By: Paul Adkins | Posted: Mar. 22, 2018 | Source: Williamson Daily News
It may often be overstated but the Cardinal Conference is a very good softball conference.
Just try these facts on for size if you are not so convinced.
Last year’s Class AA state champions, the Herbert Hoover Huskies, finished third place in the Cardinal Conference regular season standings.
That’s right.
Third place.
Herbert Hoover ended up winning the state championship last year in Vienna with an 8-1 victory over fellow Cardinal Conference rival Chapmanville Regional in a winner-take-all game. The Lady Tigers, which were blanked by Hoover 2-0 in the state tournament opener, forced a decisive second championship game with a crazy come-from-behind 11-9 win over the Huskies.
Chapmanville and Hoover also met twice in the regular season, winning 5-1 and 1-0.
Chapmanville, which finished 26-5 on the season, had shared the regular season co-championship with Winfield, as each team went 13-1 in league play. The Generals closed out the regular season with a 20-6 mark. The Huskies were 11-4 in the conference last year.
But the Cardinal’s strength is also realized in this factoid.
In the last 12 seasons, a team from the Cardinal Conference has won the Class AA state championship in 11 of those seasons. The only blemish was in 2011 when Ritchie County won the crown.
Chapmanville has won four state titles in that span with championships coming in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2016. The Lady Tigers also have two more titles in 1999 and 2004 in their pre-Cardinal Conference days.
CRHS 38-year head coach Ronnie Ooten said it’s a tough league in softball.
“What can you say about the Cardinal Conference?” Ooten said. “It’s a solid softball conference from top to bottom. Sometimes one or two teams in it are down but last year Hoover won it and us the year before. It keeps going back and back and back. The Cardinal Conference has been pretty successful over the years. We’ll definitely have our hands full.”
Logan, a 15-15 team last year, was a Cardinal Conference member in 2006, the last time the Lady Wildcats took the crown. LHS rejoined the conference last year after competing again as a Triple-A school from 2009-16.
“It’s an outstanding softball conference. Just outstanding,” Logan coach Randy Robinette said. “There’s no one in the Cardinal Conference that’s a poor team. Everybody’s good. I think that’s because you have great female athletes at all of these individual schools.”
After Logan took the 2006 state title, Chapmanville followed suit in 2007. Then in 2008, Point Pleasant, then a Cardinal Conference school, won the Class AA state title.
CRHS took back-to-back state crowns in 2009 and 2010.
Then after the league’s one-year hiatus, Wayne won its first ever state softball title in 2012 and repeated the next year.
Herbert Hoover took the 2014 state title and another Cardinal Conference team, Sissonville, followed in 2015. Chapmanville won it in 2016 with a 33-6 record.
Chapmanville hopes to continue its state tournament run this season but only has three full-time starters back. One of them, however, is three-time first-team all-state ace pitcher Kenzie McCann.
The Lady Tigers have won 59 games the last two seasons.
“That’s a tough act to follow especially when you have to replace so many kids but they are a little bit hungry,” Ooten said. “That’s our goal. To get back there to the state tournament again. We’ll just see what happens.”
Herbert Hoover finished 27-6 last season but lost a pair of first-team all-state players, including Kelsey Naylor and Dellani Fix and second-team catcher Madison Bowles. The Huskies, however, return sophomore pitcher and second-team all-state performer Delani Buckner, the winning hurler in last year’s state championship game against Chapmanville.
Also back for Hoover is junior infielder Rebekah Woody, a second-team all-stater.
Since Herbert Hoover moved to a perceived weaker Region 2 last year following the WVSSAC’s most recent round of realignment, it’s expected the Huskies will be back in Vienna this spring.
“Hoover is the defending state champion and they have a lot of people back,” Robinette said. “Chapmanville is great with their pitcher (Kenzie McCann). Winfield, even though they suffered some graduation losses they are really good as is Sissonville. Scott has Gracie Belcher back and is going to be very much improved. Mingo will be much better. Wayne is there too and will be very good. There’s just nobody easy. It’s going to be very interesting this season.”
Scott was just 7-12 last season but the Lady Hawks hope to be much improved this season with the addition of last year’s Class AA first-team all-state catcher Grace Belcher, who transferred back home after spending the last two seasons at Chapmanville.
Wayne (11-12), Mingo Central (7-15), Poca (10-12), Sissonville (10-22) and Nitro (12-10) are all looking to move up in the ranks.
Poca, however, lost first-team all-state infielder Casey Skeens to graduation. She signed with Division I Eastern Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.
Sissonville has back first-team infielder Jenna Thomas.
Logan has a youthful team this year but starters Sarah Noe, Jaden Oney and Chelsea Napier return as well as pitcher Jaycee Abbott.
Chapmanville was also hit hard by graduation.
McCann is joined by returning starters Kara Browning and Karah Little and part-time starter Charlee Mullins.
Paul Adkins is the Sports Editor of the Logan Banner. Follow him on Twitter @PAdkinsBanner or email him at padkins@hdmediallc.com.
