Dominant Blue Devils advance to state championship
St. Marys' Cali Masters begins her windup in a Class A state semifinal game against Petersburg at Craft Field in South Charleston. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
St. Marys' Brylee McGrady hits a 3 RBI double in the first inning of a Class A state semifinal game against Petersburg at Craft Field in South Charleston. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
St. Marys' Cali Masters begins her windup in a Class A state semifinal game against Petersburg at Craft Field in South Charleston. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
St. Marys' Brylee McGrady hits a 3 RBI double in the first inning of a Class A state semifinal game against Petersburg at Craft Field in South Charleston. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
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SOUTH CHARLESTON - St. Marys did about as well on day one of the Class A state tournament as one could hope to. After beating Midland Trail in the tournament opener 19-0, the Blue Devils played Petersburg in the final game of day one, shutting out the Vikings as well by a final of 9-0. The combined 28-0 effort by St. Marys sets up a day two where the Blue Devils await the winner of Buffalo and Petersburg while one victory away from clinching a state title.
St. Marys got to work early in the top of the first against Petersburg. Zoey Winland hit a leadoff single to get things going. Then, Cali Masters was walked. Layne Kincaid got aboard with an infield single to load the bases. All three runners were sent home on a double by Brylee McGrady. Jayla Cox, who pinch ran for McGrady, made it to home plate on a single by Ava Childers that gave the Blue Devils a 4-0 lead.
St. Marys' quartet of runs in the first inning were the only ones put on the board until the final frame. In the meantime, both masters and Petersburg's Samantha Colaw put on a pitching clinic. Masters had 10 strikeouts and walked no batters. She only allowed three hits in the game, singles to Colaw, Addison Kitzmiller and Gracie Carpenter. The Blue Devils' ace struck out eight straight batters from the start of the bottom of the second onward.
Colaw walked three batters and struck out seven. She held St. Marys hitless for the middle three innings of the five-inning affair.
The bats reignited for the Blue Devils in the top of the fifth. Zoey Winland started things off with a walk, and stole second. She made it to third on a ball put in play by Masters. Winland concluded her trip around the bases and scored for St. Marys thanks to a passed ball. A double by Kincaid then sent home pinch runner Alyssa Winland. Kincaid herself scored a run on an Ava Giovinazzo single.
With runners on second and third and two outs later in the inning, Ava Childers put the ball in play and sent both players in scoring position to home plate. The runs scored due to an error at first that allowed Childers to make it safely. After the Blue Devils held the Vikings scoreless in the seventh, the nine-run rule kicked in.
St. Marys head coach Lacy Riggs discussed the benefits of only having to pitch Masters seven innings between both games, as well as the timing of the schedule, "That was key. That was huge. Nobody likes a 9:30 game, but staying out of that heat this morning and then having the later game tonight and being in a cooler environment, I think that really helped the kids. It was key, because Kyleigh (Rupert) came in this morning and had a great performance on the mound and let us save Cali. It was awesome."
"We even went cold for a couple innings and then we came back... Her (Colaw's) pull off changeup, it had us all kinds of messed up, but we bounced back and came through when we needed to," said Riggs of facing the Vikings' pitcher.
With the Blue Devils just one win away from winning a state title one year after falling just short, Riggs wants the team to, "..Stay focused. Keep the end in sight. Just one out at a time."
Contact Aaron Lee at alee@newsandsentinel.com