WEST UNION – After rallying from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning, Doddridge County received a gift run as part of a walk-off in the 10th inning and punched its ticket for the state tournament after defeating Williamstown 5-4 in Class AA, Region I on Monday night.

Williamstown, which ends the season at 20-15, nearly forced an 11th inning. WIth Doddridge runners on first and second base, and one out in the 10th inning, Bulldog cleanup hitter Dayne Murphy hit a grounder to the shortstop, who made an errant throw to second base while trying to start an inning-ending double play.

Instead, Tristan Swiger, who pitched the first four innings, raced home from second base without a throw to send DCHS to the final field of eight with a 27-6 record.

Sophomore Hunter Hayhurst, the third DCHS pitcher of the game, earned the win after covering the final 4 â…” innings of scoreless relief. He struck out six and walked none while scattering three hits.

Behind small ball, Williamstown scored four runs off Swiger and led 4-0 before the Bulldogs finally plated a pair of fourth-inning runs off Yellowjacket starting pitcher Wyatt Siley. Siley was in line to be the winning pitcher after giving his team six innings, striking out seven and walking four before giving way to Wyatt Powell one batter into the seventh inning and DCHS trailing 4-2.

In what could have been their final at bat, DCHS relied on the latter half of the batting order to begin a rally. Maxwell Nicholson walked out of the No. 8 slot and Evan Kelley followed – reaching safely on a fielder’s choice when the Yellowjackets committed one of their three errors on the night.

The two baserunners eventually advanced to second and third with leadoff hitter Brody Brockman at the plate. On a 2-2 count, Brockman hit an opposite field double to tie the game at 4-4.

Until the bottom of the 10th inning, neither Powell nor Hayhurst budged. Powell pitched the final 3 â…” innings, striking out three and walking two while allowing just one hit.

At the plate, Powell went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. The senior scored the game’s first run on Siley’s one-out double in the first inning. The same combination put Williamstown in front 2-0 – this time on Siley’s one-out single. On both occasions, No. 2 hitter Colten Rinard executed the sacrifice bunt to put Powell in scoring position.

As a team, Williamstown put the leadoff runner on base in the first five five innings and eight times overall. The Yellowjacket M.O. of moving the baserunner to second base on the sacrifice bunt worked seven times in eight opportunities.

Driving home DCHS’ first two runs in the fourth inning were Caleb Sutton with a safety squeeze which scored Luke Rokisky and Maxwell Nicholson’s sacrifice fly sending Rokisky home to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.

Class AA, Region I

At West Union

Doddridge County 5, Williamstown 4

WHS 101 020 000 0 – 4 9 3

DCHS 000 200 200 1 – 5 4 2

WP: Hunter Hayhurst 4.2IP 3H 0R 0BB 6SO

Tristan Swiger (starter) 4.0IP 6H 4R 0BB 3SO

Caleb Hall 1.1IP 0H 0R 1BB 4SO

LP: Wyatt Powell 3.1IP 1H 2R 2BB 3SO

Wyatt Siley (starter) 6.0IP 3H 3R 4BB 7SO

Leading hitters

Williamstown (20-15): Wyatt Powell 2-4, 3 runs, SB; Wyatt Siley 3-5, 2B, 2RBIs; Tyler Keiser 1-5, 2B; Tyler Coleman 2-3; Dylan Pucella 1-2

Doddridge (27-6): Brody Brockman 1-4, 2B, 2 RBIs; Tristan Swiger 1-4, run, 2 SBs; Caleb Hall 3 BBs; Dayne Murphy 1-5; Caleb Sutton 1-4, run, RBI, SB; Maxwell Nicholson run, RBI

Note: Doddridge County advances to the Class AA state tournament in Charleston; Williamstown eliminated.