St. Marys shortstop Alyssa Windland makes a catch during the Blue Devils' 6-0 setback on Tuesday against Parkersburg South at Godbey Fields. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — The St. Marys defense flashed some leather here Tuesday evening at Don Godbey Fields, but the Blue Devil offense wasn’t able to solve Parkersburg South’s Annie Shelton as the right-hander fired a four-hit shutout with no walks and a baker’s dozen strikeouts in the Patriots’ 6-0 victory.

“The center fielder played really well,” said PSHS head coach Tim Burch of Blue Devil Alyssa Winland, who robbed Allison Curfman of a hit with a sliding catch in the sixth and also made a leaping grab on what looked to be a Payten Mackey homer leading off the fifth.

“The one she jumped for if it had even nicked her glove it’s over the fence. I think it would’ve hit the yellow. I’m not sure. It was going hard. They played really good defense.”

Shelton was in control throughout. SMHS catcher Brylee McGrady singled to lead off the second, but the Patriot retired eight straight before allowing another McGrady single with two away in the fourth.

Losing pitcher Maddie Lambert (4 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) had a one-out single in the fifth, but was left stranded as Shelton struck out the top of the order in the sixth before allowing a two-out infield single to Addi McGrady in the seventh.

St. Marys' Maddie Lambert throws a pitch during the Blue Devils' 6-0 setback on Tuesday against Parkersburg South at Godbey Fields. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Like I told our kids, I think we put together a really complete game, pitching, hitting, fielding, everything,” added Burch, whose team will find out their postseason fate on Thursday.

“It was good. I was proud of them for doing that. We’ll get what we get and we’ll play who we play. That’s the way it’s got to be anyway.”

Parkersburg South, which finished the regular season at 17-6, scored three unearned runs in a four-run second to take control.

Jaiden Vargas and Addi Moon got things started with consecutive singles before Curfman’s one-out RBI single gave the hosts the only run they ended up needing. No. 9 hitter Mia Archer reached on an error and later scored on Abbie Corbin’s bunt single.

Mackey’s leadoff two-bagger to left-center in the third was followed by a Vargas bunt single. Moon had an RBI sacrifice fly to make it 5-0 and it was 6-0 after Annalynn Windland’s run-scoring double to right-center.

St. Marys, which slipped to 11-17 and is back in action at 6 p.m. Friday at Braxton County, dropped a Shelton fly ball with one out in the fourth, but Lambert got out of it when Shy Hays hit into an inning-ending 5-3-2 double play. Autumn Mossor fielded a one-hopper to Jayla Cox and the first baseman made a perfect throw to Brylee McGrady, who was able to apply the tag just before Shelton’s foot reached home.

The Patriots, who will carry a three-game winning streak into next week’s regional, didn’t have a hit after the third inning. Mossor worked the final two frames with a pair of punchouts.

“We got better every game and like I told them tonight it was a very good game for us,” Burch added. “We stayed in it. We didn’t make errors. We played clean.

“We got to do that when we go forward. We got to play clean and we got to hit because we are going to get into 1-0, 2-0 games and one error can throw everything off. I really like the way we are playing right now.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg South 6, St. Marys 0

WP: Annie Shelton 7IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 13SO

LP: Maddie Lambert 4IP, 7H, 6R, 3ER, 1BB, 1SO

Autumn Mossor 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2SO

St. Marys (11-17) hitting: Brylee McGrady 2-3; Addi McGrady 1-3; Lambert 1-3

Parkersburg South (17-6) hitting: Abbie Corbin 1-3 RBI; Payten Mackey 1-3 R, 2B; Jaiden Vargas 2-3, 2 R; Addi Moon 1-1 R, RBI; Annalynn Windland 1-3, 2B, RBI; Allison Curfman 1-3 R, RBI

Next games: St. Marys at Braxton County, 6 p.m. Friday; Parkersburg South in Class AAAA regional next week, TBD.