Sam Gatton’s Two Homeruns Help Sweep Penn State Harrisburg

The article below was provided by contributing writer Cara Morrell.

On Monday, the Frostburg State Softball team won both of their games against Penn State Harrisburg to finish out conference play. The Bobcats move to 20-14 overall and 7-7 in the CAC conference. They finish up their regular season on April 24 at Stevenson for a doubleheader. They will finish with the fourth seed and head to the first round of the CAC tournament on April 27 and 28.

In game one at Bobcat field, Allison Short became the all-time leader in starts and games appeared in at the pitcher position. Senior Sam Gatton started things off in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff homerun. First-year Taylor McCarty had a single to right field, which scored Katelyn Mehrling from first after there was an error from Penn State’s right fielder. The Bobcats lead 0-2 at the end of the first inning. In the bottom of the second inning, Seniors Brittney Platt and Allison Short had back to back singles and eventually came around to score when Sophomore Claire Hanlon had a hit to right field to make the score 0-4, a Bobcat lead. McCarty had a leadoff double to start the bottom of the third inning. Then, the very next batter, first year Aliyah Ramey, hit a RBI single to give the Cats another run.

The softball team extended their lead to seven when Short and junior Olivia Ford both got on, and then both stole a base on a double steal to advance themselves 60 feet closer to home. Mehrling hit a single, then advanced to second on the throw home that wasn’t in time for the Bobcat base runners. Ramey had a leadoff single to start the bottom of the fifth. Penn State’s pitcher Allison Hartman threw an illegal pitch to walk Platt, two on and one out for the Bobcats. Ford would end up hitting the RBI single to finish the game in five innings. Frostburg won 0-8.

In game two, the Bobcats scored early again when Hanlon had a perfectly placed bunt to get on, then stole second and third base to put her in scoring position. Catcher Jessica Roelli from Penn State tried to pick off Hanlon at third, but ended up hitting her in the helmet and Hanlon scored the first run of the game. Penn State fought back in the top of the second when Carlee Gochenaur walked and advanced to third after Kristen Evans reached on a fielder’s choice and a throwing error by Platt. Gochenaur would even up the score when Evans got caught stealing second base.

In the top of the third, Penn State Harrisburg scored another run when McCarty dropped the ball on the tag attempt, which allowed Nina Bruno to score. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Sam Gatton jacked the ball over the left- center fence for a two run homerun to take a 2-3 lead. Katelyn Mehrling finished things off in the circle, facing only seven batters in the last two innings and striking out the last batter to seal the win for Frostburg.