St. Marys seeks upset
By JAY W. BENNETT, jbennett@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG — Being called an underdog might not be a strong enough word to describe any team going up against softball power Wheeling Central.
However, head coach John Mike Nichols and the Blue Devils from St. Marys will have the opportunity to dethrone the two-time Class A state champions when the Region I championship game gets under way at approximately 7:30 p.m. today at Jackson Park.
“Yep, there’s no doubt about that,” said coach Nichols of his 15-8 Blue Devils playing the role of the underdog against the powerful 24-2 Maroon Knights of co-head coaches Ambrose Bober and Rick Magruder.
“We have to play our ‘A’ game and we can’t afford any mistakes. When you play the best, you’ve got to beat the best or go home. We’re trying to cook up something for them. They just don’t make mistakes and they are very disciplined.”
Of course, in order to win any game a team has to score at least a run and tallies probably won’t be easy to come by against Wheeling Central.
In the Maroon Knights’ 5-0 regional semifinal victory against Cameron, senior hurler Jen Sparachane twirled her fifth one-hitter of the season and fanned a baker’s dozen. Sparachane has never lost a postseason decision and has fanned 139 batters while issuing a mere nine base on balls this spring en route to a 12-1 record.
Sparachane, who sports a 0.76 earned run average, is batting .363. Other Maroon Knights who have had solid seasons include the senior trio of Mary Petros (.386), Val Palmer (.357) and Courtney Schrebe (.302). Sophomore shortstop Lauren Baker has only made four errors and is hitting at a .325 clip.
St. Marys got to within one more win of the state tournament by dispatching Wirt County, 6-1. In that regional semifinal contest, Channez Walker crushed a two-run homer as part of a four-run first inning and also tossed a complete-game three-hitter with a dozen strikeouts.
“The way we started out the year I never thought we’d be one of the final eight teams playing,” Nichols said.
The St. Marys skipper said a pair of one-run losses to Tyler Consolidated during a doubleheader setback in the middle of the season turned things around for the Blue Devils.
“We just started to come together and we started playing well,” he said. “At that part of the season I thought we had a chance to be one of the final eight teams.”
