Domination was the word again on Thursday night as the Lady Cats wrapped up a berth in next week’s Class AAA state tournament after shutting out Greenbrier East 4-0 in the Region 3 championship game at the Logan Softball Complex.
Logan junior pitching ace Ali Neace fired a two-hit shutout to lead Logan to its first state tourney berth in three years and first as a Triple-A team since 2002 when the Lady Cats won back-to-back state championships.
For Logan it was the team’s 11th win in a row.
More telling it was Logan’s fifth straight shutout win in the post-season.
The Lady Cats (29-5) look like a well oiled machine heading into the state tourney where Logan will open next Wednesday around noon at Vienna’s Jackson Memorial Park against Region 4 champion Ripley, which beat Lincoln County, 5-1, last night in its regional title game.
Logan coach Randy Robinette is pleased with his team for making it back to the Big Dance. Robinette has led Logan to three of the program’s four state championships as LHS took crowns in 1985, 2001 and 2002. He was an assistant coach on Logan’s 2006 team which won the Double-A state title. This is Robinette’s first year back at the helm.
“It feels terrific and great to be going back,” Robinette said. “I’m very, very happy for the kids and extremely overjoyed because they have worked very, very hard to make this dream a reality.”
Heading into the season, Logan had to replace several starters from last year’s squad.
But the Lady Cats have simply reloaded, led by Neace and a host of other players.
Logan has been solid and consistent in every aspect of the game this season and it showed against Greenbrier East (15-13).
Logan was fundamentally sound as the Lady Cats successfully put down six sacrifice bunts, led by senior centerfielder Kristian Chryssofos, who had three. Britta Aguirre, Morgan Aguirre and freshman Taylor Norman also had sac bunts.
“That’s outstanding. When you get them on and bunt them over that’s the name of the game,” Robinette said.
LHS also hit for power as catcher Britta Aguirre slammed a solo home run over the left centerfield fence in the top of the sixth inning to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
“That was a great shot and I was so glad to see that because she has struggled a little bit lately,” Robinette said. “Hopefully, she’s coming back at the right time. I’m real happy with everybody.”
On the mound, Neace struck out 13 batters and issued no walks in seven innings of work.
“Hopefully we’ve got three more games where we don’t give up any more runs,” Robinette said when asked about Logan’s string of shutouts. “Ali was good again tonight. But Greenbrier was well prepared. They put some balls into play tonight and they have a fine club, so take nothing away from them.”
At the plate, senior third baseman Leonnah Browning was a perfect 4-for-4 with four singles and an RBI.
The Lady Cats also played an error-free game in the field.
Greenbrier East’s only two hits of the game were a leadoff bunt single by Katie Keaton in the bottom of the fourth and a leadoff single to right center by pitcher Erin Ramsey, which barely got past the out-reached glove of Logan second baseman Erica Kelley.
Logan scored single runs in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings.
In the first, Browning singled and later scored on Hannah Vinson’s RBI double to make it 1-0 LHS.
In the second, Browning led off with a single, was bunted to second by Chryssofos, went to third on a groundout by Jessica Bias and scored on an error by East.
“We got a break with the error,” Robinette said.
In the sixth, the homer by Britta Aguirre upped the margin to 3-0.
Then in the seventh, Morgan Aguirre singled, was bunted to second by Norman and scored on Browning’s RBI single to center to make it 4-0.
Neace then got the Spartans out in order in the bottom of the seventh to ice the win and secure the trip to state.
Neace said it is very rewarding to advance to Vienna.
“It’s awesome. That’s all that I can say,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it tonight without by backup.”
Neace said the Lady Cats can win it all.
“We just have to play our best and get our bats going. We can definitely win it,” she said.
Browning said it’s a great feeling to return to the state tournament. She was a freshman member of the 2006 team that last went.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t think we would go again in my years in high school,” Browning said. “We’re going to have to keep our bats up in the state tourney. Our pitching is good but as long as we can keep our bats up I think that we’ll be alright.
Vinson, Logan’s senior first baseman, was also on the ‘06 roster as a freshman.
“It feels great to go back,” she said. “We worked really hard and we were glad that we had a new year with new coaching. We were really ready this year. We knew that it was going to be our year.”
Vinson said Neace has been splendid on the mound this season for the Lady Cats.
“Ali’s amazing. She don’t get as much credit as she deserves,” she said. “She’s awesome. She carries this team most of the time.”
The state tourney matchup with Ripley should be interesting. The Lady Cats beat the Vikings 8-3 on April 11 in the Best of the Best Tournament at Buffalo.
“We’ll have to be on our game,” Aguirre said. “It feels pretty good to go to the state tournament. In my ninth-grade year I was just kind of here. It feels good to help out my team this time. I was the DH like one time in my freshman year. It wasn’t anything big.”
Aguirre said she hopes the homer will get her out of her recent slump.
“I’ve been in a slump the last several games and I just relaxed and watched the ball hit the bat,” Aguirre said. “This was a mediocre pitcher and usually that is our downfall. But once we got together everybody hit the ball.”
Aguirre said she’s happy to be able to have the chance to play at state.
“It’s amazing. I’m just a sophomore this year and I’ve never been to a state tournament as a player,” she said. “I’m a cheerleader and I’ve been going there that way but to go as a member as a team I can’t even describe it.”
Aguirre also said hitting could be the key at Vienna.
“We need to keep our bats going,” she said. “Tonight we were a lot better than we were against Capital.”
Logan is just three wins away from winning the 3A state title. The Triple-A state championship game is set for next Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Vienna.
“Hopefully we’ve got three more games where we don’t give up any more runs,” Robinette said when asked about Logan’s string of shutouts. “Ali was good again tonight. But Greenbrier was well prepared. They put some balls into play tonight and they have a fine club, so take nothing away from them. I feel good about our chances. The game with Ripley should be an interesting contest, if they get out of their region. There’s no easy teams when you get there. Our defense has played well and Ali’s pitched well. We’ve done a good job, so we’re going to go back to the drawing board with four more days of practice and get ready for whoever might be our first opponent and give it all that we can.”
Katie Chryssofos added a hit for Logan in last night’s game.
Morgan Aguirre’s sharply-hit single in the seventh nailed Spartan starting pitcher Ramsey in the arm, forcing her out of the game. She was relieved by Tessa Honaker.
Logan now shifts its attention to the state tourney.
The Lady Cats won’t be alone when making the trip north as the other two Logan County teams — Man and Chapmanville — also advanced. Man, the defending Class A state champs, held on to beat Buffalo, 1-0, in Thursday’s Single-A finals at Man. Also in-county, the Chapmanville Regional High School Lady Tigers upended Herbert Hoover, 6-0, in the Class AA regional title game at Chapmanville.
Chapmanville and Man are both ranked No. 1 in the state in its respective classes. Logan is fourth in Class AAA.
There’s a good chance all three county teams could bring home state championships.
This is the first year since 1999 that more than one county team has made it to the state softball tourney. That year, the Lady Tigers won the 2A state title and Logan was the 3A state runner-ups.
“I think that it’s awesome,” Aguirre said of three county teams in the state tourney. “Chapmanville and Man are very, very talented. It’s a good thing because all of our teams stay together during the summer. We play with people from Man and Chapmanville.”
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