BUFALLO - The South took two out of three games, claiming 4-1 and 6-2 victories sandwiched around a 12-2 pasting by the North on Thursday at Buffalo High School.
Poca's Miranda Linville became a pretty big name in prep softball over the past few years and showcased some of that ability in the first game, coming up with a go-ahead two-run single and claiming game MVP honors for the South.
There were big hits, great plays and good pitching performances to be had everywhere, but hardly anyone made more noise than last year's West Virginia Sports Writers Association player of the year, Allison DeLancey of Ritchie County.
DeLancey reached base in eight of her nine plate appearances, won MVP for the North in the first game, picked up her Class AA first team all-state trophy, and claimed a win in the fastest time in the first to third base skills competition. She was also spotted in almost every position on the diamond, including catcher.
"I didn't realize I was going to win the fastest thing, because I'm not the fastest kid in the world," DeLancey said.
The South certainly hit on the right combination in pitchers Kaitlyn Hanna of Cabell Midland and Dee Dee Loftis of Sissonville.
That duo tossed all 12 innings in the two wins for the South, with Hanna starting both games and Loftis shutting the door.
Hanna gave up just an unearned run in her seven innings of work, and Loftis yielded just a two-run homer to Genna Trippett of Parkersburg South in the last inning of the third game.
Even in the 12-2 mercy-rule loss in the second game, a local player picked up some hardware for the South.
Nitro's Morgan Hedrick was named the South's MVP after her double in the fifth inning kept the game from being a shutout, and when she came around to score on Casey Cunningham of Buffalo's single, she also prevented the South from taking the worst loss in series history.
The North accounted for both of the day's home runs as Magnolia's Marissa Bosley hit a three-run shot as part of a five-run second inning in the second game to go with Trippett's last-inning thunder.
Several North players had big games in the second contest, including Trippett, who went 2 for 4 with a three-run double.
