Two bad innings spoil the day for Greenbrier East

Overall, Greenbrier East had a solid day in its state softball tournament debut.

Two innings, however, ultimately did the Spartans in.

Leading Cabell Midland 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Spartans allowed the Knights five unearned runs, all with two out, and lost 7-5 in a Class AAA elimination game Wednesday at Little Creek Park in South Charleston.

Spartans starter Lily Carola was working on a solid outing and got the first two batters of the inning to ground out. Nicole Harris then singled, and the wheels began to loosen.

Baylee Smith reached on a throwing error and Harris took third. Audrea Watts singled to right on the next pitch to drive in Harris and make the score 5-3.

A single to center by Ellie McCormill scored Smith to get the Knights within one with runners on the corners.

Then, the wheels exploded.

Sabrina Rose grounded softly to shortstop and slid headfirst to beat the throw for an infield single. Watts scored easily for the tying run, and McCormill never stopped running from second and slid in with the go-ahead run as the throw from first came in.

Rose took off for second on the throw, and the throw to try to get her went into center field. She scored standing up and the Knights celebrated at home with their 7-5 lead.

The Spartans (21-11) still had a chance in the top of the seventh and got off to a good start when Hailey Ervin led off with a double. Taylor Boswell flied out to center and Ervin went to third. However, the Knights appealed that Ervin left second early and the umpires confirmed it for the out and double play.

Kayla Bartley then flied out to end the game.

Until then, it was all Spartans, who were making the team’s first state tournament appearance in the school’s 55 years.

They took a 2-0 lead in the first on Bartley’s two-run triple to drive in Ervin and Boswell. The lead doubled in the third on an RBI double by Bartley and run-scoring single by Allyson Martin.

Reagan Cline, a left-handed freshman, hit a home run to lead off the fourth and put the Spartans up 5-0.

The Knights, who had committed six errors in an opening 6-3 loss to Washington, finally got on the board in the bottom half on a standup triple by Harris.

Carola did give up eight hits over six innings but struck out five and walked one. She was victimized by the five unearned runs in the sixth.

Ervin was 3 for 4 and Bartley and Martin both had two hits.

Watts got the win in a stellar relief performance for Cabell Midland. She worked three scoreless innings and held the Spartans to two hits while striking out three and walking one.

The Spartans wound up in the elimination bracket after a similarly heartbreaking loss to University in the first Class AAA game of the day. They led 9-6 before University scored five runs in the top of the seventh for an 11-9 win.

Four of the five runs were unearned thanks to a pair of Greenbrier East errors.

A bases-clearing triple by freshman pinch-hitter Carley Voithofer with two outs put the Hawks up by two.

Just like the second game, things had been going the Spartans’ way to that point. They scored four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.

The Hawks had taken a 2-1 lead in the third but Cline scored on a wild pitch to tie it. Boswell followed with an RBI single and Carola — whose solo home run in the third drove in the first run of the game — hit a two-run double to make it 5-2.

After University scored two in the top of the fifth, the Spartans put another four across.

Cline reached on an error and went to third on Alanis McClary’s single with one out. McClary was forced out at second on Ervin’s ground ball to short and Cline scored.

On the next pitch, Boswell hit a two-run homer over the center field fence to make it 8-4.

The Spartans kept going. Bartley singled and courtesy runner Haylee Heaster went to second on a passed ball. She then scored on a double by Carola.

A two-run single by Olivia Masoner got the Hawks closer before their big seventh-inning rally.

McClary was 3 for 5 and Carola (two doubles, home run) had four RBIs for the Spartans.