WVU Potomac State College Head Softball Coach Jim Walton (left) and Assistant Coach Matt Mills (right), along with the Catamount’s winning softball team, pose for a picture after securing the Catamount’s fourth straight Region XX title. The team will head to the National Tournament in Clinton, Mississippi for a shot at the national title.
NORTH EAST — Kadi Cosgrove pitched 14 shutout innings and yielded seven hits over the course of two must-win games, as Potomac State beat Chesapeake twice on Sunday to win its fourth straight Region XX championship.
The Catamounts had just three hits in the opener, but two of those came in the top half of the seventh inning to break a 0-0 tie, as Potomac State came out with a 1-0 win.
After Cosgrove drew a two-out walk in the first inning, Kayla Wilt picked up Potomac State’s first hit of the game, a single. Chesapeake pitcher Savannah Miles was able to get a strikeout to end the inning and get out of dodge.
Miles then hurled four consecutive three up, three down innings before hitting Cosgrove with a pitch with two outs in the sixth. Miles, again, got a strikeout to end the inning. She struck out 10 in the game.
In the top half of the seventh, Katlynn Tichnell reached base on a one-out single before a sacrifice bunt advanced her to second. One batter later and down to perhaps their final out, the Catamounts got a clutch hit by Lexi Trickett, whose double plated Tichnell from second.
Cosgrove was able to get a strikeout, fly out to right and a ground ball back to the circle to force a winner-take-all game.
Cosgrove struck out three, allowed three hits and walked two behind an errorless Potomac State defense that came up with clutch outs in the first four innings, where Chesapeake had a runner on second in each frame. Cosgrove pitched 1-2-3 innings over the final three frames.
The Catamounts had a four-run inning in the third before adding two insurance runs in the seventh to claim the Region XX crown, 6-0.
Potomac State had little trouble in the hitting department, and got another dominant performance from the circle by Cosgrove, who struck out five and walked three while yielding four hits.
Abby Gillingham nearly got the Catamounts on the front foot in the first inning when she led off the game with a single before stealing second. She reached third on a groundout, but Chesapeake pitcher Brooke Morton got a ground out to third base to get out of danger and end the inning.
Potomac State went three up, three down in the second before getting to work in the top half of the third.
Trickett led off with a single and advanced to second base when Kecia Cogan followed up with a single. Both runners advanced up a base on a passed ball before Gillingham ripped a two-run double to get the Catamounts on the board.
Still with no outs, Shyann Farris then reached base on an error that pushed Gillingham to third.
After Farris stole second, Gillingham made it 3-0 by stealing home before Farris was caught trying to steal third. Cosgrove then ripped a double on a line drive to center.
Miles entered the circle to take over the pitching duties before walking Wilt to put runners on first and second.
Cosgrove and Wilt moved up a base following a passed ball, and Cosgrove would eventually score with one out on a passed ball to put the score at 4-0.
Miles then struck out the next two batters with Wilt standing on third.
In the seventh, Cogan ripped a one-out single before Gillingham followed up with another double. Farris added the final two runs with a two-RBI double.
Nine of the Catamounts’ 10 hits came from four players, with Gillingham’s pair of doubles in addition to a single, Cosgrove’s double and single, and Trickett and Cogan’s two singles apiece carrying the load at the dish.
Chesapeake had a runner reached third base in the first inning before Cosgrove pretty well shut the Skipjacks down over the next three innings, with Katelynn Miles reaching base on an error in the second accounting for Chesapeake’s only baserunner during that span.
The Skipjacks tried to mount a two-out rally in the fifth with back to back singles by Meredith Bell and Kassidy Willis, followed by a walk by Faith Cheetham to load the bases. Cosgrove got Ariane Valdez to ground in to a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Following a near-perfect sixth inning for Cosgrove, the bottom of the order produced a single and a walk for Chesapeake in the bottom of the seventh with one out. Cosgrove got Cheetham to line into a double play to third baseman Wilt, who caught the line shot before throwing to first base to get the final out and claim the Region XX championship.
Potomac State (23-9-1) advances to the national tournament, where the Catamounts will travel to Clinton, Mississippi on May 16.