Apr 17, 2026 By Jerin Steele 5 min read

ROGERSVILLE – Carmichaels pitcher Bailey Barnyak walked off the field with a no-hitter and didn’t even know it.

She was just happy that her team had recorded the final out.

“I guess I was just trying to be in the moment and wasn’t thinking about it,” Barnyak said.

Barnyak’s performance in the circle and some clutch hitting by shortstop Carys McConnell the Mikes edged West Greene, 3-1, in a battle of top teams in the Class A Section 2 softball standings.

With the win Carmichaels (6-1, 8-3) swept the season series with West Greene (6-2, 9-4) after winning the first meeting 10-0.

This one was much more of a nailbiter for the Mikes.

West Greene’s Emmaline Brazell reached on an error to begin the bottom of the seventh, meaning the tying run was at the plate with no outs.

Barnyak took charge to catch a foul out on the third base side by Josie Mason. Then, she got Kylee Davis to ground out and finished her no-hitter off by getting Katie Brudnock to pop out to second baseman Ke’Lani Chun.

Barnyak walked one and struck out five.

“(West Greene) was aggressive at the plate, but I thought she pitched great,” Mikes coach Dave Briggs said. “She’s pitched great all season…really her whole career. She keeps us in games and today was no different.”

West Greene led 1-0 through four innings, but before the top of the fifth, Carmichaels assistant coach Nikki Onderko gathered the entire team beside the dugout for a brief chat.

“She just told us to play as a team, back each other up and cheer each other on,” Barnyak said.

The talk seemed to spark the Mikes.

Payton Plavi led off the inning with a hard shot to shortstop that skimmed under the glove of Kendra Tharp.

Plavi moved to second on a wild pitch, but West Greene pitcher Caitlyn White got the next two batters out on a ground out and strike out bringing Barnyak to the plate.

Barnyak laced a shot down the third base line and brought home Plavi to tie the game at 1-1. Then, McConnell came to the plate and hit a bloop single into shallow left field, which scored courtesy runner Gianna Colarusso and gave the Mikes a 2-1 lead.

Whyte had been sporting a slow, arching changeup that had kept hitters off balance, but McConnell was able to make enough contact off one for a key hit.

“At first it was tough to time it up, but then you kind of knew it was coming,” McConnell said. “I just saw it off her hand. Coach Briggs has been making us pound the changeup in practice, so I think that helped. I was so excited, because I have been struggling a bit. I needed that hit.

McConnell added an insurance run by belting a solo homer over the left field fence with two outs in the top of the seventh. It was the 20th home run of her career.

“I was so excited (after the home run) and Coach Briggs said he’s not going to be able to golf this weekend, because I smacked his hand so hard,” McConnell said.

West Greene scored a run in the first inning without recording a hit. Caitlyn White reached on an error by McConnell, stole second and went to third on a groundout by Kendra Tharp.

With two outs Josie Mason hit a ground ball back to the pitcher. Barnyak fielded it and tossed to first, but the ball was bobbled by first baseman Jocelyn Carter.

Carter quickly picked the ball back up, but Mason was ruled safe at first and courtesy runner Eliana Beazell scored. Beazell entered for Whyte with two outs.

Briggs protested the call, but to no avail.

After the first inning West Greene had two baserunners. The error in the seventh and a walk by Mason in the fourth. Carmichaels immediately erased the walk on a double play. Kylee Davis popped up a bunt attempt that was caught by first baseman Jocelyn Carter and she quickly fired over to first to Chun, who was covering first base, to double off the runner.

Prior to Carmichaels breaking through in the fifth, Whyte, a freshman, stranded four base runners.

Whyte finished with six strikeouts and allowed only one earned run.

“She had a real good changeup today and kept them off balance,” Pioneers coach Billy Simms said. “We just had a couple blips there in the fifth inning. You have to put teams away and we couldn’t.

West Greene just couldn’t find a way to solve Barnyak. The Pioneers only struck out five times, but didn’t get a ton of hard contact.

“We’re a program and a team that I hope isn’t proud that we lost 3-1,” Simms said. “We came here to win the game. This is one we wanted.”

Carmichaels 000 020 1 – 3 7 4

West Greene 100 000 0 – 1 0 1

W-Barnyak (1 walk, 5 strikeouts). L-Whyte (3 walks, 6 strikeouts). HR-Carmichaels, McConnell.