After a recent prolonged winning streak, the Shepherd University softball team has dropped four of their last six games.
The team split two doubleheaders against Glenville State on April 16 and 18 and were swept in doubleheader action against number 14 West Virginia Wesleyan on April 19.
With only a handful of games left in the regular season, the team sits near the bottom of the Mountain East Conference softball standings with a disappointing 5-13 record against MEC opponents. The Rams will be looking to play at their best over the remainder of their schedule and build momentum going in the Mountain East Conference softball tournament.
On Wednesday, April 16, in the first of two doubleheaders in three days against Glenville State, the Rams fell by the score of 4-0 in game one however they rebounded to claim an 11-3 five inning victory in the nightcap.
Pioneers pitcher Brittany May played a major role in her team’s victory in game one by scattering only six hits and posting a complete game shutout win. In addition, she struck out four Shepherd batters while only walking one. Glenville State took an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a two-run homer by Mackenzie Smith in the second inning. She again had the Rams number in the fourth when she belted an RBI-single while her teammate Brittany Spencer doubled and later scored again in the seventh inning on a sac-fly.
Shepherd was trailing 2-0 in the nightcap until senior shortstop Jess Mason had an RBI triple and sophomore outfielder Kass Taylor and junior catcher Shanan Plunkett hit RBI-singles to give the Rams a 3-2 lead. They never looked back and retained the lead to the remainder of the game. In the fifth inning, Shepherd had a five run outburst with sophomore pitcher Shannon Lyon’s bat highlighting the rally.
In total, the Rams recorded 16 hits in this contest with Taylor having a 4-for-4 effort and two RBIs to lead the team. Moreover, Lyons picked up her fifth win of the season in relief for the Rams.
The Shepherd softball team met Glenville State once again for a doubleheader on April 18, however this time the contests were taking place in Glenville, W.Va. and the Rams have struggled away from home much of the season.
Nonetheless, they claimed a 4-2 win in the first game while falling by the score of 7-5 in the nightcap. The first game remained scoreless until the fifth inning when Mason belted a well-timed three run homer to give the Rams a 3-0 lead. They would then add to their lead in the sixth when Savannah Snyder had a lead off solo home run making the score 4-0. The Pioneers hit two home runs in the seventh inning of the game but it would not be enough to tie or take the lead.
On April 19, Shepherd faced a formidable regionally ranked opponent in West Virginia Wesleyan away from home in Buckhannon, W.Va. Despite remaining competitive and keeping the score close in both games, the Rams fell by the score of 5-3 in game one and 7-6 in game two.
Shepherd can feel good about how they played in these contests despite the results as they were facing an opponent that has played light outs throughout the season and has accumulated over 30 wins in route to a rank of 14 in NCAA polling. After these losses, the Rams overall record on the season drops to 18-24.