by Jamie Harris
The 2024 WV Class A A Sectional Softball Championships started last week and the #4 seed Berkeley Springs Lady Indians hit the road for a contest at #1 Keyser last Monday, April 29. It was a game that the Tribe wished they could replay as the Golden Tornadoes picked up the 15-0 no hit win. With the loss, the Lady Indians dropped to the loser bracket and would need to win to stay in and keep their season going.
Berkeley Springs would have to travel to #2 Frankfort on Wednesday, May 1 in an elimination game. Frankfort had swept the Lady Indians in the regular season and was looking to end their season in their third meeting of the sea- son. Freshman Bailee Diehl continued her breakout sea- son with two big at bats against the Falcons. Diehl cranked her first ever grand slam homerun and added a solo blast along with two runs and 5 RBI’s to ignite a Berkeley Springs win.
The Lady Indians also got offensive support from Layla Parsell (double, run and RBI), Jayda Thompson (2 singles, 2 runs and 2 RBI’s), Payton Mizell (single and run), Emma Widmeyer (single and 3 runs), Ocean Clatterbuck (double, run and 2 RBI’s), Marley Heath (single and 2 runs), Alaira Harrington (single, double and 2 RBI’ s) and Scotlyn Forney (single, double and run).
In the circle, junior Alaira Harrington picked up the win going three innings, scatter- ing five hits, allowing two runs and striking out two Falcons. Senior Ocean Clatter- buck pitched two innings, allowing four hits, two runs and striking out one Falcon batter.
On Thursday, May 2, the Lady Indians were back on the road for another elimination game at #3 seed Grafton. Earlier this season Grafton swept the Lady Indians in a double header. Berkeley Springs jumped out to a 1-0
lead after the first inning. The Bearcats would rally and hold a 3-1 lead going into the top of the third inning. Berkeley Springs would rally for two runs in the third inning to tie the game at 3-3. In the top of the fourth and fifth inning, the Lady Indians would take the lead with two more runs to make the score 5-3. Grafton would cut the Tribe lead to 5-4 with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Both teams went scoreless in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh inning, Berkeley Springs would tack on an- other run to push the score to 6-4. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lady Indians would hold the Bearcat bats in check to record their second straight elimination win.
Berkeley Springs was led by Marley Heath (2 singles, double 2 runs and RBI), Ocean Clatterbuck (2 singles, run and RBI), Emma Widmeyer (single, double and 2 runs), Layla Parsell (double and run), Alaira Harrington (double and RBI) and Mad- die Close (single).
In the circle, Alaira Harrington went four innings, scattering seven hits, three runs and striking out three batters. Freshman Scotlyn Forney picked up the win going three innings, allowing six hits and one run.
On Friday, May 2, the Lady Indians were back at Keyser in a battle for the sec- tional championship. The Tribe would need to beat the top ranked Golden Tornadoes twice in order to take the series win and advance to the regional tournament. Keyser was up 2-1 going into the top of the third inning until rain forced a delay until Monday. Senior Emma Widmeyer had cranked her third homerun of the season with a solo shot. Alaira Harrington added a double while Scotlyn Forney added a single. Maddie Close made a big time play in the outfield robbing the Golden Tornadoes of a potential homerun.
The game resumed on Monday, May 6.
