SALEM, Va. – Fairmont State completed its run to a Mountain East Conference Championship with a 7-4 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday afternoon at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Virginia.
The win gives Fairmont State its first-ever Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship and sends the Falcons to the NCAA Atlantic Regional with the conference’s automatic bid. The Falcons have now won five games in a row and improved to 22-24 on the year with the championship victory.
With the championship game tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Fairmont State plated four runs to take control of the game. Peyton Wetherholt brought home the first two runs with a two-RBI single to left center that sent Jordan Novak and Brooke Schmitt home. During the next at-bat, Emily Riggs cleared the left field fence for her third home run of the 2022 MEC Softball Championship.
For her efforts, Riggs was named the Softball Tournament MVP and was named to the MEC All-Tournament Team.
After holding West Virginia Wesleyan off the board in the top of the sixth, Fairmont State’s Brooke Schmitt added two more Fairmont State home runs on a two-RBI single to right center.
West Virginia Wesleyan scored three runs in the top of the seventh to cut Fairmont State’s lead in half, but the Falcons recorded the game’s final out on a groundout to clinch the championship crown.
In the loser’s bracket final to open the day, West Virginia Wesleyan topped West Liberty, 2-1, to advance to the championship game.
West Liberty opened the game with a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo home run down the left field line by Sidney Little. However, the Bobcats scored two unearned runs in the third inning – which proved to be the difference in the game.
Following the championship game, the MEC announced its 2022 All-Tournament Team (listed below).
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2022 MEC All-Tournament Team
Hannah Rose, Charleston
Paige Scruggs, West Virginia State
Kennedy Brumagin, Frostburg State
Sierra Sanderson, Frostburg State
Makenzie Amend, West Liberty
Riley Conkle, West Liberty
Destiny Alvarado, West Virginia Wesleyan
Grace Hightower, West Virginia Wesleyan
Abigail O'Shields, West Virginia Wesleyan
Caitlyn Kassay, Fairmont State
Peyton Wetherholt, Fairmont State
MVP: Emily Riggs, Fairmont State