Mounties Suffer Setback with One Out to Go

MANSFIELD – The Mansfield University women's sport team and senior Ashley Inman suffered a heat-breaking last inning loss in the opener as the Mountaineers drop a pair of PSAC Central games to Lock Haven during Senior Day at Helen Lutes Field Saturday afternoon.

Senior Amanda Goodwin, Kaitlyn Hewitt, Ashley Inman and Megan Miller were all honored in pregame ceremonies along with Hannah Secord who will forgo her last season of eligibility after graduating early.

The opener featured one of the best pitching matchups of the season and ended in a heart-breaking loss with the Mountaineers coming up within one out of putting the game in the win column.

Mansfield senior Ashley Inman and Lock Haven's Bekah Slattery both had outstanding performances as they hooked up in a classic pitching duel.

Inman pitched her way out of trouble in the top of the second after singles by the Bald Eagles Michelle Holweger and Becca Caputo gave Lock Haven runners on second and third with one out. Mansfield shortstop Leah McGovern threw out the lead runner at home on the next play for the second out of the inning. Inman then got Moriah Lindsey to strikeout looking to end the threat.

Lock Haven threatened again in the third advancing runners to second and third with one out before Inman induced the next two batters to ground out ending the inning.

It was Mansfield turn to put some pressure on its opponent in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Melanie Taylor worked a walk and scored the game's first run when Koryn Wickwire hit a lined double to the gap in right center to score Taylor giving Mansfield a 1-0 lead after three innings played.

The lead held up through the next three innings with Inman retiring seven straight batters until Garlock singled with one out for Lock Haven in the top of the sixth. Garlock would be erased at second after Holweger reached on a fielder's choice. A singled by Rachael Mouillesseau put runners on first and second before Inman once again got the final batter to ground out and end the threat.

Mansfield needed just three out in the top of the seventh to pick up the win and come as close as you could get to achieving that goal.

After Inman got the first batter to ground out, Moriah Lindsey singled up the middle on a 3-2 pitch. She advanced to second on a wild pitch before Faith Ceely walked on a 3-2 count. Lindsey was out at third on a fielder's choice giving Lock Haven runners at first and second with two out. With two strikes, Jodi Wearnecht put a hard hit ball down the third base line past a diving Kayla Hahn. The ball hit the third base bag and hope by the including left fielder to clear the bases for three runs before the inning was finally over on a pop out to second.

Mansfield went out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning to suffer the heartbreaking loss.

In comparison to game one, game two was a high scoring affair. Lock Haven opened the game with a pair of runs on a two-run single by Holweger.

Mansfield responded by scoring three runs of its won after two outs in the bottom half of the inning. Rachael Sterner started things off with a two-out walk and advanced to second on a single by Megan Miller. Laura Lawson was then hit-by-a-pitch to load the bases.

Hewitt then singled through the right side to drive in two runs tying the score a 2-2. One batter later, Leah McGovern reached on an error along a run to score and giving Mansfield a 3-2 advantage after just one inning of play.
 
Lock Haven regain the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second on a two-run single by Garlock.

The Bald Eagles added another run in the top of the third to go up 5-3 before Mansfield cut the advantage to 5-4 with  Miller scoring an unearned run.

Lock Haven countered with two more runs in the top of the fourth taking a 7-4 lead.

Mansfield battled back in their half of the inning with Sterner sending a high lofty shot over the left field fence for her ninth home run of the season. The home run tied her with Kate Pratt, Nicole Yost and Jaclyn Laskowski for the third most home runs in a season in school history and cutting the deficit to 7-5.

Lock Haven would respond with a long ball of its own when Holweger lifted a three-run home run to center increasing the lead to 10-5 after five innings of play.

Koryn Wickwire had two of Mansfield's six hits in the game while Hewitt knocked in two runs. Strom started and took the loss. She was relieved by freshmen Ari Young and Brooke Roys.

Mansfield host Clarion next Friday, April 22 before ending the regular season at IUP the following day.