Gallery by Heather Belcher
New Richmond – Heading into the seventh inning Wyoming East junior Savannah Brehm had a confidence-crushing week.
After hitting a home run against Scott on Monday she struck out multiple times with runners on against Greenbrier East on Tuesday and was robbed of a home run against Midland Trail on Thursday.
In the fourth inning of Friday’s game against Bluefield her error at second base allowed two runs to score.
In the end it was all smiles for the second baseman.
With the bases loaded and East trailing 3-2 with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Brehm launched an opposite field home run that cleared the fence in right field for a walk-off grand slam as the Lady Warriors closed the regular season with a 6-3 win over the Beavers in New Richmond on senior night.
Savannah Brehm hits a walkoff grand slam to give Wyoming East a 6-3 win over Bluefield #wvprepsb pic.twitter.com/EdbazYhKQp
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) April 29, 2022
Nervous, Brehm stepped to the plate with one goal in mind – put the ball in play. She effectively did so, putting it out of the park.
“I just wanted to put the ball in play and I knew that we weren’t going to strikeout, we were going to score because I was going to put the ball in play, no matter what. I had to,” Brehm smiled. “I just wanted to win. She threw me the inside pitch and that’s what I’ve been struggling with, I’ve also been struggling with the outside but that’s what she threw me.”
In their first meeting of the season, with the chance of at least two more slated for next week with postseason play opening on Monday, the Beavers threatened to play spoiler on a night East spent honoring seniors Olivia Hylton and Paige Laxton.
The second time through the order Bluefield leadoff hitter Grace Richardson drew a walk to open the fourth inning but was replaced after the next two batters hit into a pair of fielder’s choices. Pitcher Maddie Lawson hit a two-out single to give the Beavers a pair of base runners before a hard-hit ball off the bat of Sandraya Dickey failed to be fielded by Brehm and rolled into the right field corner, allowing both runners to score.
The Beavers later padded their lead in the fifth when Taylor Mabry was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a Jordan Jones single and scored on a wild pitch.
It proved the sound strategy of putting the ball in play would work.
“We work on swinging at good pitches and not trying to help the pitcher out,” Bluefield coach Barry Reed said. “I think that’s critical in the high school game because as you see if you make the pitcher throw strikes – sometimes that doesn’t happen. Our pitcher struggled some but she’s 14 or 15 years old. We try to make good selections when we’re in the box and be direct on the ball. We hit it pretty good and put it in play. We don’t strike out a whole lot.”
East broke its snide in the bottom of the fifth when Olivia Hylton smacked a two-out single and scored when her fellow senior Laxton hooked a double into the gap in left.
The rally ended there until the bottom of the order reignited it in the seventh.
Chloe Prichard opened the frame with a bunt single and two batters later Hylton collected her third hit of the game. Laxton followed with another single for her second RBI of the game but had to exit a few pitches later after aggravating an ankle injury she sustained earlier in the contest, leaving her status for next week’s sectional tournament up in the air.
With the tying run on in Laxton’s spot, Kayley Bane worked the count to draw a walk and load the bases, setting up Brehm’s heroic hit.
“The bunt got them started and we didn’t field it as quickly as I wish we would have,” Reed said. “Then I think we walked one and missed one in right field that should been caught. We didn’t make many mistakes today but the timing was bad.”
“I knew if we got to Liv (Hylton) and Paige we’d be okay,” East head coach Doc Warner said. “Kayley Bane was the key though. If she got on I knew we’d win the game. She got a walk and Savannah got it. She missed it a little bit but just long enough for the short porch. That’s why it’s out there, for her to aim at.”
The meeting was the first of the season for the top two seeds in the Class AA Region 3, Section 1 softball tournament which begins on Monday.
Wyoming East will open play against PikeView on Monday while Bluefield will host Westside that same day. If both East and Bluefield should win they’ll meet on Tuesday at Wyoming East with the winner moving into the winner’s bracket.
“I’ve told them to be ready to come up here next Tuesday,” Reed said. “I’m not – you never know what’s going to happen Monday and I’m not going to overlook it but I’m the coach so I’m looking forward to Tuesday too. We’ll see what happens but I feel pretty good with how we competed. The beginning of the game everything we were hitting was right at them and everything they hit was right at us. If we can prepare for the pitcher a little bit better – because we played PikeView last night and didn’t see anything like what the pitcher right here (Hylton) throws – but if we can prepare a little bit better maybe some of those balls will start falling and we can score some more runs.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
B: 000 210 0 – 3 3 0
WE: 000 010 5 – 6 11 1
Pitching and catching – B: Maddie Lawson and Grace Richardson; WE: Olivia Hylton and Kayley Bane. WP: Hylton, LP: Lawson.
Hitting – B: Maddie Lawson 1-3, M. Gregory 1-3, Jordan Jones 1-2; WE: Olivia Hylton 3-4, Paige Laxton 2-3 (2B, 2 RBI), Savannah Brehm 1-4 (HR, 4 RBI), Andrea Laxton 1-3, Alivia Monroe 1-3, Cadence Clay 1-3, Chloe Prichard 1-1, Maddie Clark 1-3.
