Wheeling Central sophomore Josie Frizzell delivers plateward Wednesday afternoon against Cameron at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Youth Sports Complex in Elm Grove. She struck out 8 of the 9 batters she faced as the Maroon Knights rolled, 12-0, in 5 innings.

ELM GROVE – Josie Frizzell hasn’t been perfect in her first three outings inside the circle, but the Wheeling Central sophomore has been unhittable.

Wednesday afternoon at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Youth Sports Complex, Frizzell struck out eight without a walk in hurling her third consecutive no-hitter to start the season as the Maroon Knights (3-0) rolled past visiting Cameron, 12-0, in a 5-inning mercy-rule contest on chill-filled Ben’s Field.

“This is a great way to start the season. We’ve got a bunch of young girls that can play softball,” Wheeling Central head coach Buck Davidson said. “Even when I make changes the girls can play, the only thing lacking is a little experience.

“The girls have great support for each other. We’ve got a JV team this season, so it’s been important to get them some cuts against varsity pitching early on,” he added. “It’s going to get tougher though when we start playing some bigger schools, but I’m just looking for good things from these girls.”

In her three outings, the hard-throwing righty has struck out 29, walked four and not allowed a single hit, nor run. Not one! She threw just 37 pitches in three innings, with 29 being strikes, against Cameron.

“She can be real good,” Davidson said of his returning W.Va. Class A all-stater inside the circle.

When asked how many pitches she has in her arsenal, Davidson laughed before saying “that changes day-to-day, game-to-game. Her and (catcher) Ava (Hanson) work very well together. They’ve been playing together since they were small. They know what pitch(es) are working on what day, and what pitch(es) aren’t, so they try to stay away from those.”

After Frizzell recorded three of her eight Ks in the top of the first, her teammates rewarded her with a pair of tallies in the bottom of the inning with some two-out lightning.

With the bases loaded and one out, Frizzell bounced back to Cameron pitcher Mattilyn Mason who threw to the plate for a force. However, the relay throw to first skipped past the first baseman and rolled down the right field line, all the while Wheeling Central’s Brook Edge and Jocelyn Shaw were circling the bases for a 2-0 lead.

Mason was the only Dragon to put the ball in play off of Frizzell. That came when she led off the top of the second by lofting a pop fly to shallow right where freshman Bella Rine made a nice running catch. Frizell then struck out the next five Dragons she faced – the last three all looking – before giving way to Olivia Kiaski, who fanned two and issued a pair of free passes.

Meanwhile, the Maroon Knights blew the game wide-open in the bottom of the second when they sent 14 batters to the plate, with nine scoring to bump the margin to 11-0.

Rine, in her first varsity at-bat, sent a 2-2 offering from Mason over the fence in straightaway center with a teammate aboard to highlight the uprising. She later singled in a run for a three-RBI game.

“That’s pretty good for a freshman,” Davidson noted of Rine’s hitting. “We’ve got a lot of young girls. We’re going to do our best to get the girls as much playing time that we can, and hope things keep working out for us.”

Taylor Knollinger singled and doubled for Wheeling Central, while Edge added an RBI double; Shaw plated a run with a pair of base hits; Aspyn Bowman had two infield singles.

Paden City visits Ben’s Field today for a 5:30 first-pitch.