The seat is open, now Washington is hoping it has what it takes to climb into it. The vacancy upon the NCHSAA 3-A throne was created last night as the Pam Pack upended last year’s state champions C.B. Aycock with a convincing 9-1 victory in the second round of the playoffs.
Washington (19-4), the No. 2 seed from the Coastal Conference, never trailed the No. 1-seeded Golden Eagles (14-9, Eastern Carolina) as it rallied for four runs in the third, one in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth for a wire-to-wire victory.
“It was a great win,” Washington coach Doug Whitehead said. “They were the state champs last year … That’s always been a tough place to play. They’re a very good program and a great team. It gets us into the third round, a round further than we went last year, so we’re all excited to advance.”
The win propelled the Pam Pack into the third round for the first time since 2009 where it will face West Brunswick (16-6), a No. 1 seed from the Waccamaw Conference who edged past Nash Central 1-0 in the second round to advance.
After two scoreless innings, Washington broke the game open in the top of the third when it rallied for four runs. Justyce McKissick broke the ice with an RBI single before Allison Brantley struck an RBI double that was followed by a run-scoring single by Haley Wright and a sac fly by Chrissy McKissick.
The Pam Pack went up 5-0 in the fourth when Catie Dority scored thanks to an errant attempt to pickoff Haley Hutchins at first base.
Washington continued to flex its muscles in the fifth as Brantley delivered a two-run single to extend the lead to 7-1 before Hardison drove in the eighth run.
The Pam Pack scored its final run in style as Wright crushed a solo home run to left that tipped off of the fence before falling over to go ahead 9-1.
With a lead in hand, Washington senior Rebekah Langston silenced C.B. Aycock as she scattered four hits in five innings, allowing one run while striking out four and walking two to get the win.
“Rebekah did a great job for us. She kept them off base. In fact, (C.B. Aycock) left only six runners on base the entire ball game and they have one of the most dangerous hitters around in Meredith Burrows,” Whitehead said.
Haley Hutchins came on in relief of Langston in the sixth and struck out two while keeping the Eagles hitless to preserve the lead and the victory.

Washington    004    131    0    —    9    6
C.B. Aycock    000    100    0    —    1    4
WP: Rebekah Langston
Hitting: W — Anna Hardison 1-3 (R, RBI), Justyce McKissick 1-3 (RBI), Adriana Tyson 1-3 (2B, RBI), Haley Wright 2-3 (3R, HR, 2 RBI), Allison Brantley (R, 2 RBI).