SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — When Wahama scored five runs over the final two innings Wednesday to erase a one-run deficit and claim a 7-3 win over Petersburg, Mikie Lieving felt good about her team’s chances of repeating as Class A champion.
That result allowed the White Falcons to enter Thursday’s action in the driver’s seat.
“The second game yesterday is the most important game of the tournament, because it determines so much,” Lieving said. “That’s definitely the advantage. We really wanted to win that game, so I’m happy we did.”
Turns out Lieving’s assessment was spot on. After returning to action Thursday, the White Falcons rode the right arm of their standout pitcher, who struck out 13, and Wahama got enough timely hitting to claim a 4-3 win over the Vikings that gives it a second straight Class A crown.
“It’s insane. We won this because no one on our team is selfish and we all play for each other,” Lieving said. “I’m just so excited about this. It’s awesome.”
After Petersburg (19-4) fought back to beat St. Marys 7-6 in eight innings earlier Thursday, the Vikings got another crack at Wahama (29-2), needing two wins before a loss to claim a state title.
PHS threatened early but left the bases loaded, though Wahama stranded a pair of baserunners in its half of the first.
The game went to the third scoreless before the Vikings got a run-scoring single from pitcher Samantha Colaw to take a 1-0 lead.
However, the advantage was short-lived, as the White Falcons immediately responded with three runs in the home half of the frame.
Lieving led off with a double and stole third, before scoring on Amber Wolfe’s triple to left. Emma Knapp’s bunt single allowed Wolfe to score for a 2-1 lead, and the White Falcons doubled the advantage moments later when courtesy runner Kate Reynolds scored on a wild pitch.
“It was a great game. Petersburg came out hitting. We didn’t have an error and we played some good defense and found a way to score one more run than they did,” Wahama coach Chris Noble said.
The White Falcons maintained that two-run lead until adding to it in the fifth with their fourth and final run, which proved to be decisive in the outcome. It came after Lieving’s second double, which led off the frame. She moved to third on Wolfe’s groundout and came home on Lauren Noble’s sacrifice fly for a 4-1 advantage.
“The sac fly was a big one at a big time in the game,” coach Noble said.
However, just as it did earlier Thursday against the Blue Devils, Petersburg fought back.
The Vikings hit four singles off Lieving in the sixth, two of which were run-scoring hits from Mackenzie Kitzmiller and Braylee Corbin that cut their deficit to 4-3. With two on and two out, Lieving induced a groundout to shortstop off Colaw’s bat that ended the inning with Wahama still on top.
“We were right there until the end and just fell a little short,” Petersburg coach Bubba Hedrick said. “I could tell we were mentally and physically tired from the game last night, getting up early and going through that this morning with a little bit of extra innings and then another game on top of that. I think that factored in a little bit, but the girls were resilient.”
Lieving didn’t allow the Vikings to put a scare into Wahama in the seventh, and the junior instead retired the side in order to seal the verdict.
‘It was the bottom of their lineup, and we just had to give everything we had and we definitely did,” Lieving said.
Twelve of Lieving’s strikeouts came over the first five innings.
“She’s the backbone of the team and the whole team rallied around her today, played really good defense and we got the hits when we needed to,” coach Noble said.
Petersburg managed nine hits, getting two apiece from Mickala Taylor and Corbin in defeat.
Colaw, who had thrown all eight innings earlier against the Blue Devils, struck out two, walked one and allowed eight hits in defeat.
“She gave us everything we could ever ask of her, including in the state tournament, so I’m very proud of her,” Hedrick said.
Knapp and Lieving had two hits apiece in the win as the duo combined for half of the White Falcons’ hits.