Lady Wildcats eliminated from state tournament by Petersburg
- Bill Lusk
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
CHARLESTON Eighth-ranked Petersburg survived top-ranked Logan in the losers' bracket final, setting up a rematch with fifth-ranked Oak Glen in the Class AA softball state tournament at The Rock at Little Creek Park.
The Vikings (23-11) had an answer for every Logan response, defeating the Lady Wildcats 5-3 Thursday morning, eliminating Logan from the state tournament and advancing to Thursday afternoon's Class AA state championship game at 2:30 p.m., Petersburg needs two wins to win its first state championship in school history.
Shyane Tawney finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored, a double and a triple and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Miley Tingler was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and Addie Kitzmiller had a multi-hit game for Petersburg.
Logan used three pitchers in the first inning Thursday before settling with Myleigh Adkins in the circle for the remainder of the game.
Charlie Albright started and gave up a leadoff single to Tawney. Albright was lifted for Setser, who gave up a run-scoring triple to Tingler to give Petersburg a 1-0 lead.
Setser was relieved after just six pitches as Logan coach Levi Curry brought in Adkins to retire the Vikings in the top of the first.
Petersburg increased its lead to 2-0 in the third when Tawney scored on Tingler's RBI groundout.
Logan loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with no outs, prompting Petersburg coach Bubba Hedrick to remove starting pitcher Olivia Kimble from the circle and bring in Kinsley Crites, who walked Addison Richardson, bringing in Daisy Tomblin, and cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Crites quickly settled down, getting Addison Starr to ground into a fielder's choice to force Ashlin Brumfield at home for the first out, then got Setser to pop up in shallow right field to the second baseman and got Melody Rozzell to ground out to first to end the inning and preserve the Vikings one-run lead after four.
Karlie DiBenedetto drew a one-out walk in the top of the fifth and stole second with Quenlynn Cole batting. Cole struck out, but Tawney singled to right and advanced to second base as Logan tried to cut down DiBenedetto at third base allowed Tawney to advance to second.
Tingler jumped on Adkins first pitch and singled to right to score DiBenedetto and Tawney giving Petersburg a 4-1 lead.
Trailing by three in the bottom of the sixth, Logan got three straight singles from Brumfield, Lauren Adkins and Richardson to load the bases with no outs.
With go-ahead run at the plate, Starr hit a line drive that was dropped by Tingler at third base, who fired to first, but Starr was able to beat it out for an apparent RBI single to score Brumfield and bring Logan to within one run.
Hedrick called time to posttest the run at the plate, claiming that Brumfield was forced out, and successfully won resetting the score to 4-1, but that changed when Setser ripped a two-double to bring home Adkins and Richardson, once again bringing Logan to within one run, 4-3, with only one out.
Rozzell reached on an infield single, but Tomblin, who was pinch running for Adkins, was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third and Emilee Mullins flew out to center as Crites worked out of the jam to keep Petersburg in the lead.
Tawney doubled to left in the seventh to bring home Cole for a 5-3 lead and Crites retired Logan in order in the bottom of the seventh to send the Lady Vikings to the champoinship game.
Kimble received a no-decision after allowing no runs and two hits with three strikeouts and two walks in three innings. Crites was credited with the win after tossing four innings. She allowed three runs on four hits and walked one.
Despite throwing just six pitches, Albright took the loss for Logan after allowing one run on one hit. Sester gave up one hit to the only batter she faced before giving way to Myleigh Adkins, who allowed four runs on seven hits, struck out nine and walked two in seven innings.
Brumfield had half of Logan's six hits, finishing 3-for-4. Setser was 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Richardson went 1-for-2 with one RBI and scored one run, and Lauren Adkins was also 1-for-2 at the plate with a run scored.
Logan ended the season with a record of 23-8 and a third-place finish for the third consecutive trip to the state tournament.