The Monarchs won the first game on Thursday by a 10-5 count over Lincoln County to secure a spot in the WVSSAC Class AAA State Championship against Jefferson.

However, the Cougars ended the Monarchs’ memorable run a few hours later in the title game with a 6-1 victory at Craft Field in South Charleston.

It’s John Marshall’s fourth state runner-up finish in the last 11 years.

“I’m very proud,” JM coach Ed West said. “I told them, ‘There’s a lot of teams in the state that would like to be where we are.’ To get here is one thing but to make it to the championship game is something else. Winning the whole thing is the cream of the crop. We’ve been runner-up four times and champions once since I’ve been here and it’s a great feeling.”

After Kadence Pettit fired seven innings in the first game of the day, West looked to Ryleigh Morgan to step in the circle in the title bout and she carried her own with a strikeout and two walks before Pettit came on in relief in the fifth to finish with two strikeouts and a walk.

“Morgan did a pretty good job,” West said. “She pitched well enough to keep us in the game but we just didn’t score enough runs. That’s kind of been our achilles heel all season long.”

“I could have pitched Kadence but I said, ‘If we’re going to win it all, we have to win two games. So let’s throw Ryleigh now.’ Kadence was kind of hurt after the first game. She threw a lot of pitches and she had a cut on her toe but we did the best we could.”

Despite rain off and on throughout the day, Jefferson pitcher Becca Munslow didn’t flinch in the circle as she struck out six and walked two in a complete game victory.

“The rain did make it hard to grip the ball,” Munslow said. “But I was just trying to stay calm and stay focused.”

Jefferson coach Desire’ Waters knew it wouldn’t be easy after opening the tournament with a wild win over the Monarchs that lasted 11 innings.

“We knew they had good hitters,” Waters said before getting doused with a gatorade bath. “We needed Becca to focus up a little bit more. She did miss a lot of spots in that game and she absolutely did that (Thursday). We also wanted to make sure our defense was always ready for a ball in play because they are a really good hitting team.”

The Cougars jumped on the board first as Kalee Dalton delivered a RBI single in the opening frame for a 1-0 edge.

The Monarchs came firing back though as Emily Bailey drew a walk and Sophia Adkins collected a RBI single to right field to even the score at 1-1 in the top of the third.

Munslow gave the Cougars the lead for good in the bottom of the frame with a RBI single to left.

A three-run fourth, sparked by a Shelby Harris RBI knock up the middle gave Jefferson a 5-1 cushion and an error by JM in the sixth put the finishing touches on the contest.

Pettit, Megan Dougherty and Ava Blake of the Monarchs were all named to the All-Tournament team.

Elimination Game

John Marshall 10, Lincoln County 5

Despite allowing five runs in the fifth inning, John Marshall held off Lincoln County to advance to the state championship.

Megan Dougherty delivered a hit and two RBI, Izzie Linton garnered a RBI knock and Shelby Koontz plated two runs.

Kadence Pettit was stellar with six strikeouts in a complete game effort.