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Who needs home-field advantage?

It’s definitely not been the worst spring in recent memory when it comes to the wrath of Mother Nature.

However, it’s also not been the best.

For Wirt County sixth-year head softball coach Aaron Hill, Tuesday’s game at Williamstown was supposed to be played in Elizabeth, but the Tigers’ field isn’t overly receptive to precipitation.

Instead, the Tigers had to make the trek to Williamstown and play as the home team versus the Yellowjackets with the winner finishing the season at 9-3 in the Little Kanawha Conference West Division.

As it turned out, the Tigers nipped WHS 2-1 in nine innings and reached today’s LKC semifinals in Spencer, where the orange and black will take on LKC East Division top-seed Braxton County at 5 p.m. In the 7 p.m. affair at Roane County, LKC West No. 1 seed Ravenswood faces Gilmer County.

“We were in position two or three years ago where we were sitting there and we had to have this team beat that team or that team beat this team and we could’ve got in,” said coach Hill, who has never led the orange and black to the LKC tournament.

“But all those games got rained out and we got stuck in the fifth-place game. This is the first time we’ve had control of our own destiny and been able to earn the spot.”

The Tigers swept the season series from the Yellowjackets and captured a must-win 5-1 triumph last Friday.

Wirt County, through its first 25 games, has played just once in Elizabeth — an 8-3 victory against Calhoun County. The Tigers played as the home team in a 12-0 win versus Parkersburg Catholic, but that tilt was in Mineral Wells. Against Ravenswood, where the Tigers lost 15-5, that affair was contested at Jackson Park.

“Our field is not in a good location and it does not deal well with water and it’s been wet all season,” added the coach. “We’ve only played the one game on it. I don’t know if it makes a difference. I told our coaches the other day at this point after this many games playing on the road is kind of our thing.

“It’s just been too wet. There hasn’t been enough time between rains for it to dry out. We get it dry and then it rains the next day and it’s all puddled up again. Like I said, playing on the road is kind of our thing. You know, getting on a bus and going somewhere is just part of our routine at this point.”

While things indeed worked out for the Tigers on Tuesday in Williamstown, the WCHS head man actually wasn’t too upset about having to come back to Wood County and giving up the home game.

“To be honest with you, we were a little apprehensive about having to play at home,” he quipped.

All four teams in today’s LKC tournament will return to Spencer on Friday for the 5 p.m. consolation and 7 p.m. championship game.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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