Photo Provided Oak Glen's Danica Holden runs off the field during Friday's Class AA tournament game vs. Logan inside South Charleston's Little Creek Park.

SOUTH CHARLESTON — The Oak Glen Golden Bears started Friday with a victory in the third and final day of the WVSSAC Class AA state tournament, winning 4-1 against Sissonville in a morning game, but took a hard-fought 10-4 loss to eventual state runner-up Logan on the diamond at South Charleston’s Little Creek Park.

Ahead 4-2 going into the bottom of the fifth, Oak Glen let four runs across in the fifth and sixth innings, turning a close lead into a deflating deficit.

The Golden Bears, last year’s Class AA champions, end their season with a 21-13 record and another trip to the state tournament on their ledger.

Head coach Sherrie Garner’s squad says goodbye to four seniors– Danica Holden, Macy Hartung, Marleah Lough and Brayley Lash.

“We have a big junior group with four seniors and we had four freshmen and a total of 14 on the varsity team,” Garner said. “And they got close. Brayley has played travel ball with them and she made an opportunity to switch and she made a fantastic part of our family. And we thank her for making that decision, her family making that decision. They all became a part of the close-knit experience and having fun.”

Against Sissonville, in a game that started at 10:30 p.m., Oak Glen broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth, plating three. Mattie Carney had two doubles and struck out five in four innings of pitching. Danica Holden held-down Sissonville with three scoreless frames to end the game.

Back in action 30 minutes after their first game’s ending, Oak Glen put across the first run of their meeting vs. Logan in the top of the second. Nevaeh Heath ripped a double to the left field corner to leadoff the inning, and Brayley Lash bunted for a hit to put runners on the corners with nobody out. However, a shallow fly ball to centerfielder Addie Dotson gave the Wildcats one out, and Dotson cut down the runner tagging for home for a momentum-snatching double play.

Oak Glen wasn’t left totally empty-handed though, as Kylie Robinson drove in Lash, hitting a bloop RBI single to left.

Logan responded in the bottom-half of the second inning, Shae Conley hitting a sacrifice fly to tie the game 1-1.

The Wildcats took a 2-1 lead after Myleigh Adkins hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third.

It was Oak Glen’s turn to tie things up when the top of the fourth came around. Marleah Lough scored after Logan’s catcher attempted a back-pick throw to third, a toss that ended up in the outfield and allowed Lough to come home.

The Golden Bears put more pressure on Logan in the top of the fifth. With bases loaded and one out, Lash struck a dribbler down the third base-line for an RBI infield hit, and Lough hit a sacrifice fly to put another Oak Glen run on the board before inning’s end.

After that though, Logan’s bats began to awaken.

Ashlin Brumfield started the scoring in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double to the right-center wall. After an infield hit put runners on the corners, Myleigh Adkins tried a sacrifice bunt, but the play turned sour after the Golden Bears tried to make a throw home for a tag-play, but the runner was called safe at the plate, and the game was tied 4-4.

Addison Richardson gave Logan the lead with a two-run ground rule double.

In the bottom of the sixth, Logan loaded the bases with one out, and Adkins and Journee Akers each collected two-RBI singles to boost the Wildcat lead.

“It didn’t go the way we wanted it to go,” Garner said of the later innings. “Credit to Logan because they were hitting the ball and battling, and, you know, their strategies worked.”

Playing what was their fifth game in three days, Garner admitted the tournament had been a physical challenge.

“There’s times we’ve gone over to the Eastern Panhandle, played two games in back-to-back days and take a little road trip with the kids because that’s what you have to prepare for if you’re going to be here,” Garner said. “You have to prepare for something that is grueling. I mean, it’s a grueling, exhausting effort.

“You’re also staying away from your home, and that’s tiring. It’s a lovely experience because of the friendships and the bonding and that kind of stuff, but it is tiring, and it’s tiring when you come and you play late night and then come back. But again, I thought our energy was good from the beginning of today with our girls, and like I said, I think it helped us to hit for the next game.”

Hartung collected three hits for Oak Glen while Heath had a two-hit day, including her double, the Golden Bears’ lone extra-base hit vs. Logan. It wa the second time Oak Glen had fallen to the Wildcats in the state tournament, dropping a 1-0 decision on Thursday in the double-elimination tourney.