×
×
homepage logo

Magnolia Wins Sectional; Next Stop, Regional

By Staff | May 15, 2014

Magnolia 9, Cameron 0

Magnolia’s Mallory Chapman drilled one over the left field fence for a walk-off mercy-rule shortened 9-0 game to clinch the WVSSASC Region I, Section II Championship May 8 at Paden City Park.

Chapman started from the mound and struck out the first Cameron player, before the Eagles committed an error. After a fielder’s choice, Magnolia got out of the inning with a routine ground out.

In the home half of the first, Ashley Moore opened with a solid single to left and then stole a base. Audrey Gibb laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Moore to third and Chapman followed with a stand-up triple to score Moore. After a fly out to centerfield, Chapman scored on a Abby Durig shot to the Dragon shortstop that was ruled an error and gave the Eagles an early 2-0 lead.

Chapman sat down the Dragons down in order in the next four innings, while the Dragons hurler matched that in the second. The Eagles would send four batters to the plate in each of the next two frames, with Chapman adding a single in the third and Durig a single up the middle in the fourth.

After two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Gibb smacked a triple to right and the Dragons walked Chapman on four straight pitches. However, the Dragons’ left fielder robbed Davianne Croasmun of extra bases on a nice shoe-string catch that showed a lot of yellow to get out of a pickle.

Chapman yielded a lead-off single and after two straight wild pitches, sat down three straight Lady Dragons on strikes to get out of the only MHS jam of the evening.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Durig led off with her second double of the game and stole third. Stevie Mullett laid down a perfect bunt for an in- field single. With runners on the corners, Emily Clegg drilled a double to left center, knocking in both Durig and Mullett with a stand-up double.

After a strike out, Cameron tried to get Clegg out going to third, but the ball ricocheted to the outfield and the heads-up Clegg scampered home for another Magnolia score and sending Mullet to second.

After a groundout, Erinn Clegg walked and Gibb smacked her second straight three bagger to score both Mullett and Emily Clegg. Chapman then dispatched the ball over the left center field fence for the clincher.

Chapman picked up the win from the mound. She struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter, while belting a single, triple, a home run and three RBIs. Her battery mate, Gibb, smacked a pair of triples, while knocking in a pair. She also had a sacrifice and tossed out a pair of Dragons trying to bunt themselves on.

In addition, Durig belted three-hits and stole a base, while Emily Clegg knocked in two runs with a double. Moore singled and Mullett added a bunt single and a sacrifice.

During the three sectional games, Chapman struck out 38 batters, while limiting two quality teams in three games to five runs on seven hits. “What can I say?” asked MHS Head Softball Coach Dillon Mangino. “Mallory kept us in the games with her arm. Our girls never gave up and scored when they had too.

“I’m so proud of our girls. They have worked so hard and my coaching staff of Danny Anderson and Kayla Brill have done an amazing job. The girls put the bat on the ball and we got some timely hitting and good pitching that has put us in the regional’s once again.

“All the girls have bought in what we are trying to accomplish and we just need to keep on and let the good times keep rolling on.”

Magnolia 3, Cameron 2

Chapman struck out a career-high 16 Cameron batters and Magnolia would take advantage of an error in the bottom of the ninth to gain a 3-2 victory in their second game of sectional play May 7 at Paden City Park.

Chapman singled and drove in two runs, while Gibb knocked in one with a pair of base hits.

Cameron 7, Paden City 3

Madi Cox and Graeson Baker each had multiple hits, but it wasn’t quite enough to get past Cameron, 7-3 in the opener of the WVSSAC Class-A Region I, Section II playoffs at Paden City Park.

Paden City scored two runs in the top of the second inning for the game’s first tallies, but the Lady Dragons cut that in half with a run of their own in the bottom half. The ‘Cats scored one more in the third, but wouldn’t score again the rest of the way, while Cameron exploded for three in the bottom half of the third, one inn the fourth and two more in the fifth to get the win.

Paden City out-hit the Dragons, 7-4, but committed eight errors that proved to be their undoing. Megan Pierce added a double for the Wildcats. Neff took the loss in working the first three frames. She walked three, while Cosper tossed the final two innings, striking out three and walking four.

Baker paced the ‘Cats’ lumber with a single and a double, while Cox smacked two singles. Megan Pierce drilled a double, while Cosper and Still each reached on a single.

Magnolia 3, Paden City 2

Chapman singled and drove in two runs, while twirling a three-hit, 12 strike out performance to lead Magnolia past Paden City 3-1 in the WVSSAC Region I, Section II Class-A Sectionals May 6 in Paden City.

The Lady Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the opening period. Ashley Moore started the first stanza when she was hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Gibb. She then scored on a Chapman fielder’s choice.

After the Wildcats tied it up in the second, Magnolia plated two runs. Erinn Clegg and Kasey Hilpert both reached on Wildcat errors and Moore filled the bases when she was hit by a pitch for the second time. Clegg scored on a Gibb single and Hilpert scored on a Chapman single for the last tallies of the game to give the top seed Magnolia Blue Eagle squad a 3-1 lead after two innings of play.

Chapman, Gibb, Jordan Grimm, Mullett and Durig each singled, while Croasmun doubled for Magnolia.

Tori Anderson, Graeson Baker and Abby Still each added singles for Paden City. Amber Neff started and pitched four innings, struck out four and walked two, while Taylor Cosper struck out two and didn’t walk a batter in two innings of work.

The Lady ‘Cats ended the season with a 10-16 record and placed second in the OVAC Class-A Championship. They will lose Katie Shreves and Jennifer Hickman to graduation, while returning the rest of their 14-player squad.