Potomac State advances to semis, run rules Frederick
May 11—KEYSER, W.Va. — WVU Potomac State College showed off its power, sending three home runs over the fence in an 11-0 five-inning shutout of Frederick in the NJCAA Division II, Region 20 quarterfinal on Friday.
"Outstanding pitching, that's where it started at," Potomac State head coach Craig Rotruck said. "Chloe (Greise) had 10 strikeouts and zero walks which was a big thing. Then we got a couple runs on, used the long ball which we've tried to do. Hit some hard balls, got some in the air."
The No. 1 seed Catamounts (34-11) had as many long balls as the No. 5 seed Cougars (16-17) had hits.
The first blast came in the bottom of the first. After Alexa Shoemaker drew a walk, Jamie Kelly sent a fly ball deep to right center for a two-run shot.
"They don't let the moment get too big for them," Rotruck said. "They're very selective at the plate. They got a couple big hits, and that's what we needed. And it's no secret, when you're up it's a lot easier to pitch and play defense."
Kelly was the only Catamount with two hits, also driving in three RBIs.
With a 2-0 lead in the third, Potomac State made it 4-0 on a sacrifice fly from Braylee Corbin and a fielding error at first base.
The Catamounts took control in the fourth with seven runs.
After loading the bases, Meghan Harris hit a line drive to right for a two-run base hit.
"We work very hard on letting the ball get deep inside to where you can really drive the ball," Rotruck said. "We hit a couple hard balls that were caught, but we also had a couple hit pretty hard that got up."
Two batters later, Kelly hit a line drive to center that dropped in for an RBI knock.
Corbin was next up and drove a fly ball deep to left center for a no-doubt three-run blast to push the Catamounts lead to 10-0.
"Braylee came through and she hit it pretty good," Rotruck said.
Corbin was one of eight Potomac State batters with one hit, but drove in four RBIs.
Frederick starter Kaitlin Murphy left after 3 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits, eight earned runs and a walk with two strikeouts.
Hailey Justice took over, and on the first pitch, Emily Horn welcomed her with a fly ball to deep center for a solo shot.
Horn and Harris each had one hit with a pair of RBIs.
Greise went the distance, allowing three hits and no walks while striking out 10.
She stranded a pair of runners in the second and fourth innings.
"She kept working ahead, they did a great job of fouling some good pitches off," Rotruck said. "They had a couple bloop hits but did a nice job battling. Whenever you get yourself into a jam and there's two outs, it's a lot easier than when you're in a jam with no outs. So that's what she did, very pleased with her."
The Catamounts advance to the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m. against No. 3 seed CCBC Catonsville (24-14).
The Cardinals defeated No. 2 seed Southern Maryland 7-6 in the other quarterfinal on Friday.
The Hawks had the winning run at the plate, but struck out on a full count.
Simultaneously, the runner at second took off for third, but was caught to end the game.
Potomac State has reached the NJCAA World Series in back-to-back seasons and is two wins away from making it three in a row.
"Every year we try to go, but we try to take it step-by-step, inning-by-inning," Rotruck said. "We have two games left, we got 14 innings to play. Hopefully we can continue to play well, get some good hitting and pitching. Of course, that's everyone's goal at the beginning of the year to go to the World Series and see what can happen."
Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Email him with scores and story suggestions at jkendall@times-news.com.
