KEYSER, W.Va. — The third-seeded Potomac State College softball team took a pair from No. 6 College of Southern Maryland Saturday in the Region XX play-in series on Saturday to advance to the four-team double elimination tournament, May 9-11 at CCBC Catonsville, with this year’s Region XX champion advancing directly to the NJCAA Division II Tournament in Clinton, Mississippi.
Potomac State (25-13) used outstanding pitching in both games to advance, blanking Southern Maryland 2-0 in the first game, and winning 4-1 in the second game.
In the opener, Taylor Townsend pitched a four-hit shutout and Potomac State broke a scoreless tie with a pair in the bottom of the sixth, as Jose Deneen reached on a one-out single and scored on Halei Johnson’s two-out, two-run homer to center field.
In the top of the seventh, Southern Maryland had a two-out single from Brittany Sorli, but Townsend got Cetonya Kitson looking to end the game. In the complete-game outing, Townsend struck out 14 and walked only two.
Deneen finished with two hits and a run scored and Townsend doubled.
In the second game, the Catamounts received five shutout innings from Shyann Farris and again turned to the two-run inning, this time putting up two of them to beat Southern Maryland.
Lexi Trickett singled to start the second inning for the Cats, went to second on a single by Katlyn Rasnake and then to third on a fielder’s choice. Madison Anderson singled to score Trickett, and Rasnake would steal home for the second run.
In the fifth, Allison Leighty singled with one out and moved all the way to third on a passed ball. She would score on an error by the catcher and Johnson, who had walked, moved to third. Johnson then scored on an error.
Leighty and Rasnake both had two singles in the game.
Farris allowed five hits, struck out four and walked four.