By Ryan Pritt, HD Media
BUFFALO – From waiting at the gate to clearing the fence, it was a heck of a 24 hours for Winfield catcher Kennedy Dean.
And she was in good company – the same company she’s kept for seemingly weeks.
It certainly ended well as Dean socked a go-ahead, three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to help propel Region 4 to a 7-5 win over Region 2 in the championship game of the North-South Softball Classic at Buffalo High School on Thursday.
The dinger turned out to be the final at-bat of Dean’s career and it put an exclamation point on a terrific career and a wild day.
Dean was scheduled to return from her senior trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday evening but her connecting flight was delayed. Repeatedly. All the way into Thursday morning. Waiting on the same flight alongside her in Charlotte International Airport was Nitro High School pitcher Lena Elkins, who returning from her own trip in Myrtle Beach. She was also due to participate on Thursday.
The duo that was named co-captains of the Class AA All-State first team released on Tuesday were suddenly stranded together on Wednesday.
“She messaged me on Instagram and asked if I was there and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and she told me to come over there and sit with them,” Elkins said. “So, I went over there right before we were about to board and then we didn’t end up boarding, so we just sat there for two or three hours waiting.”
After boarding and then getting back off of a plane around 1 a.m., Elkins’ mother Laurie departed from the Kanawha Valley in a car, making the near-10-hour round trip and arriving back in Buffalo right around the time Region 4 was finishing off a 6-2 semifinal win over Region 3. Elkins stepped out of the car and into the skills competitions where she won both overhand (66 miles per hour) and underhand (65 miles per hour) throwing contests.
With two friends in tow, Dean declined a ride home with the Elkins’ and waited it out. At 4 a.m., passengers were informed that the flight was canceled and rescheduled for 7:30 Thursday morning. Once morning came the flight was delayed four more times all the way back to noon but luckily, she and her friends were put on a standby list and were able to board another flight at 9:30 a.m.
Dean arrived in time to pick up her All-State award given to all All-State selections between semifinals and the consolation game. And as fate would have it, Dean and Elkins comprised the starting battery for Region 4 in the deciding tilt. While Elkins was able to grab some sleep on the drive home, Dean wasn’t so fortunate and despite the big performance, she admitted she was far from rested and rearing to go.
“We were in the floor all night and it was cold and the floor wasn’t comfortable and I had to use my backpack as a pillow,” Dean said. “It was awful. I just wanted to take a shower. It was so bad.”
Dean estimated she got an hour and a half of sleep between Wednesday night and Thursday morning but came up with a pair of big hits to help Region 4 capture its second-straight North-South crown.
After Dean put Region 4 up 1-0 with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, Elkins ran into trouble in the top of the second. With two on and two outs, Tucker County’s Kristen Hicks lined to third but the ball was dropped by Tug Valley’s Emily Hatfield. With new life, Region 2 cashed in as Lewis County’s Abby Hartley pounded a bases-clearing double to left-center field. Herbert Hoover’s Caroline Woody smacked a two-run home run on the next pitch, giving Region 2 a 5-1 lead.
Region 4 began to chip away in the fourth inning as Dean led off with a single. She was erased on a 4-6 putout off the bat of Elkins but that was followed by a double from Winfield’s Lola Baber, who went 4 for 4 and reached in all five at-bats in the two games combined. Hatfield scored Elkins on a sac fly to center and Scott’s Jayden Elkins brought Baber home with a two-out single to center.
The damage came off of Hoover’s Grayson Buckner who was pulled in favor of Philip Barbour’s Sara Simon in the fifth, but Region 4 greeted Simon rudely to say the least. Hurricane’s Alivia Meeks led off with a double and was followed by a single from Cabell Midland’s Jess Terry and a walk from Sherman’s Hailea Skeens. Meeks trotted home after a wild pitch got stuck in the fence and just a couple of pitches later, Dean connected to left, bringing home Terry and Skeens to put Region 4 up 7-5. Buckner came back on with Simon failing to record an out but by then, the deed was done. Sissonville’s Madison Legg, who picked up a win in the team’s first game after tossing four scoreless innings, came on in the seventh and sat the side down in order to collect a save.
Though they all took drastically different and winding paths to get to Thursday, both literally and figuratively, all involved with the winning team were content in the end.
“It was fun honestly, it was just nice to relax and not have a bunch of stress on me,” Legg said. “We all mingled very well together. We all love the sport so we all got along well.”
“Playing with these girls, it’s a great opportunity,” Elkins said. “The best seniors in Region 4, it’s amazing. Really talented girls.”
“Definitely worth it,” Dean added. “It feels good to end my high school career with a home run, that was really special. It was awesome to get to play with these girls and finally be on the same team for once.”
Skeens swatted a pair of home runs in Region 4’s first game, driving in three runs.
Region 2 bested Region 1 by a score of 9-1 in the other semifinal. Buckner had a pair of hits and two RBIs with Simon tripling and picking up the win. South Charleston’s Lexi Scarberry carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning of the consolation game as Region 3 beat Region 1 11-1 in five innings.
North-South Softball Classic
At Buffalo High School
Thursday’s results
Skills competitions
Home run derby – Alivia Meeks, Hurricane 4 (defeated Shady Spring’s Olivia Barnett 4-3 in playoff)
Overhand pitch – Lena Elkins, Nitro 66 mph
Underhand pitch – Lena Elkins, Nitro 65 mph
20-yard sprint (home to first) – Emilee Knorr, Brooke 2.93 seconds
40-yard sprint (home to second) – Kaitlynn Stone, Elkins 5.91 seconds
Semifinals
Region 4 6, Region 3 2
Region 3;000;002;0;–;2;5;1
Region 4;000;240;x;–;6;9;3
Hylton, Gill, Scarberry and Bragg. Legg , Hall, Terry and Hatfield, Mahone, Moon. Top hitters – Region 3: Bird 2-3. Region 4: Baber 3-3; Skeens 2-2, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Legg double, RBI.
MVPs – Region 3: Hylton. Region 4: Skeens
Region 2 9, Region 1 1
Region 1;010;000;–;1;5;4
Region 2;001;142;–;9;12;0
Angus and Dennis. Buckner, Simon (3), Alvaro (6) and Kyle. Top hitters – Region 1: Ball solo HR; Angus 2-2. Region 2: Stone 2-4; Buckner 2-4, 2 RBI; Simon triple; Hicks 2-2; Lewis 2-2; Criss 1-3, 2 RBI.
MVPs – Region 1: Ball. Region 2: Simon.
Consolation game
Region 3 11, Region 1 1
Region 1;000;01;–;1;3;3
Region 3;740;0x;–;11;11;1
Law, Maloley (1) and Ball. Scarberry and Bragg. Top hitters – Region 3: Jimenez 2-2, double, RBI; Wells 2-3, RBI; Barnett double; Bird 2-3, 2 RBI; Laxton 1-3, 2 RBI; Hylton 2-2.
MVPs – Region 1: Maloley. Region 3: Scarberry.
Championship game
Region 4 7, Region 2 5
Region 2;050;000;0;–;5;5;0
Region 4;100;240;x;–;7;8;2
Alvaro, Buckner (3), Simon (5), Buckner (5) and Kyle. L. Elkins, Terry (4), Hall (6), Legg (7) and Dean. Top hitters – Region 1: Hartley 2-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBI; Woody HR, 2 RBI. Region 4: Skeens double. Dean 2-2, HR, 4 RBI; Baber double; J. Elkins 2-2, RBI; Meeks double.
MVPs – Region 2: Woody. Region 4: Dean.