John Marshall Eliminated at State
Monarchs rally against Washington comes up short
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SOUTH CHARLESTON -- John Marshall's 2021 state tournament appearance was short-lived. After falling to St. Albans in the morning session, the Monarchs had to play catch-up against Washington Tuesday evening.
Falling behind 4-1 after the top of the second, John Marshall kept chipping away at the lead. Although the Monarchs eventually tied it, the Patriots scored in the seventh to secure a 5-4 victory at Little Creek Park.
"I think the second inning pretty much killed us," John Marshall coach Ed West said. "The way we threw the ball around and didn't make plays. I feel like they got all their runs unearned except maybe the last one. Even there we made an error. I'm not very pleased with the defense. I'm proud with the comeback, the way they came back and they played hard. We had a chance to win the game. But you can't give up easy runs. We should've been out of the inning. We didn't."
The Monarchs did plate the first run of the game. Shelby Koontz secured a double in the first inning and was brought in by a Kadence Pettit double.
However, Washington was able to respond in a big way. After a RBI single by Meg Ruffner to tie the game, Morgan Cave laid down a bunt. No throw was made to first and Cave burst for second. The throw there was off the mark and went to center field. The ball went deep enough for Ruffner and Cave to score to make it 3-1. Ally Dodson then tripled and scored on a wild pitch.
"I'm proud of my girls," Washington coach Amanda Orkoskey said. "We said all season we're fighters. We could have easily dropped down when they came back and tied that game up. We fought, we controlled and played our game. They came together and I'm proud of them."
And over the next three innings, the Monarchs kept chipping away at the lead. In the second inning, Ava Blake plated a run on a RBI single.
In the bottom of the third, A.C. Cumberledge blasted a double to score Pettit and the score read, 4-3.
Finally, after Blake's second single, Tessa Wise delivered a RBI single of her own and tied the game at 4-4-.
Unfortunately, for the Monarchs, they couldn't take the lead.
"We had some opportunities and chances. We just came up short," West said.
One of those opportunities came in the fifth as Dori Kins led the fifth inning off with a single. Emily Bailey came into pinch-run and made it to third, but couldn't but was left stranded.
In the top of the seventh, Brittany Cenate put Washington in business as she secured a double with one out. Caitlin Kattwinkel came in to pinch-hit and laid down a bunt. The throw was on target, but the ball went off the baseman's glove and up the first baseline.
That scored Cenate, which proved to be the game-winner.
"We've done this before," Orkoskey said about the message to her team when John Marshall tied the game. "We've got to prove it to everyone else. They say we're young. They count us out and it's time to prove it. It's up to us on how to do it and they decided to do it. I'm proud of them for it."
Cenate also had a triple for the Patriots while Maddy Ruffner fired 10 strikeouts.
For the Monarchs, Blake tallied two singles and Pettit had six strikeouts.
"We had some good games this year. There were times where we played really well and times we didn't play so good," West said. "Overall we had a good season. We won 23 games, made it to the state tournament and fell one run short. We were right there. We just didn't quite get it done."
St. Albans 3, John Marshall 0
SOUTH CHARLESTON -- University of Kentucky commit Tayven Stephenson fired a one-hitter as St. Albans defeated John Marshall in the first game of the Class AAA state tournament.
Taylor Glancy smacked a two-run single in the first for the Red Dragons while Stephenson also secured a RBI triple.
Tessa Wise delivered the lone hit for the Monarchs. Kadence Pettit was solid in the circle as she fired six strikeouts.