The last time that Oak Hill won the Class AAA Region 3, Section 2 title was 2021.
Friday night at Thomas F. Parham Field, the Red Devils were once again hoisting the championship plaque.
Scoring twice in each of the first three innings, Oak Hill advanced to the Region 3 championship tournament, starting May 20, with an 8-6 win over Beckley.
The Red Devils will battle either George Washington or St. Albans for a trip to the state tournament at Go Mart Park in Charleston.
“We thought we had it yesterday, but (starter Jayden McClain) just wasn’t feeling it,” Oak Hill head coach Chris Hendrick said. “All of our pitchers were complaining about the mound and adjusting to that. You get that when you are accustomed to your mound at home.”
“Trent (Rider) struggled again today,” Hendrick went on to say. “That first inning proved it. He settled in and finally found a spot up there. Then he started hitting the zone.”
Coming off a loss Friday to the Flying Eagles, Hendrick had a team meeting and batting practice session Saturday.
“We met at two o’clock today because we kind of felt like we were going to get a rain out today and extend it to Monday. We talked with the boys because we came out a little flat (last night) and had a lot on their shoulders. We couldn’t get over the hump yesterday,” Hendrick said. “I wanted to get them together and get them relaxed before we came here. Get the jitter bugs out and hit a little round of (batting practice).”
Rider, who collected four hits in five at-bats, hitting out of the lead-off position talked about how the early meeting helped him and the team.
“I came in focused. We had practice before the game and I felt good during (batting practice),” Rider said. “I felt like I was executing my swing. I found my fundamentals and got in a groove before the game.”
The senior hurler set the tone for Oak Hill at the plate when he opened the game with a sharp single before stealing second base.
McClain followed with a double to score Rider and later scored on a single from Owen Grose for a quick 2-0 lead.
Beckley quickly countered the strong start by the visitors and pushed three runs across for a 3-2 advantage after one inning of play.
Maddex Sims singled and Ty Evans worked a walk. The two runners moved up on a ground out from Chase Tolliver and scored on a double from Gage Price.
A throwing error on Blake Nixon’s grounder allowed Price to come around and score for the one-run lead.
Unfortunately for the Flying Eagles, that was the last lead they held as Oak Hill kept its foot on the gas the rest of the way.
Micah McCarraher ripped a one-out double which was followed by a single from Rider. When the throw home missed the mark, McCarraher scored and Rider rolled into third base.
A sacrifice fly from McClain gave Oak Hill a 4-3 lead.
Undaunted by the scoring from Beckley in the first inning, Rider settled in and held the Flying Eagles scoreless over the next four frames.
“Pitching, I felt like I was focused and hitting the mit. You have to look past it,” Rider said about the runs scored in the first inning. “You have more innings to come. Three runs were nothing. I knew we could come back if we hit the ball and scored more runs.”
Part of the reason Rider and his teammates were numb to the Beckley outburst had to do with the team meeting earlier in the day.
“We discussed every situation that could happen tonight,” Hendrick said. “I forgot about the word momentum and it did seem like it slipped away from us. I brought it to their attention. Whatever happens today, we are not done. We are not finished. We still have goals to achieve going forward.”
McCarraher and Rider added to the Oak Hill lead in the third with RBI-singles for a 6-3 advantage.
After having success in game one of the tournament against Beckley starter Brady Williams, Hendrick went back to the same plan Saturday.
“We beat Williams around in game one and I thought tonight we got on him pretty early. We talked individually (in the meeting) and went over the stats from game one with them. We had 10 hits and won 7-1,” Hendrick said. “I am a superstitious kind of feller, so I (went) with the same lineup we had in game one. I expected 10 hits. We had 10 in the the third inning and we had deuces all over the board tonight.”
Oak Hill added two more runs in the sixth keyed by an RBI-double from Connor Smith and an error by Beckley.
Although the Flying Eagles scored three runs across the final two innings, they could not catch up to the Red Devils, who out-hit the home team 14-7 on the night.
“We put up three runs in the first inning and then we just went flat. Brady struggled with his curve ball and they were on his fast ball,” Beckley head coach Michael McKinney said. “They were seeing him for the second time this year and they were on him. It is hard to beat 14 hits. We couldn’t piece anything together again. That has been our story all year, not getting timely hitting.”
The senior group was on that 2021 sectional championship team that eventually lost to St. Albans. Rider is hoping for a better fate this year.
“It feels good to be a senior and win the sectional championship,” Rider said. “Hopefully we can win regionals. It will be a tough one though.”
