photo by: Nick Henthorn

Wheeling Central’s Josie Frizzell throws a pitch Monday against Barnesville, a 4- win for the Maroon Knights. Frizzell struck out 18 for the Knights, pitching a complete game in the latest blockbuster outing for the Central senior.

WHEELING – Through the first short stretch of her senior campaign, Wheeling Central’s Josie Frizzell is doing more than matching her level of performance from last year’s OVAC 3A Player of the Year season- she is improving on it.

Wheeling Central head coach Buck Davidson certainly thinks so, speaking after Frizzell struck out 18 and didn’t walk a single batter in a complete game win over Barnesville on Tuesday.

“She’s more consistent this year,” Davidson said. “She’s working ahead in the count more which is going to take a lot of pressure off of her. I think she finally gets the big picture with that- if she’s ahead in the count it’s easier to pick and choose what you want to throw.”

As a junior, Frizzell ended the season with a 0.79 ERA and 183 strikeouts. This year, the senior’s strikeout totals have been cranked up to an even higher level- striking out 11 in a start against Oak Glen, 13 against Parkersburg South- also with no walks- 18 Tuesday against Barnesville, and a whopping 25 against Edison.

Credit the person hurling the ball, certainly, but Davidson was also eager to point out the other half of the Maroon pitching battery- another senior, catcher Ava Hanson.

“She’s got a lot of spin on the ball, and her and Ava work together all the time so it’s like one unit out there,” Davidson said. “She’s hitting her spots a lot more often now.”

With plenty of season still to go, talks about Frizzell’s place in the all-time Maroon Knights softball hierarchy may be a tad premature, but Davidson is already confident in calling his senior ace the best he’s seen in quite some time.

“We haven’t had a pitcher like her since probably Riley Bennington and Marissa Garlitz back in ’18,” Davidson said. “It’s been awhile for us. It’s nice to have.”

As for Tuesday’s outing, Frizzell picked up the win in a 4-2 home victory for the Knights at the JB Chambers I-470 Complex, two runs in the first inning making all the difference for Central in a game where both teams’ offenses took time to get going.

Barnesville got on the board in the sixth inning, plating two, but Wheeling Central scored runs in the fifth and sixth frames to preserve the advantage.

“We knew it was going to be tough going in,” Barnesville head coach Kelley Hanlon said. “We faced them three times last year, we knew what to expect, who they’d pitch. Coming out in the first inning and getting behind by two like that wasn’t quite what we had in mind. Just a slow start for us, but the girls did really well to come back, keep their cool and play like they know how to. It just wasn’t in time.”

Barnesville’s Maddy Tyson and Payton Dudzik drove in runners in the sixth. Tyson smoked a hard ground ball that went right by the second baseman, scoring Aubrey Johnson.

Payton Duzik followed Tyson and looped a fly ball into no-man’s land in shallow right field. Central was slow to throw the ball in, and Tyson did not hesitate running from first, rounding third and beating the tardy throw home. Dudzik slinked to third in the aftermath of the play at the plate, but was stranded.

“18 strikeouts is good, but the way we played defense in the sixth inning, we almost blew [Frizzell’s] good effort,” Davidson said. “We need to talk better on the field. I’ve got a bunch of girls who can play defense, we just need to be a little more of a cohesive unit, work together instead of as individuals.”

Maddie Miehle smacked two doubles for Central on Monday, including a two-RBI double in the first inning. Frizzell helped her cause with an RBI single in the fifth inning, and leadoff shortstop Bella Rine hammered a solo shot over the left field wall in the sixth.

“We had perseverance, even if we weren’t hitting the ball as well as we should’ve,” Davidson said. “I’m not taking anything away from the other pitcher, she was really hitting her spots. We had girls on-base and then hit a couple of soft pop-ups. They didn’t give up, they kept playing hard.”

Barnesville pitcher Ella Betts finished with six strikeouts of her own, pitching the whole game inside the circle for the Shamrocks.

Frizzell struck out the first nine Barnesville batters she faced.

“My personal opinion as a coach, I think a lot of it is mental,” Hanlon said. “My girls have been hitting really well, they can hit the pitching machine, but they come out here and they get it in their head that she’s beaten them the last two years.”