to quit," Spartans coach Aaron Ambler said. "Throughout the entire season, they were not going to quit. We stranded some runners tonight and we had some opportunities pretty much every inning. But we knew they weren't going to quit, and they didn't."

Adkins picked up the win for the Patriots, allowing 10 hits over eight innings.

The loss ended a remarkable high school career for Josi Ervin. She gave up 10 hits, struck out seven and walked two batters. One was intentional.

"Josi Ervin from Greenbrier East is one of the best pitchers in the state of West Virginia, and it's not a question," Hobbs said. "And anybody that thinks otherwise is absolutely incorrect. She pitched her butt off. Greenbrier East fought from the first pitch to the last one."

"We knew that she was going to go out there and compete," Ambler said. "She would give 100 percent. It didn't matter if it was the first pitch of the game or the last pitch of the game. The girls played pretty good defense behind her tonight.

"I think all the fans got their money's worth tonight."

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5