By Rich Stevens
MaxPreps.com
The West Virginia high school baseball postseason begins this week with several intriguing matchups across the state.
Among those is in the East, where Martinsburg – featuring one of the state’s top players in Brandon King – will try to unseat Jefferson in the Class AAA Region 2, Section 2 Tournament.
King, who is not only the team’s top hitter but also its top pitcher, leads the 19-11 Bulldogs.
Martinsburg starts the postseason against Hedgesville, a team King has beaten twice, giving up two runs and five hits while striking out a combined 24 batters.
The Bulldogs play Hedgesville tonight in the first game of their best-of-three sectional series at 7 p.m. at P.O. Faulkner Field.
In what is perhaps a history-making moment in Martinsburg High history, the Bulldogs defeated Heritage, Va., 5-4 last week in a game which included Martinsburg pitcher Dusty Hovermale pitching to catcher Travis Hovermale.
NORTH
Fairmont Senior has spent a lot of time at the state tournament.
The Polar Bears reached the Class AAA championship game in 2003, 2004 and 2005 only to fall in the final.
They plan to get back when they open play Tuesday night against North Marion in the Class AAA Region 1 Section 3 playoffs.
Junior pitching ace Mike Ice leads Coach Steve Naternicola’s team.
Ice pitched a no-hitter against Morgantown, striking out 14 batters and retiring 18 consecutive batters. He also had three hits and three RBI and remains a candidate for State Player of the Year honors.
“Mike pitched a great game,” Naternicola told the Fairmont Times-West Virginian. “What he’s done this season just shows that hard work pays off.”
The Polar Bears are 21-7.
CENTRAL
Before Nitro can punch its second consecutive ticket to the state tournament, the Wildcats have to get past old nemesis St. Albans.
The Wildcats, who have won 19 consecutive games, took a big step toward that goal when they defeated the Red Dragons 10-0 in a five-inning game at the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship last week.
Nitro, which will begin sectional play Tuesday night against St. Albans, has two of the state’s top pitchers in senior Chase Pickering and sophomore J.R. Bradley.
Pickering is the consummate strikeout pitcher who has 119 Ks in only 49 innings and his earned run average hovers right around 1.50. He has a 6-1 record with the only loss coming at Myrtle Beach.
Bradley, meanwhile, has a 5-0 record with an earned run average of 1.14 – which leads the Kanawha Valley. He has 60 strikeouts in 37 innings.
TENNIS
The state tennis tournament is set for this week in Charleston – at Kanawha City’s Schoenbaum Courts and Coonskin Park’s Boiarsky Tennis Center.
The high-profile No. 1 bracket in Class AA-A girls is expected to feature Petersburg junior Emily Harman and Winfield junior Preeya Shah in the finals.
Harman defeated Shah in last year’s championship match 6-0, 6-0.
In Class AAA girls, George Washington’s Erica White has won the last two state titles at No. 1, but could be in for a challenge this season with the addition of Cabell Midland freshman Stephanie Fox.
Fox supplanted Cabell Midland teammate Bethany Law at No. 1 for the Knights. Law lost to White in last year’s Class AAA championship.
Also hanging around is Parkersburg sophomore Alex Bush, who lost to White in last year’s semifinals. Bush has defeated White the last two times in the MSAC Tournament – which features a pro-set format rather than best-of-three sets format – which is the state tournament format.
Petersburg is favored to take the team title in Class AA-A girls, while George Washington could be in line to win the Class AAA girls championship. However, Parkersburg is expected to be in the state’s big school hunt.
SOFTBALL
South Charleston’s Chelsea Cobb is only a junior, but is ready to lead the Black Eagles to the state tournament May 21-22 in Vienna.
Cobb is batting .375 for SC, but most importantly is 15-4 with 292 strikeouts and an earned run average of 0.30 in 152 innings. She has 501 strikeouts in the last two seasons.
In two sectional games last week, Cobb struck out 28 George Washington batters and gave up two hits in a doubleheader sweep.
The Black Eagles play host to Capital on Thursday in the Region 3 semifinal.
Among the other Class AAA sectional winners last week were Wheeling Park, University, Fairmont Senior and East Fairmont, Hedgesville, Ripley, Cabell Midland, Huntington.
Last year’s state champions were Huntington in Class AAA, Chapmanville in Class AA and Wheeling Central in Class A.
Rich Stevens, a sportswriter for the Charleston Daily Mail, covers West Virginia for MaxPreps
