NEW MANCHESTER — Buck Davidson has known all season what his Wheeling Central softball is capable of. He’s just been waiting for the Maroon Knights to put it all together.

With its season on the line, Wheeling Central (20-8) put together a near-perfect performance when it needed it most in routing top-seeded Oak Glen, 11-0, in five innings in a W.Va. Class AA Region I, Section I tournament at the sun-drenched Suzan L. Smith Fields of Dreams Complex in northern Hancock County.

With the cherished win, the Maroon Knights forced a third – and deciding – game in the double-elimination event on Monday at 5:30 p.m., once again in northern Hancock County. The winner advances to meet the Region I, Region II winner between St. Marys and Ravenswood later next week. Oak Glen had won 3-1 on Thursday.

“We finally put together a complete game with our hitting, pitching and defense,” Davidson said. “Hopefully, these girls realize now what they can accomplish. We just want to keep it going.”

Wheeling Central, the No. 2 seed, didn’t waste any time in asserting itself with two runs in the top of the first inning.

Morgan Miehle led the game off with an infield single off the glove of Oak Glen pitcher Mattie Carney. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third when Chloe Groome legged out a bunt. Maddie Miehle continued her red-hot hitting with a double to the fence in left-center that allowed both runners to score.

“That was great,” Davidson stressed. “Anytime you can put up a couple of runs early on a team, it puts them behind the 8-ball and they think they have to work a little harder. But there is still a lot of ballgame left to be played.

“We scored runs in every inning. I’m very, very proud of my girls for the way they hit the ball,” Davidson added. “We just need to keep the girls in the batter’s box hot and keep hitting.”

If it hadn’t been for a couple of breakdowns on the basepaths, the first inning could’ve been even bigger, but the Golden Bears (24-9) cut a runner down at the plate and threw another out at third to end the inning.

“That was the only part of the game I was disappointed with,” Davidson assessed. “Other than those two lapses, I thought we played extremely well.”

Staked to an early advantage, Josie Frizzell was once again lights-out inside the circle. The Seton Hill University recruit struck out the side in the first inning. Then, after the Maroon Knights tacked on another run courtesy of a home run to deep right-center off the bat of No. 9 hitter Sydney Hupp for a 3-0 cushion, Frizzell struck out the side again in the second after allowing a leadoff walk.

“That seemed to set the tone for the whole game. Start strong and carry it through,” Frizzell said. “You can always have a comeback, but when you start strong it’s hard for them to catch up. They are a great team, but today was just our day.”

Frizzell would finish with 10 strikeouts, a pair of walks and allowed only a third-inning leadoff double to left by Macy Hartung. The senior threw 80 pitches, with 50 being strikes. Although she didn’t have her best stuff, she made the pitches she needed when it counted.

“That’s classic Josie. Every time she gets behind in the county, she will regroup and start making her pitches,” Davidson said of his ace in the circle. “She gets the job done.”

Oak Glen got the leadoff runner on in the second, third and fourth frames, but only two of them advanced as far as third. With Hartung at third and one out in the third, Riley Bruce lined out sharply to shortstop Bella Rine and Frizzell caught the next batter looking. Then, in the fourth, Carney drew a leadoff walk, stole second and went to third on a bunt. However, Frizzell stranded her there with a strikeout and fly out to left.

“It’s so much bigger than just sectional softball,” Frizzell said. “My catcher (classmate Ava Hanson) just told me that this means we get to play another game. Today could have been our last game together, but we’re so thankful to God that it wasn’t and that we get to keep going.”

For the second consecutive day, Maddie Miehle has come up a homer shy of hitting for the cycle as she tripled to deep left-center in the third and singled in a run in the fourth. Erin Maxwell slugged a pair of doubles that produced two runs and Morgan Miehle knocked in two more with a single in the fifth, her second of the day.

Wheeling Central collected 14 base hits after belting out 13 Friday against Tyler Consolidated.

The silver lining for Oak Glen is that it gets to play another day.

“We made some crucial errors and we weren’t able to back that up with our pitching,” veteran Oak Glen head coach Sherrie Garner said. “If we’re not going to hit the ball, nothing is going to happen. She (Josie) is an excellent pitcher, but I think our girls can do a better job.”

SOFTBALL

W.Va. Class AA Region I, Section I

Championship Game One

(at Oak Glen High School)

Wheeling Central 11, Oak Glen 0

WC 212 33 – 11 14 0

OG 000 00 – 0 1 1

WC-Frizzell wp (10K, 2BB) and Hanson; Mo. Miehle 2S, 2rbi; Groome 2S; Ma. Miehle S, D, T, 3rbi; Maxwell 2D, 2rbi; Rine D, rbi; Hupp HR, rbi

OG-Carney lp (1K, 0BB), Murray (3), (3K, 1BB), Holden (5), (0K, 0BB) and Heath; Hartung D