Wildcats freshmen help upset Hawks

By Alyssa Goodson -- sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Skyline may have won the two extra-inning battles during the regular season, but it was Warren County that won the Northwestern District quarterfinals war.

After falling in the two previous matchups by just one run, the Wildcats were finally able to give the Hawks a taste of their own medicine, in the form of a 4-3 defeat on Friday night.

"We knew that if we won just one of the Kettle Run games this week, we'd get another shot at Skyline," Warren County coach Justin Stock said. "We really wanted this game. We were so close to beating them earlier this year, and we knew we could pull it together this time."

The first three innings proved to be quite the pitcher's duel, with Warren County's Nicole King and Skyline's Amanda Litwin continually retiring their respective batters. When Litwin's defense fell apart behind her in the fourth inning, no amount of exceptional pitching could save her and her teammates.

After three consecutive errors, Warren County held a 2-0 advantage on its county rival.

"I've been preaching to the girls all season that we need to play smart softball," Richard Armstrong said. "We didn't play smart softball tonight. We made mistakes and Warren County didn't. Warren County was hitting and we weren't. It's as simple as that."

The Wildcats added a third run in the sixth inning, when catcher Julie Shifflett mishandled a spot-on throw from center field, allowing Caity Thompson to score.

But in the bottom half of the inning, the Hawks finally had an answer for the Wildcats' freshman phenom pitcher. Triggered by back-to-back doubles by Taylor Henry and Tootie Jackson, Skyline trimmed the deficit to one run. A missed flyball in center field plated a third run to tie the score at 3-3.

"We had a lot of momentum after that inning," Armstrong said. "The girls were finally hitting and fighting back. I wish that would have continued in the seventh. We just went cold again."

And then in the top of the seventh, it was Warren County's other fab freshman -- and the catching portion of the battery -- that secured the Wildcats' spot in the district semifinals and ended third-seeded Skyline's season. Taylor Bass, who came into the game behind only Central's Ashley Ebersole and Brea Hinegardner in home runs, blasted her fifth round-tripper of the year over the fence in left-center for the decisive run.

"I'm so proud of my girls," Stock said. "We went from an 0-20 team last year to an 11-10 team now. We've got a hard road ahead of us, but I couldn't be prouder."