Camels end season with loss to Ohio State

KNOXVILLE, TENN. - Campbell's season came to an end following a 10-0 (6 inn.) loss to Ohio State Saturday afternoon at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.

The reigning two-time Big South champion Camels finish the year with a 37-19 record, marking the program's best overall win percentage (.661) since 2009.

"I'm so proud of our team," head coach Sharonda McDonald-Kelley said after the game. "It didn't go the way we wanted it go, but I felt like we fought all the way. I was telling our players, we figured out the identity piece. We did it. We put together some of the best softball we've played all year towards the end here. We just fought, and we are fighters. That's who we are. I loved that I saw that out of our team."

Campbell fell behind early as the Buckeyes scored three runs to open the game in the first inning. Two scoreless innings followed until the fourth inning when Ohio State added another run on a solo homer down the right field line.

The Camels put together their best threat of the afternoon in the bottom half of the fourth starting with a walk issued to Delaney McDilda. Kayla Fredendall followed with a hit on a pop-up that was lost in the sun by the Buckeyes' first baseman, putting runners on first and second. Ohio State starting pitcher Allison Smith managed to escape the jam by forcing back-to-back outs to end the inning.

The Buckeyes added three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth to close out the game.

Isabella Smith (15-9) took the loss in the circle for Campbell, throwing the first 3.1 innings and giving up three earned runs. Georgeanna Barefoot and Kayla Howald each tossed 1.1 innings of relief.

Allison Smith (9-4) earned the win for Ohio State after throwing all six innings allowing one hit and striking out five.

Today's game marked the final outing for four Campbell graduates; Jordan Blake, Kayla Fredendall, Danielle Northrup and Alexa Pagano. The class was the first in program history to earn back-to-back Big South regular season and tournament titles, and only the second group in team history to make consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

"I think our hardships and adversities we faced this year are the reasons why we won so big in the (Big South) tournament," said Pagano. "We took it and we ran with it. We didn't crumble. We use the term manage. We used it to bond us as a team. We used it to get closer. Ultimately, as coach said that was the missing piece. We found it at the perfect times."

"Softball seasons are a rollercoaster of a ride I'd say," Fredendall elaborated while speaking about the season as a whole. "To get here you have to have grit, determination. You have to just have that hunger to just keep pushing past the hard things. I couldn't be more proud of our team for doing those things because it's not easy to get here and the way we came together throughout the season and really here at the end. It's just like having the best moments with your family and I just couldn't be more proud of us."