Keyser, Petersburg advance to Day 2 of W.Va. state tournament

May 23—SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Petersburg and Keyser won their state tournament openers Wednesday, but the Vikings fell to St. Marys, 9-0, in the nightcap to fall into the losers bracket.

Petersburg (26-9) defeated Buffalo, 3-2, in its first game in the Class A tourney. Keyser (26-9) won a shootout with Bluefield, 17-14, in its first game in the Class AA field.

Keyser's second game of the day against Winfield, an 11-3 loss, finished at the print deadline and will be in a later edition of the Times-News.

By virtue of winning their first games Wednesday, Keyser and Petersburg both were guaranteed to move to the final day of the tournament Thursday.

The Vikings will have a rematch against Buffalo (19-13) today at 9:30 a.m. in an elimination game. The winner advances to play St. Marys (30-3) in the Class A title game at 2 p.m. at Craft Field, which they'll need to defeat twice.

Keyser plays an elimination game against Herbert Hoover (27-4) today at 9:45 a.m.

Against St. Marys Wednesday, Petersburg fell behind 4-0 in the first inning and the Blue Devils tacked on five runs in the fifth to win via run rule.

Brylee McGrady doubled and drove in three runs for St. Marys, and LHP Cali Masters threw a five-inning shutout on three hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

Petersburg right-hander Sam Colaw, a Shepherd signee, allowed nine runs (six earned) on seven hits with seven strikeouts and three walks in five innings.

Keyser, Petersburg win openers

Petersburg won a thriller in its first Class A tournament game Wednesday, walking off Buffalo on a Colaw two-out double in the bottom of the seventh.

Cheyenne Sites reached on an error after Buffalo pitcher Kimberly Dillman retired the first two Vikings of the inning in the 2-2 game, and Colaw plated her with a double to right field.

"Just find a way to win a game," Petersburg head coach Bubba Hedrick said, "and that's what we did here. Resiliency is a word we could use right not because the kids just hung tough and fought through the heat and a tight game.

"The key is, put the ball in play, and Cheyenne Sites did that. Their miscue got us a runner on base, and then I knew coming with Sam and Miley (Tingler), they have the potential to drive the ball. And that's what we got."

Colaw also earned the win in the circle, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks in seven frames on just 84 pitches.

Colaw's double was one of Petersburg's four in the contest. Addison Kitzmiller, Sites and Elle Chew also hit two-baggers.

The double by Chew with two outs in the third inning drove in Colaw and Tingler to give Petersburg a 2-0 lead. That stood until Buffalo plated a run in the fifth and sixth innings to set the stage for the walk-off.

Dillman was dealt the loss tossing 6 2/3 solid innings of work in which she allowed three unearned runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.

Dillman and Dara Harmon had two hits apiece to lead the Buffalo offense.

Keyser took advantage of 12 Bluefield walks and five errors to take its Class AA state tournament opener.

The Golden Tornado were out-hit, 15-9, but pushed across eight runs in the first inning and five in the second to jump out to a 13-4 lead.

Keyser added on four runs in the sixth to lead 17-9, which proved crucial as Bluefield plated four runs in the bottom half of the inning and another in the seventh to put the tying run in the on-deck circle.

Tornado freshman right-hander Leighton Johnson tossed a groundout to second baseman Makayla Gillaspie to record the final out.

Kent State commit Tayler Likens went 3 for 5 with a three-run home run, a double, five runs batted in and two runs scored, Brielle Root doubled, Bibs Felton was 2 for 5 with two RBIs and scored three times, Suzy Cosenza was 2 for 4 with three ribbies and scored twice, and Mady McIntyre was 1 for 2 with two RBIs and scored twice.

With a second game on deck Wednesday, Keyser elected to throw its No. 2 pitcher Johnson, who got the job done to give ace Rylee Mangold rest.

Johnson earned the win, allowing 14 runs (13 earned) on 15 hits with three strikeouts and 10 walks in seven innings pitched. Johnson needed 154 pitches to get through the game.

Isabella Smith, a Bluefield University signee, took the loss allowing 17 runs (eight earned) on nine hits with 13 strikeouts and 12 walks in seven frames.

Abby Richardson went 3 for 6 with three RBIs and two runs scored to lead Bluefield.