Frankfort secures shutout win over Grafton, 7-0

“We are very young team, our starting lineup consists of two freshman, six sophomores and senior. I think we took a big step forward today. Our pitching was wonderful. Avery had an outstanding game in the circle, out of 21 outs, 17 were strikeouts. That is really impressive performance for a sophomore,” Frankfort coach Duke Lantz said.

“Frankfort’s pitcher was really hitting her spots and we weren’t able to put the bat on the ball. I thought our outfield played terrific but our infield gave up a few errors and we couldn’t generate enough offense to mount a comeback. Those factors were the difference today,” Grafton softball coach Gary Chambers said.

Offensively, the Falcons racked up six total hits with Aubrie Root finishing 2 for 4, scoring a run and adding two RBIs and Carlee Kesner posting a 2-for-3 mark at the plate and scoring a pair of runs to pace Frankfort’s lineup.

“With it only being our second game of the year, I thought we had a much better approach at the plate. We battled much better at the plate today than we did on opening day against Petersburg. We hit some great shots today, forced them make plays in the field and took advantage when they committed errors,” Lantz said.

Grafton’s Lillie Crimm took the loss in the pitcher’s circle after giving up six hits and seven runs while striking out six and walking three over the course of a full seven innings of work.

“I thought Lillie was great in the circle. She was throwing the way we needed her to throw but those early-game errors put us in a hole that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of,” Chambers said.

Grafton’s lineup struggled to generate offense against Noel with Jordan Niggemyer recording the Bearcats’ lone hit on the day.

Frankfort struck the first blow as Root scored on a passed ball in the top of the first inning.

Frankfort began adding to its lead in the second as Breanna Bowers, Kesner and Noel each scored off of Grafton errors before Adison Pritts drove in LaRue with an RBI double.

The Falcons held a commanding 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning.

Neither team managed to scored against the pitching of Noel and Crimm in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

In the top of the sixth, Frankfort’s Root hit a two-RBI double on a hard ground ball to the center field gap, scoring both Kesner and Noel to stretch the Falcons’ lead to 7-0.

Noel closed out the shutout win with four strikeouts, a fly out and a line out in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to cap off a brilliant performance in the circle.

“In spite of the loss, I am very proud of our team. Every single one of our girls today shined today, just at different times. We need to get everyone on the same page and the wins will come,” Chambers finished.

Both Frankfort (1-1) and Grafton (1-2) will be back in action on Monday at 5 p.m. with the Falcons set to return home to square off against Bishop Walsh while the Bearcats will travel to Buckhannon-Upshur.