The Lady Tigers rolled to the Class AA state title last season with a 31-3 record and are hoping to make it back to the state tournament.
History is not on Chapmanville’s side, however.
Each time Chapmanville won the state championship in the past, the Lady Tigers failed to make it back to the state tourney the following spring.
Back in 1999 after Chapmanville captured its first Class AA state title, the Lady Tigers were upset 1-0 by Man in the regional championship game at the old Chapmanville High School softball field.
Then in 2004, the Lady Tigers took a second state title. But the following year, the No. 1-ranked and favored Chapmanville team was upset 2-0 by Herbert Hoover in the 2A regional final at Madison.
The pattern followed Chapmanville in 2007 as the Lady Tigers won the 2A state title but were upended the next spring by Scott in the Double-A sectional tourney on Logan High School’s diamond.
Will history repeat itself in 2010?
The Lady Tigers hope not.
“That’s been our thing since we’ve started winning,” said Chapmanville 30-year coach Ronnie Ooten when asked about the “curse”. “Before that we always seemed to get snake-bitten in the state finals. But getting back to the state tournament is our goal again this year. Then we would go from there. We’re going to be real young. We don’t have a lot of juniors and seniors. We’ve got a lot of ninth-graders and sophomores.”
Chapmanville returns a lot of talent from last year’s championship team but five starters are lost due to graduation, including pitcher and state player of the year Andi Williamson. Last season, Williamson was 23-1 from the circle with a 0.09 ERA. At season’s end, Williamson was named as both the West Virginia Sports Writers State Player of the Year and also the Gatorade State Player of the Year. In addition, she was named as an EA Sports First Team Softball All-American as one of the best players in the nation.
During the 2009 season, Williamson broke a single-game state record with 33 strikeouts in Chapmanville’s 3-1, 13-inning win at arch-rival Logan. Williamson is now a member of the University of Tennessee women’s softball team. At the plate, Williamson hit .392 with three homers and 28 RBI.
Also lost to graduation is three-year starter and all-state catcher Poppy Ramey, who hit .304 during the regular season a year ago with 13 RBI, five doubles, a triple and 17 stolen bases. Ramey is now playing collegiately at West Virginia State.
Starting first baseman Tiffini Hale, right fielder Lauren McCann and center fielder Beth Baldwin have also been lost to graduation. Baldwin hit .284 with two homers and 18 RBI and played a steady center field for the Lady Tigers.
Four starters are back, however, and they will be the backbone of this year’s team.
Returning are sophomore twin sisters Allison and Jenna Evans. The Evans twins both pitch and can play either middle infield position. Last year as freshmen, the Evans girls were highly productive at the plate. Allison Evans hit .409 during the regular season with 17 RBI, two doubles, two triples and a .477 slugging percentage. Jenna Evans hit .390 with 13 doubles, one triple, 27 RBI, 13 stolen bases and a .560 slugging clip.
Also back is Bre Thomas, a senior and three-year starter at third base and member of Chapmanville’s state title teams of ‘07 and ‘09. Thomas hit .244 last year with one homer, one double, three triples and 18 RBI.
The fourth returning starter is outfielder and senior Lauren Shumate, who started in left a year ago.
Ooten said his team has a challenge ahead of them.
“Getting out of this section and region is always tough,” he said. “We’re trying to reload. We lost some excellent kids. We’ve got a lot of skilled people. We just have to work them around and find them a position and go from there. We’re not going to throw up our hands and say, ‘We lost five starters.’ We’ve never done that and we never will but we’ve got some good, talented kids.”
Allison Evans, a sophomore, will most likely be Chapmanville’s No. 1 pitcher. She spelled Williamson several times last season within the circle. Jenna Evans, Talya Berry and Haley McCann round out the Lady Tigers’ pitching staff.
“All four of them are throwing well,” Ooten said of his pitchers. “But they are just sophomores and ninth-graders.”
Chapmanville is expected to move Shumate from the outfield to catcher to replace the departed Ramey. Alyssa Bailey may also see time behind the plate, along with Celeste Napier and Hannah Wooten.
“You say that when we lost Andi we lost a great player but we also lost Poppy and she was a great player, too,” Ooten said. “It’s real hard to replace a good catcher. We’re looking at Shumate, Bailey, Napier and Wooten at catcher along with Alana Magnus from Harts.”
At first base, sophomore Heather Nagy looks to have the inside nod to replace Hale.
“She’s looking pretty good there but we’re going to move people around there, too,” Ooten said. “Tiffini’s shoes are big shoes to fill.”
At second base, Jenna Evans is back. Senior Brittani Lowe, who did not come out for softball last season, played at second two years ago. Freshman Hailey Price can also play second base.
At shortstop, starter Allison Evans is back and will play there when not pitching. Jenna Evans and Lowe can also move over to short if needed.
At third base, three-year starter Thomas returns. She’s been solid for the Lady Tigers over the years both offensively and defensively.
“She’s a good third baseman,” Ooten said of Thomas. “I hope that she goes on to play some college ball. She’s wanting to go to State and I think that will be a good move for her.”
In the outfield, all three positions will have to be filled as Shumate has been moved to catcher and Baldwin and Lauren McCann have both graduated.
“Baldwin and McCann are two more people that’s going to be hard to replace,” Ooten said.
Senior Brianna Blankenship could be one of the candidates to fill one of those spots in the outfield. Freshman Brandi Broom, Haley McCann, Lowe could also see time along with Samantha Carver, a transfer student from North Carolina.
“Carner’s got a little speed to burn and she’s a great kid. She’s stepped in and she could play in a lot of ballgames,” Ooten said.
The Lady Tigers was scheduled to open the season last Saturday at Point Pleasant in a 2 p.m. Cardinal Conference game. The home opener is March 30 against county rival Logan.
Chapmanville plays a home-and-home series with Logan, also playing at LHS on April 21.
CRHS hosts the Lady Tigers Invitational April 2-3 and will take on defending Class A state champion Man during the tourney.
The Lady Tigers are also set to play in the Best of the Best tourney at Buffalo and the Cabell Midland Sluggerest — the two premiere prep softball tournaments in the state. Chapmanville is the defending Class AA champion in the Best of the Best.
Chapmanville will battle with Scott again this season in a best-of-three Double-A sectional tourney.
The Lady Tigers were scheduled to begin play this season at their new softball field beside of the old Chapmanville High School building.
The new field is still under construction and Ooten said it could be late in the season or 2011 until CRHS is able to play there. The Lady Tigers have played on the old ASA diamond next to Tiger Stadium since 2006. Chapmanville’s old softball field, used from 1981-2005, was torn up to make room for the new CRHS building. Ooten has lobbied for a new facility for years.
“They were pouring the concrete,” Ooten said of the new field. “If we can’t make it on there this year, hopefully, we’ll have it for next year. From what the designs look like it’s going to be great.”
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