Photo Provided Oak Glen's Mattie Carney throws a pitch Wednesday during the Golden Bears' Class AA state tournament game vs. Weir at South Charleston's Little Creek Park.

SOUTH CHARLESTON – The third time was the charm for the Oak Glen softball team.

After falling to county rival Weir High twice in the regular season, the Golden Bears got some revenge when it mattered most, putting together an impressive performance for a 12-3 upset victory over the Red Riders in the opening round of the WVSSAC Class AA state tournament Wednesday afternoon.

“Today was great, our girls came to play,” Oak Glen head coach Sherrie Garner said. “We had decided as a team that we wanted to hit and hit we did. The energy was absolutely fantastic, even with the rain delays.”

With the win, the defending state champion Golden Bears advance to winner’s bracket action today back at Little Creek Park, where they will take on top-seed Logan, also a winner on Wednesday.

While rain drops were falling and the game was halted three separate times, the fifth-seeded Golden Bears had it raining hits. Oak Glen pounded out 17 hits, four for extra bases, and had six players turn in a multi-hit performance.

Brayley Lash, playing against her former team, led the way with a triple, double, single and five RBIs. Mattie Carney had a triple, two singles and two RBIs, Kylie Robinson tallied a triple, single and two RBIs, Marleah Lough had three base knocks, Mikalyn Balch and Danica Holden each had two singles and Kynslee Landess drove in three runs.

“I credit our coaching staff as we have cued in and took time to work with our girls on the mental aspect of the game,” Garner said. “In addition, we have been drilling fundamentals on defense and getting reps, reps and reps with hitting. Our girls have been working together and supporting one another.

“I am proud of our team and appreciate the family and fans support here at the state tournament.”

In the top of the first, Oak Glen (19-11) thought they had taken a 1-0 lead when Danica Holden put a ball in play with two on and two out, but the ball was deemed to have hit Mattie Carney running between first and second and ruled runner’s interference, ending the inning.

In the bottom half, Carney worked a 1-2-3 frame around a brief interruption by a short rain delay.

Then, in the top of the second, the Golden Bears scored a run that counted. Lough got aboard with an infield single with one out, and Kylie Robinson came up and sent an RBI triple down the left field line. Landess then came up and put a ground ball in play, scoring a run and reaching on an error for a 2-0 lead.

Lash then blooped a single into shallow center with two outs and Landess came around and just beat out the throw in a play at the plate, making it 3-0 before the Red Riders could get out of the inning.

Weir got the leadoff batter on in the bottom half looking to respond, but the next three went down in order.

Weir’s Eliza Utt and Carney then each worked a 1-2-3 in the third to leave the score the same, but Oak Glen got something going again in the fourth.

Lough and Robinson started off with back-to-back singles. After a fielder’s choice and a groundout put two away, Lash came up with another big two-out hit, sending a two-run ground rule double over the fence on a hop to make it 5-0. Lash got to third on a passed ball; Carney then came up and singled to right, scoring Lash to make it 6-0 before Weir could get the third out.

The Red Riders (21-10), though, were finally able to get something going with their own big inning in the bottom half.

Utt doubled to lead things off, then Bella Weber singled and Utt safely slid into third, putting runners on second and third with Weber moving up on the throw.

Loganne Barton then hit into a fielder’s choice, Utt beating a throw home to get Weir on the board. Zoe Spencer plated another run with an RBI groundout, then Illiona Kirlangitis hit a sac fly to make it 6-3 before Carney fired a strikeout to end the rally.

After neither team scored and another short rain delay in the fifth, Oak Glen added a run in the sixth when Carney ripped a two-out RBI triple off the fence to make it a 7-3 lead.

The Red Riders looked to have something going in the bottom half as Utt and Weber hit back-to-back singles to lead the inning off, but a pop up put one away and then Macy Hartung made an outstanding running catch on a hard line drive to left and fired to second for an inning-ending double play.

While the cushion was already enough, the Bears made sure they left little to chance exploding for another big inning in the top of the seventh.

Holden, Hartung and Lough reached to load the bases with no one out, then Robinson laid down a bunt on a squeeze play and an off-line throw home allowed Holden to score. Then, Landess came up and singled up the middle to score two more runs, before Lash crushed a two-run triple to left, making it a 12-3 Oak Glen lead.

Again interrupted by a rain delay in the bottom half, Carney worked a 1-2-3 inning to seal the deal, striking out two of the final three batters to end the game.

She finished with nine strikeouts and no walks in going the distance for the win in the circle.

“Our defense was supporting Mattie,” Garner said. “They were clicking and worked out of situations with runners in scoring position to lessen the runs added to the board for Weir.”

Utt finished with five strikeouts and one walk for Weir. Her and Weber each had a pair of hits for the Red Riders.

Weir’s match up in the loser’s bracket of the double elimination tournament Wednesday night was rained out and re-scheduled as the first game on the docket today. The Red Riders will need to win against No. 8 seed Midland Trail, who lost to Logan, to play another game later in the day.

“Oak Glen just outplayed us and whipped us,” Weir head coach John Leary said. “They were ready to go today, all the credit goes to them.”