To say Taylor Morgan was efficient Saturday afternoon would be an understatement.
Nursing a three-run lead in the seventh inning, the Mountaineer sophomore was summoned in relief with runners on second and third and no outs and Jefferson Forest’s clean-up hitter at the plate.
Three pitches, three outs, game over!
Aided by a big outfield assist from Catie Carpenter, Morgan earned the save as Alleghany dropped the Cavaliers, 7-4, in non-district softball action.
“Taylor came in and did a real good job,” said AHS coach Ty Dobbs.
Morgan got Andrea Farmer to fly out to center and Carpenter made it a double play by throwing a strike to catcher Maegan Walton.
“That was a heck of a play by Catie,” said Dobbs. “You just saw the wind go out of Jefferson Forest when she made that throw.”
Walton then put the squeeze on a pop up to secure the win.
“Tough games like this are going to get us ready for our district season,” Dobbs added. “That’s what we need.”
The Mountaineers may have caught a break early, when JF decided to go with No. 2 pitcher Casey Roginski in the circle.
“They had about a nine inning game last (Friday) night with Amherst so they didn’t start their number one pitcher (Alexis Brown),” Dobbs said.
The Mountaineers took advantage, scoring six times in the opening two innings.
Carpenter had two hits, scored a run and drove in another in the first two frames, staking Alleghany to a 6-1 lead.
Brown entered the game with one out in the second inning and limited the Mounties to one hit and one run the rest of the way.
“I was disappointed in the way we hit her,” said Dobbs. “We are going to see more like her in our district. But we did some good things today. We did enough to get a win.”
Kristen Rose joined Carpenter with two hits for the winners, while Maegan Walton, Laura Peterson and Cristen Walton all had one each.
Katie Holestin picked up the pitching win, walking five and striking out five over six-plus innings.
Despite not having her best stuff, Dobbs was pleased with the effort of Holestin.
“She struggled a little bit here and there, but she fought through it,” said the Alleghany coach. “We have a good defensive team and they helped her out a little bit.”
The Mountaineers, now 5-1 on the season, will get a chance to avenge their only loss Tuesday with a home match-up against Jailyn Ford and the Bath County Chargers.
“It will be another tough one with Bath County on Tuesday, but we will be ready,” Dobbs finished.