BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
NAUGATUCK, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Lady Panthers softball team opened Class A sectional tournament play with a big 16-0 win over visiting Huntington St. Joe on April 29.
Tug pitcher Bailee Hall pitched a perfect game and helped her own cause at the plate with a two-run homer and a double going 2-for-4.
Seniors Tailyn Russell and Amelya Wellman were each 3-for-4 to help lead the Lady Panthers on offense. Russell had four RBIs and one of Wellman’s hits was a double.
Catcher Hailey Newsome was 3-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs for Coach Rocky Hall’s squad.
Senior Haleigh Muncy was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. Sophomore Aleksah Osborne was 2-for-3 with a double and one run batted in.
Tug Valley led 1-0 after the second inning and scored five more runs in a rally in the third frame. They broke open the floodgates with 10 runs in the fourth inning, winning the game via mercy rule in five innings.
K. Oxley took the loss in the circle for St. Joe.
The Lady Panthers (17-6) are scheduled to play at Sherman on Tuesday, weather permitting.
Second round/Sectional
Sherman 12, Tug Valley 8
SETH, W.Va. — The Sherman Tide downed the Tug Valley Lady Panthers 12-8 in Class A sectional softball action May 1.
The tournament is a double elimination; thus Tug Valley is still alive in postseason play.
The Panthers led 3-2 after one inning of play. Sherman scored three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-3 lead.
Tug tied the game with two runs in the third frame, but the Tide rolled home runs in the final four innings to pull ahead. The Lady Panthers tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth and seventh, but the final rally fell short.
“Bailee has been fighting an illness for the last two weeks. I really feel we would have won had she been healthy,” said Coach Rocky Hall. “We are also dealing with Haleigh Muncy being injured too.”
Amelya Wellman and Jessica Spaulding led TV with two hits each with Wellman belting a double. Tailyn Russell and Makenna Osborne also added base hits.
Bailee Hall took the pitching loss for TVHS.
E. Russell got the pitching win in the circle for Sherman. S. Drake led on offense with three hits and home runs by J. Guthrie and L. Lowe.