JOHNSTOWN – FM's softball team hosted Mohawk Valley for two games on Thursday afternoon. The Lady Raiders led 3-0 in the fourth inning of Game One, but the Lady Hawks came back and won that game 12-3. The visitors soared to a 22-7 win in the second game.
FM's Brittany Keator and Stephanie Rice blasted home runs. They were the first Lady Raiders to clear the fence this season.
Photo: Ally Ostrander slides safely into second base
Game One
FM Lineup: Ally Ostrander-CF, Brittany Keator-DP, Alix Leo-C, Stephanie Rice-SS, Rebekah Reichard-1B, Taylor Bubniak-P, Cori Manson-3B, Courtney Putnam-2B, Kelsey Taber-LF, Tegan Shumway-RF/Flex
The game began with three innings of very well played softball. Both teams' fielding and pitching were sharp.
Taylor Bubniak was in the circle for FM. She opened the game by retiring the side in order.
Photo: Third baseman Cori Manson, left, and Taylor Bubniak track a popup – Bubniak caught it
FM scored with some nice "small ball" in their half of the first. Ally Ostrander led off with a walk. Brittany Keator laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Ostrander to second base. Alix Leo drove a single into center field, scoring Ostrander. It looked as if FM would plate more runs, but MV's shortstop was able to spear Stephanie Rice's hard smash of a line drive and then double Leo off first base. The Lady Raiders led 1-0.
Bubniak sat the Hawks down swiftly in the second. Ostrander caught a fly in center, Leo caught a popup, and Bubniak struck out the final MV batter.
FM tallied twice in the second inning. Rebekah Reichard led off with an infield single. Bubniak walked. Cori Manson bunted and the throw to first base went wide, allowing Reichard to score. Kelsey Taber made a productive out by hitting an RBI grounder to first base, bringing Bubniak home.
Photo: Ally Ostrander on third and Brittany Keator on second in Game Two
The Raiders led 3-0. They carried that 3-0 lead into the fourth inning, but then the MV batters made some adjustments. A bad hop, a double to center, a single to left, and two infield hits gave the visitors a 5-3 lead. The Lady Hawks then built on that lead and kept FM from scoring again.
MVCC 000 534 12-10-1
FMCC 120 000 3-6-4
Flihan and Georgia; Bubniak, Palmateer (6) and Leo
Game Two
The second game was very different from the first. FM fielded the same lineup except that Alyssa Palmateer was FM's pitcher.
The Lady Hawks scored six runs on only three hits in the first inning. FM got one run back with Ostrander being hit by a pitch, advancing to second on a walk, stealing third base, and scoring on Reichard's single to left.
Mohawk Valley went on to score in every inning but the fifth. FM, however, added some offensive excitement in the final two innings.
Reichard led off the fourth with a double to deep right-center. Two walks filled the bases for Keator. The versatile Keator saw a pitch that she liked and drove it well over the center field fence for a grand slam home run. It was the Lady Raiders' first home run of the season.
Photo: Brittany Keator (20) is greeted at home
Pitcher Palmateer got the Lady Hawks out in order in the top of the fifth. Shortstop Rice then led off the fifth for FM. Rice got good extension in her swing, and she sent one over the left-center fence. (See photo below.)
The loss evened FM's season record at 4-4. The team's next outing will be on Saturday when they host Jefferson CC. The first game is set to start at 1:00 p.m.
MVCC 645 70 22-18-0
FMCC 100 51 7-5-6
Rose, Deck(4) and Georgia; Palmateer and Leo
Records: FM - 4-4, overall and conference; MV - 6-9 (5-3 conference)
C.J. Bonny, website writer
Photo: Stephanie Rice belts a home run over the left-center field fence
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