CRAWLEY – Greenbrier West took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Region III series Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over rival James Monroe. With a win tonight, the Lady Cavaliers will earn a return trip to the state tournament for the first time since the 2019 season.
The Cavaliers and Mavericks had met twice during the regular season with Greenbrier West winning in decisive fashion both times. West surrendered only one run to the Mavericks back on March 21 in a 9-1 triumph, then pounded out 20 hits in a 17-8 win on April 13.
The Regional tournament had been in a holding pattern due to wet weather. Originally scheduled to begin on Monday, the tourney was pushed back two days and forced the teams to prepare indoors. The delay did little to dull the effectiveness of the pitchers for each team.
Greenbrier West’s Brilee Redden powered into regionals with 147 strikeouts in 79 innings of work. James Monroe’s Bryleigh Thomas notched 122 strikeouts over 114.2 innings. Heady numbers for both. Both teams would rely on their hurlers leading into their third head-to-head matchup of 2023. In their previous matchups, Redden had retired 10 batters in March followed by 5 in a relief role in April. Thomas struck out 6 West batters in the initial contest and followed up with a 13K performance in April.
The Mavericks would strike early in the matchup of Coalfield Conference foes. Second baseman Chloe Burt drew a leadoff walk after taking Redden to a full count. It would be Redden’s only free pass issued all night. Bert promptly stole second base then advanced to third on a sac bunt by catcher Shay Wickline. Maverick shortstop Madison Boothe dropped a bunt directly in front of the plate that was immediately scooped up by Cavalier catcher Julia Herndon. Herdon glanced in the direction of first base before wheeling around to face Bert who was halfway down the third baseline. Bert took a step toward third prompting a throw from Herndon, but Bert changed directions and scored on the play. Boothe came in safely at second base. Redden settled down to strikeout her pitching counterpart Thomas before setting down Jayden Bradley to end the half inning.
Thomas fared a little better early on. Although she gave up hits to both Redden and Emma Ames in the first inning, she held the Cavaliers at bay with a pair of strikeouts and a pop fly out. Redden responded with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the second but Thomas mirrored her effort with two more punchouts of her own. Redden duplicated he second inning effort with two strikeouts in the top of the third inning.
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the third, West would finally crack Thomas’ code. Brooke Patterson drew a lead-off, full count walk. Patterson advanced to third on a stolen base and a passed ball. After Fields succumbed to a strikeout, Redden put the ball in play on a sharp grounder to Boothe. Patterson broke for the plate and caused Boothe to hesitate before firing wildly to first base. Patterson plated the run and Redden never broke stride, taking a wide turn at first and heading to second as the ball ricocheted off the first base dugout. Treadway took Thomas to a full count before falling victim to another strikeout, and the Mavericks avoided any further threat when Redden was caught in a rundown and tagged out at third.
After the short burst of action, the game resumed as mostly a pitching exhibition. Redden again recorded two strikeouts in a three up, three down inning. Thomas gave up a single to Herndon but also struck out two in the bottom of the fourth. Although Chloie Shires reached on a one out error, Redden tallied two more strikeouts in the top of the fifth.
Patterson led off for the second time in the game and the lefty again sparked some Cavalier offense. Patterson laid down a bunt between Thomas and first baseman Emily Bailey that settled midway between the players. Thomas fielded the ball but her throw to Bert at first was in the dirt, allowing Patterson to reach safely. Patterson stole second and then advanced to third on Field’s first hit of the night, a soft grounder to third. Shires tried to flip Fields’ hit to Boothe at third but Patterson advanced safely on the play. Fields stole second to give the Cavaliers two runners in scoring position with only one out. Redden hit a chopper to shortstop that Boothe desperately tried to keep in the infield, backhanding the ball into the middle of the infield as Patterson scored to take the lead. One batter later, Treadway hit a scorcher up the middle to score Fields for a 3-1 advantage.
Thomas, apparently unhappy with the pitch call, took a moment to gather herself. With two more Cavalier runners in scoring position, Thomas settled in to strike out Ames. Desteney Walker hit a hot shot to Boothe that the shortstop bobbled but recovered to one hop into Bailey for the third out. An appeal on the catch by West coach Tony Hinkle was unsuccessful, but the Cavaliers led 3-1.
Redden was in control at this point. With the lead in hand, Redden could pitch to contact which she did to perfection. Bert had a fly out to Brooklyn Adkins for out number one, and Redden handled the rest if the load, fielding two ground balls and ending the inning in another 1-2-3 effort.
The Cavaliers wanted to build on their narrow lead in the bottom of the sixth, and Herndon got things started with a single to the left side. Hannah Sweet entered the game as a pinch hitter as Coach Hinkle looked to capture a little magic from the left-hander. Sweet tried unsuccessfully to lay down a bunt and got down 1-2 in the count. Sweet delivered, though, with a slap single to the left side that gave the Cavaliers runners at first and second with nobody out. The stage was set for Adkins to advance the runners. Adkins had grounded out to Bailey on both of her previous at-bats, and another similar hit would put the Cavaliers within striking distance of a run. Down 0-2, Adkins ripped a liner directly toward Bailey at first base. Bailey extended her glove hand and popped the liner up and it dropped into her glove for the first out. Both West runners had taken off on contact, so Bailey calmly stepped on the bag for out number two and fired it over to Boothe at second for a triple play. Bailey’s tremendous defensive effort kept the mavericks within reach of the Cavaliers at 3-1.
Redden entered the top of the seventh inning armed with a two-run lead. Redden also entered the inning with a no-hitter on the line. Treadway kept the no-no in play with a ground ball out from Thomas. Redden then got ahead of Jayden Bradley and struck the left fielder out for a third time. Down to their last out, the Mavericks sent Haley Hunnicutt to the batter’s box. Hunnicutt took a 1-1 fastball and ripped a grounder up the middle for the Mavericks’ first hit of the night. James Monroe still had a pulse with the tying run was at the plate. The Cavaliers almost ended things earlier than planned when Hunnicutt drifted away from the bag, but the throw to first was low and Hunnicutt headed to second without distress. Redden, though, had seen enough and blistered three strikes into Shires.
Redden had a banner night, striking out 12 Maverick hitters while going 2-3 at the plate with 2 RBI. Herndon also went 2-3 while Treadway went 1-3 with an RBI. Ames, Fields, and Sweet each added hits for Greenbrier West.
Thomas had 9 strikeouts for the Mavericks and allowed 8 hits and only one walk.
Greenbrier West travels to James Monroe Thursday night for game two of the best of three regional series. First pitch is scheduled for 6 P.M.
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