WHEELERSBURG — The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs bowed out of tournament action Friday with a 17-0 to Wheelersburg in a Division III sectional championship game.
Lynchburg-Clay ended the season at 7-14 while Wheelersburg improved to 21-1.
The Lady Mustangs put the bat on the ball for all three outs in the first inning, and senior Haleigh Snider hit a smash off the center field fence and cruised into second base with a double. But she was left stranded on base to end the inning.
Over the next three innings, L-C freshman pitcher Sarah McKinney did her best to keep Wheelersburg off-balance, Lady Mustang coach Chad McConnaughey said, but heading into the fourth inning Wheelersburg held a 6-0 lead.
Snider collected her second hit of the game with a single up the middle, but the Lady Mustangs only other hit in the game came from McKinney.
The bottom of the fourth inning proved tough for the Lady Mustangs when a home run mixed in with a couple of errors and several timely hits allowed 11 runs to cross the plate for the Lady Pirates.
“We got one out to start that inning and then the proverbial wheels started to fall off,” McConnaughey said. “We just needed to get a couple of good defensive plays, but their offense had settled in on Sarah, and they were really grooving the ball. I was proud of the girls for battling through the whole game. We were able to put the bat on the ball against their pitcher, but we just couldn’t get it in the gaps. Their defense was very solid as well.”
The Lady Mustangs have one more game to complete the 2021 season. That is a conference game against North Adams.
”I would like to take this opportunity to talk about our seniors. We will lose four quality players and more importantly four quality individuals,” McConnaughey said. “I have known these young ladies for most of their lives, so it will be bittersweet to say goodbye to them after the West Union game. They are Haleigh Snider, Sierra Benney, Ashley Ernst and Natalie Gray. Each of these young ladies have been in the program all four years even though their junior year was lost to Covid. They have been a vital part of our program, and they were outstanding in assisting our coaching staff being in our first year together this year. They will be missed.”
