Published: April 09, 2008 10:09 am         

Frostburg rallies, wins in ninth

FROSTBURG — Lindsay Freitag and Brooke Tapman knocked in ninth-inning runs in to rally Frostburg State to a 6-5 victory over Eastern Mennonite (Va.) and a split of their college softball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon.

Eastern Mennonite won the second game, 11-2, on the strength of nine first-inning runs.

In the opener, Allison Painter scored on an error in the top of the ninth to put the Royals (23-10-1) on top 5-4. Frostburg (8-13) put runners on first and third in the bottom of the inning, and Tapman singled home Lindsay Durkin to tie it 5-5. Freitag singled to third base, but as the throw to first hit her in the back, Victoria Krichbaum crossed the plate to score the game-winning run.

Freitag hit her first career home run in the first inning, and Tapman had an RBI single in the third to put FSU up 3-0. Jessica Blosser’s three-run homer tied it in the fifth for Eastern Mennonite, which scored once in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead. Kathryn Claeys doubled home Amanda Baldwin in the bottom of the inning to force a ninth inning.

Katelyn Coffey got the win and got 11 groundball outs in addition to eight strikeouts.

Freitag finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

In the second game, the Royals needed only five innings after a nine-run explosion in the first put the game out of reach. Fourteen batters came to the plate during the big inning, which was highlighted by a two-run homer by Kaitlyn Andrews.

Claeys had an RBI single, Tapman doubled and scored and Kelly Filipowicz singled and scored for Frostburg State, which hosts LaRoche in a doubleheader today at 3 p.m.