By Daniel Woods
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Please excuse the wedding bells in Grant County as the Petersburg Vikings return home with a Class AA state softball championship after beating Logan 6-5, one year after coming up short in the final round.
“We always say, ‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,’ and this was the year,” third baseman Miley Tingler said after leading the way with two RBI as part of a three-hit championship game performance.
Petersburg completed a dominant run through the Class AA bracket, winning all four of its games in the eight-team, double elimination tournament and averaging nearly ten runs per game. The Vikings needed just one win on Friday after clinching the winner’s bracket Thursday night.
The Wildcats jumped out early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning, as the first four batters in the lineup delivered hits against Petersburg’s Gracie Carpenter. Myleigh Adkins cracked the scoring column with a double that plated Ashlin Brumfield, and Journee Akers followed shortly after with a single to bring in Lili Fleming.
Petersburg countered in the following inning, needing just two pitches to bring its first run in. Ella Chew continued a hot tournament in the batter’s box by tripling off of Logan starter Shae Conley, which set up Ella Markwell to single her home on the second pitch of the inning.
With Carpenter settling in for a scoreless second, the Vikings heated the bats up again in the third, with Shyane Tawney and Abi Nettles reaching base without an out to tee up Tingler. With three hits on Friday, she capped a tournament MVP-winning performance in the title game and gave Petersburg its first lead with a two-run single.
“I had so much fun. I had everyone supporting me. Everyone came out, and just props to them,” Tingler said.
Markwell drove in her second run of the game later in the inning as her groundout scored Tingler to give the Vikings a 4-2 lead.
Leading off the fifth, Tingler struck again to rip a double into right field that forced Logan head coach Levi Curry to turn to his ace. Myleigh Adkins was in the circle to follow Mollie Barnette, who had entered in relief of Conley.
While Adkins settled the waves, Tingler did come around to score after stealing third and coming home on a passed ball.
Adkins’ entry provided a needed spark for the Wildcats as she retired the first seven hitters she faced, and in the meantime, the Logan hitters started to come along.
In the bottom of the fifth, Brumfield reached on an error, and later in the inning, Akers smacked her second run-scoring hit of the day to bring her team back within two, and they would close the gap entirely in the sixth.
One-out singles from Conley and Addi Dotson put two on before a fielder’s choice resulted in the second out and moved runners onto the corners. Brumfield followed with her biggest swing of the tournament, splitting the Petersburg outfielders and doubling off reliever Kinsley Crites to tie the game.
A spectacular spinning catch by Tawney at shortstop on a would-be RBI hit for Akers ended the inning, and, undaunted, the Vikings returned to the plate in the top of the seventh with the top of the order.
Nettles reached on an error before taking second on a wild pitch. With Tingler at the plate, it was Akers’ turn to flash the leather at third, diving to spear a ground ball ticketed for the left field corner.
The runner Nettles broke for third on the play, and as Akers attempted to tag her between the bases, the ball came free from the infielder’s glove, with second base umpire Ira Haught ruling that Akers did not complete the tag before losing the ball.
With the addition of instant replay review to the tournament this year, Logan challenged the call on the field, and the replay official determined there was not enough evidence to overturn the call, leaving Nettles at third and Tingler at second as both advanced during the chaos.
After an intentional walk to Chew loaded the bases, Markwell’s ground ball to shortstop allowed Nettles to score the go-ahead run, with Logan’s only option being a force out at third base. With the indomitable spirit the Vikings showed throughout the tournament, Petersburg went into the bottom of the seventh needing just three outs to clinch the crown.
“One thing that they’ve done all year is they haven’t caved,” head coach Bubba Hedrick said. “They haven’t given in, and they hung tough and found a way to win.”
The always crafty Bubba Hedrick elected to bring Carpenter back for the final frame, and she delivered, inducing a pair of groundouts before striking out pinch hitter Abby Ellis to put a proverbial wedding band on the bridesmaid’s finger and secure the state championship.
“All season, I told them they are number one from the start, and we were honestly playing for a lot of respect. We felt like we’d been slighted and overlooked a lot. They deserve this, and this is their victory,” Hedrick said.
After coming up short in last year’s championship, it was easy to see the determination on the Petersburg players’ faces throughout the week. The title comes as the culmination of years of work together.
“We have a bond that no other team has. We played against each other or on the same team since maybe eight years old,” Tingler said.
In addition to Tingler’s MVP performance, Chew earned all-tournament recognition alongside Logan’s Adkins, Akers, and Conley, Oak Glen’s Brayley Lash and Mattie Carney, Independence’s Payton Boothe, Sissonville’s Jozey Wilson, and Lincoln’s Aspen Dyer.
