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Williamstown baseball two wins away from state tourney

File Photo Williamstown senior pitcher Leewood Molessa throws during his start against Ritchie County on May 25 in Williamstown. Molessa and the ‘Jackets are just two wins away from clinching a spot in the state tournament.

WILLIAMSTOWN — Sirens flashed on of top fire trucks. People cheered in the streets. Athletes returned the enthusiasm with waves as they partied in buses or vehicles on the way through town.

Eventually, a state championship trophy soared into the air once the procession finally came to the desired destination … a track, courts or inside the high school.

All of this hoopla occurred four different times for girls cross country, boys basketball, boys tennis and girls track and field. The big prize tends to have that effect.

There’s still room for one more party, though. Plenty of wails, yelling, and a desire for celebration remains, and it might be tight … but surely five Class A title trophies could comfortably be on display at once.

Williamstown baseball just needs to make it happen. And head coach Levi Maxwell feels pretty good about his group as the season comes to its most important point.

“All year long that has been our main goal and obviously we had several small goals we had to meet to get to this point, and I think we are playing pretty loose right now, we are playing good baseball 1 through 9, pitching has been throwing strikes,” Maxwell said.

That’s great news for the cause, because the last four wins could be some of the toughest of the year. As only eight teams remain in the hunt, it is time for the best of the best to put up and advance to Charleston.

For Williamstown, that starting point means picking up a pair of wins over a familiar football rival – Wheeling Central.

The Maroon Knights advanced to the best 2-of-3 regional championship matchup after a surprising pair of sectional tournament wins over Madonna. Simply put, momentum won’t be a problem for the program in possession of six state titles, the last coming in 2011.

“We have to play with a lot of energy and be mentally prepared,” WHS senior Brady Ankrom said. “They are going to make mistakes and we are going to make mistakes, but we need to make less mistakes than they do.”

“They definitely have a good team that can put the ball in play and hit the ball in the gaps from what we have seen and heard. Pitching-wise, they have a good starter in (Michael) Toepfer. After that, I feel like we match up pretty well with them pitching wise,” Maxwell said.

But, how well?

“After the scouting report coaches gave us Thursday, I feel pretty confident. I go into every game feeling pretty confident as it is, it is a good mentality to have,” senior Trevor Powell said.

“But after they told us about the pitching and said they aren’t the deepest pitching team I feel pretty good that we may not be the best batters first time through, but second and third time through we will be just fine.

“We adapt well to the pitcher we are facing, and their pitcher isn’t anything better than what we have seen so far, and we have hit pretty well against the pitchers the coaches compared him to so I feel we are a pretty good matchup against Toepfer.”

Should the Yellowjackets get a lead, that means Maxwell can turn his own stable of pitchers loose on Maroon Knight hitters. His big three of Leewood Molessa, Chase Barkley, and Braydin Coleman can simply pound away on the strike zone and record as many outs as it takes.

“Now, it is just a matter of executing and hitting the baseball,” Maxwell said. “Whoever is deeper and puts the ball in play more will advance.”

The Yellowjackets begin the journey for their first state tournament berth since 2004 at 5 p.m. today on a grassy diamond inside the JB Chambers I-470 Complex in Wheeling.

Ankrom remained adamant that the Jackets aren’t prepared to take no for an answer. “We want to be a part of the celebration pretty badly; we are surrounded by great winners in our school so that is all we talk about. If you make it to regionals, that is no big deal, you have to win it, he said.”

Contact Joe Albright at jalbright@newsandsentinel.com

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