Sports Writer

WHEELING — Spring was in the air and new turf was on the ground as the Wheeling Park softball team took the field of the brand new Wheeling Park Sports Complex for the first time on Wednesday.

Although the Patriots fell 7-3 to visiting Parkersburg on Opening Day, it was still a great experience to not only get back to playing softball, but to do so in such a beautiful venue.

“I’ve been really excited to play on this field for awhile,” Park junior Lauren Nolte said. “To be out here with my girls and my team, it’s a lot of fun and really exciting.”

Park coach Pat Durkin echoed that statement.

“The field is just beautiful,” he said. “There was not a single bad hop and everything was just great. It’s a great place to play softball.”

Following the opening ceremonies for the new field, it was time to “Play Ball!”

Neither offense could do much early as they were scoreless through three.

However, Parkersburg began to find its groove in the fourth as Brenna Miller belted a two-run homer over the right-center field fence for a 2-0 Big Red edge.

Big Red padded its cushion in the sixth as Jill Nay and Miller each drove in a run for a 4-0 advantage.

Parkersburg kept the foot on the gas in the seventh as Madison Marks delivered a RBI sac-fly before Kylie Conley blasted a home run off the outer fence of the complex to create a 6-0 upper hand.

“Both of our pitchers (Wednesday) were freshmen,” Durkin said. “Shelby (Crow) did a nice job and Delaney (Randolph) did fine, too. They just have to learn that they can’t take pitches off in high school. A team like Parkersburg — everybody can hit and there is not going to be an easy out.

“But, I’m happy with our girls. We only started one senior and we have a good group of girls.”

Makailynn Mundy made it a 7-0 contest with a RBI knock.

“A senior hit the first home run and a freshman hit our second home run,” Parkersburg coach Jason Roberts said. “It’s a good mix. If we can make that work it might be a good season for us.”

Despite the large deficit, the Patriots weren’t going down without a fight.

Conley actually had a no-hitter going but with one out in the seventh, Park catcher Katelyn Kozlowski provided Park’s first hit of the game and the Patriots’ first hit on the new field.

“We started three freshmen — our pitcher, our catcher and our second baseman,” Roberts said. “Conley got tired in the seventh though. Her and our catcher have never played at the high school level before so it was a good win. Pat always does a good job at Wheeling Park so this is a really good win for our young team.”

Kozlowski’s hit started a rally.

Senior Haley Thompson stepped up to the plate and recorded a RBI double as Kozlowski raced home safely.

Then, Crow grounded out to bring in a run.

Randolph followed with a triple and Nolte capped the rally with a RBI single to cut the margin to 7-3 but Big Red finally got out of the inning and pulled out the victory.

“Even though we came up short, we rallied in the seventh inning and almost came back,” Nolte said. “When that happened and I came up with two outs, I was excited and just wanted to hit the ball to get on base. I’m really excited for our team.”

Durkin was proud of the way his squad battled to the end.

“We didn’t quit,” he said. “Before Haley Thompson got her hit, she said, ‘We got this girls.’ Then, she went up and got on a pitch and hit a shot for a double, got to third on an error and scored. She is our lone senior out there and she took control of the dugout.”