Photo by Jay W. Bennett St. Marys right fielder Ava Giovinazzo, who robbed Petersburg catcher Braylee Corbin in the first inning when she made a running catch on a sinking liner, waits for a fly ball to fall into her glove during the fourth inning Wednesday at the state softball tournament in South Charleston, W.Va.

SOUTH CHARLESTON , W.Va.– Following Wednesday’s action inside Little Creek Park at the Class A state softball tournament, St. Marys and head coach Lacy Riggs did what they needed to stay alive in the double-elimination event.

Despite falling 5-3 in game one to Petersburg where the Blue Devils had the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh with one out but couldn’t score, the squad from Pleasants County broke out the sticks in game three and avoided elimination by knocking off Midland Trail, 15-5, in five innings.

In game two, the Patriots fell 5-3 to defending state champion Wahama, which defeated the Vikings 7-3 in game four. That now sets up the Blue Devils for a rematch against Petersburg at 9:45 a.m. today with the victor moving into the 2:15 p.m. state championship game needing to beat the 28-2 White Falcons twice.

“We had some key opportunities in the first game that we didn’t capitalize on and it really hurt us,” admitted Riggs, whose club had a 10-5 advantage in hits against the Vikings (19-3). “It cost us in the end. We came back this game and capitalized when we needed it and we had good sticks.

“We hit well in the first game. We just didn’t capitalize on those key moments. I think we came out this morning ready to play. Scoring in the first inning, that’s unusual for us. We came out ready to play ball today.”

Photo by Jay W. Bennett St. Marys' Cali Masters delivers a pitch.

The 20-10 Blue Devils, who are in the field for the second time in school history and first since 2012, trailed 2-1 after the first inning against MTHS (13-12), but proceeded to score two runs in the second, four in the third, two more in the fourth and added a six-run fifth for the mercy rule victory.

Leadoff hitter Breanna Price finished 2 for 2 with four runs-batted-in, Ava Giovinazzo was 3 for 4 with an RBI, Ava Childers knocked in three runs and No. 9 hitter Ella Bullman went 3 for 3 with an RBI.

Every player for the Blue Devils contributed in the victory against the Patriots. Zoey Winland was 2 for 5 and knocked in a run, Cali Masters and Olivia Williamson scored two runs apiece, winning pitcher Ella Smith (4.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 ER, 7 SO) finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs, Layne Kincaid was 1 for 1 with two runs scored and a run-batted-in while Cara Masters scored in the second following a walk and added an RBI groundout in the third.

Cali Masters, who was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs against Petersburg, suffered the mound loss.

Winland had a one-out ground-rule double in the first and then Masters doubled to make it 1-0.

The Vikings used a four-run third to take control. A single by Brooklyn Rohrbough and a Caitlyn Cooper sacrifice bunt was followed by No. 9 hitter Jaslyn Shook drawing a base on balls. Leadoff hitter Sissy Kitzmiller followed with a run-scoring knock back up the box to tie it.

Mickala Taylor then hit a ball that just deflected off the glove of Cali Masters and managed to trickle into shallow right, which went for a two-run single.

Winning pitcher Sammy Colaw (7 IP, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO) capped the inning with a stand-up RBI three-bagger.

Bullman’s bunt single opened the third and Cali Masters came through with a two-out RBI single to right, but Smith lined into a double play to end the inning.

Another stand-up triple, this one from Kitzmiller, led to a 5-2 cushion after Braylee Corbin had an RBI groundout. The Blue Devils answered with a run in the sixth when Kincaid singled and scored on Giovinazzo’s RBI infield single to shortstop.

In the seventh, Bullman led off with an infield single and Winland reached on a one-out error. After Cali Masters singled to load the bases, Smith struck out and Kincaid grounded out to end it.

“We went to eat at the Olive Garden,” Riggs said after the tough morning setback. “I just told them we had a lot of key opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on.

“We had taken the keys, but we didn’t turn the lock. We didn’t open the door. Taking strike three also killed us in the first game. We got to make it happen. We can’t just sit there and watch it happen.”

Wahama took a quick 1-0 lead in the first when Lauren Noble blasted a solo bomb to left-center. Winning pitcher Mikie Lieving, who allowed two earned runs with three walks and 16 strikeouts, watched the Patriots push across two runs in the top of the third. Jesse Skaggs walked from the nine hole and Sydney Sheets singled. That was followed by a Chezney Skaggs RBI knock to center. An error extended the frame, which allowed Jenna Stonestreet to record a sacrifice fly RBI.

However, the White Falcons regained the lead by answering with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Lieving hit a line drive solo jack to right-center and Kalyn Christian had a run-scoring single to plate Morgan Christian, who went 2 for 4.

Although Madison Campbell had a two-out single and later scored in the fifth to square it at three apiece, head coach Chris Noble’s program answered right back with the final two runs. Amber Wolfe reached on an error and Noble coaxed a free pass. Emma Knapp executed a squeeze and Kalyn Christian followed with an RBI groundout.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com