Late Softball Rally Falls Just Short in Opening Round Loss to Senators

TROUTVILLE, Va. – The Frostburg State Softball team lost to Davis & Elkins 5-4 in the opening round of the MEC Tournament on Wednesday.
 
D&E opened the game quickly on offense with a lead-off single, steal of second, another single, and a sac fly to take a 1-0 lead. After a 1-2-3 inning from FSU, the Senators tacked another run onto the lead in the second, as a double started the frame, followed by a sac bunt and RBI groundout to go up 2-0, with senior Katie Chapple coming on in relief to close things out with a fly-out to right.
 
The Bobcats got their offense going in the bottom half of the second, with junior Cristina Sommerkamp drawing a lead-off walk, getting to second on a grounder, and being driven in by junior Hanna Binek to pull within 2-1. Outside of a Senator double and a single from senior Ava Gnibus, neither team had a baserunner until the top of the fifth inning.
 
Davis & Elkins broke the game open, using four singles and a Bobcat error to plate three runs to grow their lead up to 5-1. Binek worked a one-out single the other way in the bottom of the frame, with junior Allyssa Albright following suit with a knock up the middle and senior Ellie Buckheit coming in to pinch run. A strikeout threatened to end the inning, but sophomore pinch hitter Ashlyn Routzahn pulled a hit into left to keep the offense alive. Junior Samara Funk brought home all three runners on a triple to straightaway center, suddenly pulling Frostburg within 5-4.
 
The Bobcats threatened again in the bottom of the sixth, as sophomore Olivia Stetler led the frame off with a single and advanced up to second. Sommerkamp laid down a textbook bunt to move Stetler up to third, but she would be left stranded after a strikeout and fly out let D&E out of the inning. Chapple tossed a 1-2-3 seventh to bring Frostburg back up in their final chance to tie or take the lead. Buckheit smacked a lead-off double to right-center to immediately get a runner in scoring position, but back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout gave Davis & Elkins the win by a narrow 5-4 margin.
 
Binek was the lone Bobcat to record multiple hits in the game, with her and Funk responsible for all four FSU runs. Chapple pitched 5.1 innings, giving up just one earned run while striking out four.
 
With the loss, Frostburg drops to 29-19 on the year, while D&E improves to 28-24. FSU now faces an elimination game on Thursday, May 2 where they take on West Liberty at 2:30 p.m. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.