Gallery by Greg Barnett
Bluefield – Bluefield’s sectional title defense is off to a stellar start.
The Beavers’ bats erupted Monday as they pounded out a 19-0, three-inning win over PikeView in the Class AA Region 3 Section 1 opener in Bluefield.
Bluefield, which won its lone contest against sectional foe this season, collected 15 hits and reached base at will. The dominance was on display in the second inning in particular where the first nine Beavers reached base and scored.
“The last time we talked about timely hitting and tonight we did that and we kept the ball out of the air,” Bluefield head coach Justin Hall said. “They were hitting line drives and that’s what we strive to do. That’s what we coach to do – stay direct and hit line drives, and they did.”
PikeView on the other hand struggled to get anything going on offense. The Panthers were no-hit and produced just one base runner.
Their fortunes were brighter early and dimmed in a hurry.
Facing early turbulence, the Panthers coaxed a pair of outs with two Beavers on, needing just one more to escape the opening inning unscathed. A walk to Izzy Smith loaded the bases before pitcher Bella Delida induced a Cara Brown ground ball to third.
The ball was mishandled allowing the first run of the game to score.
Nine batters later the game was firmly in hand. Sophie Hall, Audra Rockness, Abby Richardson, Taylor Mabry and Smith all notched run-scoring hits to establish a 10-0 Beaver lead.
In all the Beavers sent 16 batters to the plate in the frame.
“They didn’t even have to utilize their speed,” PikeView head coach Steve Compton said. “I mean, there’s a lot of speed there too when they get on but the best thing that happened to us I mean, obviously it wasn’t good, but the best thing that happened to us was to get bases loaded to keep their speed off the bases. But they’re just tough. They’re one of the tougher teams on this side of Beckley. I’m telling you man, I knew it coming over here. So hopefully we can win to come back Thursday.”
The barrage continued into the second inning where Grace Richardson provided the highlight of the evening with a grand slam, her fourth long ball of the year.
“I was trying to get a hard hit and advance and runners that’s all I was trying to do,” Richardson smiled. “I wasn’t looking for a home run. I was just looking for a hard ball.”
In a show of sportsmanship the Beavers stepped off the bases, capping a nine-run frame that put the game on ice.
With the win the Beavers will host Wyoming East, which beat Westside 12-9 in 11 innings on Monday, on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Needing to win three consecutive games to repeat as sectional champs, Monday’s contest allowed the Beavers to rest their pitchers. Ace Izzy Smith threw only 29 pitches in the win while Maddie Lawson finished with 19 in an inning of work.
“That’s a big win,” Hall said. “I mean, I think Izzy threw in the neighborhood of the upper 20s in pitches and then having Maddie come in and throw like she did – she threw great. She hasn’t gotten a lot of work in the circle this year. So for her to come in and shut it down like she did was big. It’s big to be able to rest Izzy. It’s big to have that No. 2 pitcher that we know can come in and do work.”
Richardson led Bluefield with five RBIs in the win, adding a trio of hits.
PikeView will travel to Westside on Tuesday with the loser calling it a season.
