Wheeling Park Softball Punches Regional Ticket; Takes Down Brooke in Class AAA Region One, Section One Championship
Patriots to face Morgantown in regional tourney
Trending
WHEELING -- The Patriots are regional bound.
Wheeling Park parlayed the strong pitching of Ashley Linder with some timely hitting in posting a 4-0 win over Brooke Monday afternoon at the I-470 J.B. Chambers Complex to wrap up the Class AAA Region One, Section One crown.
Pat Durkin's charges are now idle until May 14 when they will host Morgantown in the best-of-three regional tournament.
"It feels really nice to be returning to the regionals. This is a resilient bunch," Durkin said. "We have great camaraderie on this team. It is a fun group to coach."
Linder was exceptional in the circle.
She yielded four hits while fanning six and issuing two walks. The senior righthander stranded six Bruins. Linder also found time to help herself with the bat, delivering a RBI double in the fifth to make it a 2-0 Wheeling Park edge.
"Ashley was in the groove tonight. She was hitting her spots and was in total command," Durkin noted about his ace. "She was real confident before the game. Ashley is a great competitor and super young lady."
Park will take an 11-10 mark into the regional tourney. Brooke, meanwhile, ended a successful season at 17-11 under the tutelage of Jim DiCarlo.
"Linder did a great job (Monday). She was really sharp," DiCarlo said. "You need to score to win. We were unable to do that."
Park scored the only run it would need in the second inning.
Lauren Fox was hit-by-a-pitch. Katie Nesbitt followed with a bunt single. Both runners advanced a base on a passed ball. Maddie Westfall delivered an infield grounder which resulted in a rundown, enabling Fox to scamper home.
Park added two insurance runs in the fifth.
Spark-plug Shea Wright led off with a ringing double to left and scored on Linder's two-base hit. Linder touched home on Mahayla McCroskey's RBI single.
Brooke's best scoring opportunity came in the sixth.
Jaycee Mitchell opened the inning drawing a walk. A Park error placed runners at first and second with no outs. Linder responded to the challenge by sandwiching a strikeout between a pair of popouts to second base.
"We backed Ashley with some solid defense. We made some real nice plays and delivered some timely hitting. It was a complete all-around effort," Durkin said. "These girls have really improved as the season has went on. I can't say enough about the great job my coaching staff has done as well as the commitment our girls have shown."
Nesbitt led the Patriots' eight-hit attack with three singles while Wright added a single and double.
Brooke ace Rachel Kazmirski took the the loss. The talented junior, dealing with some injury issues, went five innings, striking out two and walking one.
"Rachel definitely wasn't 100 percent. She is dealing with a back injury but she battled as long as she could," DiCarlo said. "(Monday) is disappointing but we accomplished a lot of firsts this year. We won our first OVAC game and we beat Park and John Marshall. There were a lot of positives."