CLERMONT, Fla. – A pair of five-inning blowouts capped the Frostburg State softball team’s trip to the NTC Games in Florida. The Bobcats lost to Allegheny, 11-3, and defeated Grinnell, 8-0, Tuesday afternoon.

Allegheny Box Score
Grinnell Box Score

In the Grinnell win, the Bobcats’ eight runs and 13 hits are season highs. Four Bobcats had multi-hit games. Freshman Caitlin Lovend (Laurel, Md./Reservoir) continued her hot streak with a 3-for-3 game with three runs scored. She’s hitting .442 and slugging .744 in her rookie season, both highest on the club.

Seniors Brooke Tapman (Pocomoke, Md./Pocomoke) and Victoria Krichbaum (Olney, Md./Sherwood) each went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Tapman added a stolen base in each game. Junior Jenna Delaney (Frostburg, Md./Mountain Ridge) also had two hits with an RBI.

Krichbaum brought home the game’s first run when she doubled home Lovend in the bottom of the second. She later scored on an error to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.

After scoring one in the fourth, the Bobcats broke the game open with five runs in the fifth to invoke the mercy rule. Pinch hitter Jacki Lynch (Glen Burnie, Md./North County) tripled home Jordan Wright (East New Market, Md./North Dorchester/Chesapeake College) to make it 4-0, and the rout was on.

By that point, the next four runs were merely window dressing because of the performance of junior pitcher Megan Magee (Egg Harbor City, N.J./Holy Spirit). Magee put forth one of her best outings of the season, allowing just two hits and striking out seven over five innings.

The first game of the day didn’t go quite as well for Frostburg (6-10) against Allegheny, although the Bobcats started off on the right foot. Beavers doubled with one out in the first and scored on a Taylor Vandegrift (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill). Lovend singled home Vandegrift, and the Bobcats were off to a quick 2-0 lead.

The fun didn’t last long. Allegheny got those two back in the bottom of the first and added five more in the second. All seven runs were earned and charged to Beavers. She exited and was replaced by Magee, who didn’t fare much better. She gave up four runs, two of them earned, in 2.1 innings.

Lovend was again the offensive star against the Gators. She went 2-for-3 with two RBI, including a double that drove home Tapman in the top of the third.

The Bobcats face Eastern Mennonite on Thursday for a doubleheader at 3:00 p.m.