Chloe Hix’s walk-off lifts Whitmire to another District Championship

WHITMIRE, S.C. — The Lady Wolverines are district champs for the second consecutive year. Whitmire(20-6, 10-2 region 1-A) defeated McBee(9-7, 5-3 region 2-A) to capture another district title.

The Lady Wolverines had to face a familiar foe on Thursday, May 15 to reach a goal on their season checklist. The intense playoffs game had leads blown, controversial calls and history being made for one team while the other team season comes to an end.

Sophomore Kenleigh Epps got the start in the circle for Whitmire again and she threw a complete game but it wasn’t easy. McBee struck first with a run at the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Epps found herself in some trouble at the top of the third inning as well but found a way out of it. She started the inning by giving up two hits and that was McBee could get because neither base runner was able to reach home for a score.

Whitmire had a hard time figuring out the starting pitcher for the Lady Panthers but they would eventually crack the code. After leaving two runners stranded at the bottom of the second inning, but didn’t let the same thing happened twice at the bottom of the third inning. Raylin Vicars got things started with a single. She scored later that inning on a RBI single from Cierra Jones that tied the game at 1-1.

The game wouldn’t stay tied for long because McBee would score a hard hit ground ball that made its way through shortstop and third base. The visitors reclaimed the lead, 2-1, heading into the fourth inning.

The Panthers lead wouldn’t last long because Whitmire would go onto score three runs at the bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman Autumn Gilliam would get things started for the Wolverines with a single. Gilliam then made her way to second base with a steal. Chloe Hix would bring her home with a RBI single.

Whitmire would continue doing damage in fifth inning by loading the bases and Vicars would bring two runs in to score with a RBI single. The home team would lead 4-2 going into the fifth inning.

Epps would run into more trouble at the top of the fifth inning. The visitors would able to get two costly hits and score on a RBI single to cut into Whitmire’s deficit, 4-3. The damage would be limited though and Epps would get out of the jam.

Gilliam continued her good day at the plate with another RBI on a sacrifice fly at the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Wolverines some cushion.

The top of sixth inning would be trouble for Whitmire as they let the lead slip away. McBee got two base runners after back-to-back hard hit singles to the outfield. They would then get another RBI single to add another run and now trailed only 5-4. The Lady Panthers weren’t done and scored another two runs to take the lead, 6-5.

Whitmire would only trailed for a short period of time. They tied the game at the bottom of the sixth inning after Brooklyn Babb reached base on a single and Vicars reached base on a walk. Arienna Jenkins would get a RBI single after sacrifice pop fly tied the game at 6-6.

Neither team could get anything going in the seventh inning and the game would into extra innings. McBee got two hits at the top of the eighth inning but would leave both runners stranded on base. Whitmire would also leave two runners stranded and the game would remain tied going into the ninth inning.

McBee would use the international rule to their advantage. The international rule states that starting in the ninth inning and beyond, both teams would have a base runner on second base to start their at bat. The visitors would get two RBI singles to score two runs and take a 8-6 lead.

Whitmire needed two runs to tie it and three runs to win at the start of the bottom inning. Of course those resilient Wolverines would do just that. Jones would drive the first score in on a RBI but she decided to take more and would make her way all the way home and then get thrown out. The controversial play caused a 10 minute delay after it appeared that Jones was interfered with while rounding first base by a McBee player who was standing in the base runner’s path, which is illegal. The umpires got together and decided to not overturn the call and Wolverines’ head coach Andrew Campbell was not happy about the call. Play would resume after Campbell gave the umpires an ear full.

Jenkins would have her teammates’ back and slapped a hard hit ball into the outfield that scored a run to tie the game 8-8. Then, Chloe Hix would come through clutch for her team as she hit a walk-off single to end the game and deliver the Lady Wolverines their second consecutive district title and the program’s fifth overall.

“First off, Ms.Donna does a heck of a job at McBee and we knew they were going to be ready to play. She does a tremendous job. But like I told you on the last time you were here, the girls are resilient and they don’t get phased by the moment. It was 8-6 going into the ninth and they put a runner at second due to the international tiebreaker rule and they end up scoring two runs,” said Campbell.

He continued,”CC comes up with a big base hit to score one and it was interference at first but she slides into first and gets tagged then called out. If it wasn’t for the interference at first then she comes in walking to score, which is what I was arguing. They[umpires] were saying she is awarded two bases but I don’t think that’s right. Either way, that’s neither here nor there, they call her out and we protest. Autumn comes up with a big hit, Ally gives us a good at bat and then Arienna ties it. Chloe comes up with a big walk-off single to win it 9-8. They love each other and has been doing it since January. They wanted this and now we got our second in-a-row, fifth overall and are chasing the Upper State banner now.”

All of the girls played well and deserved the game ball, but a special shout out to Epps. She has battled injuries in the second half of the season and was recently cleared to play. She threw a complete game that went into two extra innings to help the Wolverines advance.

“She hasn’t thrown a whole lot of innings since the second week of March. Holly Robertson has had to pick up the slack because she has been hurt. Kenleigh really just got cleared last week and she’s back out there gutting it out and getting it done. The defense played well behind here and like I said before, they love each other and they are family. When she is on there and everybody behind her makes me feel good about our chances,” stated Campbell.

Whitmire moves into the 1A Upper State Championship bracket now and will play their first game against Lewisville on Friday, May 16. They will be on the road and the first pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.