ELKVIEW, W.Va. — With the pitching prowess of Herbert Hoover and Chapmanville, Huskies’ head coach Missy Smith figured runs would be at a premium in Wednesday’s matchup.
Thus, scoring first could be of more significance than usual.
Fortunately for Smith, her team was able to do that in its first trip to the plate when Laila Varney belted a two-out triple to right field to Brin home Hannah Shamblin, who had reached on a bloop single.
That was enough offense for Varney, though the Huskies added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to create separation and hand the Tigers their first loss this season, 3-0.
“It was big for us to score that run in the first inning, because we knew there weren’t going to be very many scored,” Smith said. “They’ve played a lot of lower-scoring games, and once we got that, it allowed us to settle in a little bit.”
Varney allowed one baserunner in all seven innings, limited Chapmanville (13-1) to four hits and struck out 12 after she was one of four seniors honored on Senior Day in advance of first pitch.
“Laila was as good as she’s been,” Smith said, “and the defense made the plays behind her like they’re supposed to.”
The Tigers got Hannah Miller to third base with two outs after she reached on a bunt single in the top of the third, but Varney struck out Brooke Christian to keep the shutout intact.
“We have to get our bats going,” Tigers’ head coach Ronnie Ooten said. “We didn’t hit their either very hard and she did a good job mixing it up on us.”
Chapmanville got another baserunner to third in the fourth — this time Erica Sigmon, who had singled and stolen base with one out — but Varney struck out Shae Conley to end the threat and keep her team on top.
Herbert Hoover (14-1) doubled its advantage in the fifth after Ayva Veltri led off with a double and scored with two outs on Shamblin’s double.
“Once we put a couple hits together, then we were able to scratch out a couple more and I felt pretty comfortable when we got to three with the way Laila was throwing,” Smith said.
Christian singled to lead off the sixth, but the Tigers never got her into scoring position while Varney retired the next three batters that inning.
The Huskies capitalized on Varney’s double to start the home half of the sixth and scored in quirky fashion when Addi Chapman hit a single that deflected off Chapmanville pitcher Chloe Murphy and trickled slowly toward shortstop, enabling courtesy runner Kyleigh Elmore to come home from second.
“We talked about productive at bats a lot, and a productive at bat is not a home run and it’s not even a base hit. It’s seeing pitches and moving runners,” Smith said. “Our small ball was good today and we got all the bunts down that we needed to. That’s how you move runners, and a play like when you hit the ball hard and it ricochets around a little bit, you can score once you’ve moved that runner. Our team is very unselfish and willing to give up and sacrifice for the rest of the team.”
Varney worked around a hit batter with one out in the seventh to finish off the shutout.
In addition to her dominance inside the pitching circle, Varney finished 3-for-3 to key the Huskies’ seven-hit attack.
Shamblin added two hits in the victory.
Murphy pitched well in defeat, recording 10 strikeouts over six innings.
“She did a fantastic job today,” Ooten said. “Just as she usually does.”