Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Hunter Pollock (4) heads for home plate as her teammates await after she smashed a walk-off, three-run homer against Harrison Central Thursday.

MARTINS FERRY – Over the course of a season, there are games that teams will look back on as keys to their season. Martins Ferry will remember Thursday’s Buckeye 8 contest with Harrison Central as one of those.

After watching the visiting Huskies take a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning, the Purple Riders (7-0) remained undefeated with one swing of the bat in the battle of OVAC heavyweights high atop the Purple City.

Lead-off hitter Hunter Pollock supplied the dramatics when she sent a 2-2 pitch well over the fence in left-center for a walk-off, three-run blast that stunned Harrison Central, 5-4. The roundtripper came two pitches after she lofted a fly ball down the left field line in foul territory that landed next to the fence and near two Huskies.

“I’ve been in a slump the last two days so I was just trying to get a hit,” Pollock admitted. “I’m really grateful that the foul ball dropped. This was a big win for our team.”

Pollock entered the at-bat 0-for-3 in the game and hadn’t gotten the ball out of the infield.

“She is a clutch hitter,” Martins Ferry head coach Jerry Magistro said of his senior second baseman. “We’ve got several girls that can hit the long ball, and she is one of them.”

Magistro praised the bottom of his order for setting the stage.

“The two runners that got on base before Hunter were patient in doing so,” Magistro said of Eve Agnew and Kaylynn Zinn, the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters in the Purple Riders batting order. “If those two don’t get on, then Hunter doesn’t have a chance to do what she did. That was key.”

Agnew drew a leadoff walk – just one of two issued by tough-luck losing pitcher Tristen Kovarik – before Zinn, who homered on Tuesday at Linsly, rifled a single down the third base line.

“The bottom of my order has been coming through,” Magistro noted. “I think all nine of my hitters are good hitters. Everyone has done a good job so far.

“It was a very well-played softball game. The pitchers were good and the fielding was good,” Magistro added. “It was just one of those things.”

Deadlocked at 2 after seven frames, Harrison Central (9-3) scored twice in the top of the eighth. Sarah Touville lined a one-out single to center and Liz Clelland belted a shot to the gap in left-center. Touville never stopped running and scored easily for a 3-2 lead.

Magistro brought in Laura McFarland to replace Kelsie Gillespie inside the circle. Gillespie struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter. Kovarik greeted McFarland with a single to right as Clelland moved to third. Olivia Tonkovich’s single to shallow center allowed Clelland to score for a 4-2 reading.

Martins Ferry avoided further damage as shortstop Danielle Lude snarred a liner off the bat of Alaina Williams and turned it into an inning-ending double play by flipping the ball to third baseman Taylor Bell to double up a Huskie runner.

“I’m very proud of my team. We’ve got a young team with a lot of inexperienced girls out there,” a dejected Harrison Central head coach Darrin Young said. “I didn’t know how they would react in a game like this. They (Martins Ferry) are the best (D-III) team in the Eastern District, I think, and we played with them for seven innings.

“That’s the thing about Ferry, they’ve got players up-and-down their order that can do that,” he said of Pollock’s blast. “That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Despite the loss, Young was proud of Clelland’s performance at the plate.

“Lizzie has been struggling at the plate and she needed a day like this,” Young said of Clelland. “She went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs. It was a good day for her.”

Clelland had a single, double and home run, which came in the fourth inning and a pitch after a foul ball fell down the third base line. Touville laced a trio of one-base raps while Tonkovich singled twice.

Maria Clark singled in a run for Martins Ferry in the fourth and Agnew had a run-scoring groundout the inning prior.

Kovarik struck out five and yielded just five hits. McFarland earned the win.

Harrison Central hosts Buckeye Local today in Cadiz. Martins Ferry, meanwhile, is idle today before trekking to New Concord on Saturday for a split doubleheader with Division II powers John Glenn and Heath. The first game starts at 11 a.m.