Chapmanville seniors (pictured from left to right) Emma Muncy, Jocelyn Arthur, Emily Adkins, Mikayla Vance, Andi Bledsoe and LaTosha Perry were recognized prior to Satruday's game with county rival Man (Photo courtesy of CKG Graphics).
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
CHAPMANVILLE Morgan Cooper struck out 13 and Peyton Lusk drove in two runs and Class A No. 9 Man defeated Class AA No. 9 Chapmanville, 4-1, Saturday evening at Ronnie “Mule” Ooten Field.
Cooper allowed two hits and walked one in seven innings and Lusk had a two-run single in Man’s three-run third inning that gave Cooper all the run support she would need.
Cooper retired the first 11 hitters in the Chapmanville lineup before Brooke Christian singled with two outs in the fourth inning to break up Cooper’s bid for back-to-back no-hitters.
Christian would break another streak in the seventh inning when she hit a solo home run leading off the inning. The home run broke Cooper’s streak of 55 scoreless innings.
Cooper hadn’t allowed a run since allowing four runs in the seventh inning of a 5-0 loss to Chapmanville on April 10 at Man High School.
In that game, LaTosha Perry and Chloe Murphy combined to no-hit Man, but in the rematch, Kylie Blevins made sure that history wouldn’t repeat itself as she singled on the games second pitch.
Blevins was sacrificed to second base as McKinlee Cline laid down a perfect bunt that was fielded by Murphy. Cooper followed Cline’s sacrifice bunt with a sharp single to move Blevins to third.
Mattie Carroll put the Hillbillies on the board with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Blevins giving Man a 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 until the third inning. Cline had a one-out single and Cooper followed with a walk to give Man runners on first and second. Murphy got Carroll to strike out swinging for the second out, but the next two batters in the Lady Hillbillies lineup, Jacklynn Barnett and Lusk, came up with clutch two out hits to drive in runs.
Barnett singled to score Cline for a 2-0 lead as both Cooper and Barnett moved up a base on a throwing error. Lusk followed Barnett’s with a single of her to score Cooper and Barnett to give Man a 4-0 lead.
Murphy tossed a complete game for Chapmanville allowing four runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts and three walks in seven innings.
Christian was 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run for the Lady Tigers (17-6), who had their six-game winning streak snapped.
Blevins was 2-for-4 with one run for Man (13-3), who won its ninth straight game.
Lusk was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Barnett 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run, Cline went 1-for-2 with one run and a sacrifice bunt and Cooper was 1-for-3 with a run while Carroll went 0-for-2 with one RBI.
With the regular season in the books, both Chapmanville and Man will begin their quest for a state tournament berth as sectional tournament action starts Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers will be seeded third in the Class AA Region 4 Section 2 tournament and will face second seed and second-ranked Logan at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Logan’s Bea Orr Field.
Scott is the top seed and will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between fourth seed Wayne and fifth seed Mingo Central.
Man earned the top seed in the Class A Region 4 Section 1 tournament and will face either fourth seeded Tug Valley or fifth seeded Van Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Man High School.