What: George Washington (19-10) vs Greenbrier East (22-4)
When: Monday, May 15, 6:00 PM
Where: Greenbrier East High School (Spartan Field)
The Greenbrier East Lady Spartans will host the George Washington Patriots in the regional championship series this week.
East went 3-0 in their section games with wins over Oak Hill, and Woodrow Wilson (twice) and they won rather easily with a combined score of 21-1.
However, the Patriots will present a different challenge.
East defeated George Washington 6-2 on March 29, but GW beat the Lady Spartans 6-1 on back on April 22. The Pats have improved since that first meeting and sport huge offensive numbers led by Karalyne Wade and Alexis Adkins. Adkins leads the team in batting average at .454 and is second on the team with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs. Wade has 12 homers and leads the team with 41 RBIs and is hitting .385. Both girls had home runs against the Spartans in the game that the Patriots won. Passion Holley, another home run hitter in the previous game, has seven homers this season and has driven in 21 runs and is hitting .385 also.
Adkins is also the number one pitcher on the staff. She is 17-9 with an ERA of 3.49, but pitching is the weakest link on the Patriots roster. Adkins has allowed 189 hits on the season in 162.1 innings pitched. She also has just 81 strikeouts and relies a lot on her defense to back her up.
Technically, the Spartans are more balanced than their counterparts.
East will have the upper hand on the pitcher’s mound with Josi Ervin. Ervin has tossed 100.2 innings, given up just 60 hits and has 152 strikeouts. She is 14-4 with an ERA of 0.97. Lily Carola backs her up with 75 strikeouts and an 8-0 record, so advantage to the Spartans in that category.
East also hits it well too. Taylor Boswell (.448, 29 R, 5 HR, 40 RBIs), Lindsey Black (.506, 12 doubles, 21 RBIs), Jo. Ervin (.365, 8 2B, 30 R), Hailey Ervin (.359, 5 2B, 2 HR, 27 R), Olivia Plybon (.338, 2 HR, 19 RBIs), Carola (.337, 3 HR, 21 RBIs), plus Gracie Gumm (4 HR, Alanis McClary and Jenna Groves have had big moments this season as well.
The series will come down to the Spartans pitching keeping the GW bats on the quiet side. If Ervin can hit her spots and keep the Pats hitters off balance, the Spartans can clinch their first state tournament appearance in school history.
East’s offense will also need to score some runs, which is possible off Adkins. In the loss to GW, the Spartans hit the ball extremely hard at times, but they happened to go right at a GW defender. They also had 10 hits against her in the win in March.
This should be an exciting series, with a lot on the line for both schools.
