Miller Powers Offense, Pitching Staff Closes Out in Softball's Home Opening Sweep of Bulldogs
FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Softball team took two games off Bowie State in their home opener on Sunday, winning the first game 7-3 and taking the second 14-7.
After snow earlier in the week, Bobcat Field was ready to go for the first games on campus since last season. The Bobcats would face off against a fellow Maryland school in the Bulldogs of Bowie State. The Bulldogs struck first with a two-run homerun in their first at-bats of the day, before FSU would even things up in the second when they capitalized on a dropped ball to center. Junior Gracie Nelson then gave Frostburg the lead, scoring senior Laura Gilford on a shot down the left field line. With a 3-2 lead, FSU could now lean on its pitching and defense, setting up junior Arden Miller on the offensive end to hit a bomb to straight away center to make the game 4-2. Freshman Izabella Donaldson recovered well from her first inning outing, holding BSU without a hit until the sixth inning.
In the sixth, junior Ally Myers would come in to pitch, working out of a bases loaded situation with only one run crossing home plate. With Bowie only trailing 4-3, the Bobcats tacked on a few insurance runs, with Miller coming to the plate with the bases loaded and ripping the ball to right that would score all three runners to bump the score to 7-3. Myers shut the door on Bowie in the top of seventh, going three-up three-down to secure the game one win for Frostburg.
FSU carried their offensive momentum into game two, wasting no time putting up six runs in the first. Miller continued her stellar day with another RBI to start things off, as junior Olivia Stetler singled in another run scoring Nelson. Senior Cristina Sommerkamp and freshman Zoey Marinello knotted back-to-back two RBI hits to make it 6-0 in favor of the Bobcats. In the second, Miller homered again to center to increase Frostburg's lead to 7-0. Bowie would get one run back in the third, making the score 7-1. Gilford then knocked in a pair of runners on a double to left to put the Bobcats up eight. With bases loaded, Stetler hit a sacrifice fly to left to add one more run for FSU in the third inning to sit the game at 10-1. The Bulldogs scored on a pass ball to get their second run of the game in the fourth.
With the threat of the mercy rule, Bowie got their bats going in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs to cut their deficit to 10-6. The Bulldogs added a seventh run in the sixth to close the gap to three runs. With the game getting close, FSU would have a big two out rally in the sixth that was capped off with a grand slam from Miller, her third bomb of the day for a 14-7 advantage. Freshman Julia Meagher would get the win in her first home start going four innings, as Donaldson would pitch the last three to leave Frostburg on top 14-7.
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