SALEM, Va. — WVSU's hopes at returning to the Mountain East Conference championship game ended Saturday night with a five-inning loss to the Frostburg State Bobcats. 

WVSU went down in order to start the game. When it came time to play the field, not much went right for WVSU as State's starting pitcher Kasey Murphy was chased without recording an out after facing just four batters, then reliever Emily Moore was hooked after recording one out and facing four more batters. Frostburg sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring nine times. Two costly errors meant that only two of those runs were earned, both to Murphy. 

State got two hits to lead off the top of the second, but both were stranded on base. The Yellow Jacket defense sent the Bobcats batters back to the dugout in order in the bottom of the inning.

It looked like State was going to crawl back, plating three runs in the top of the third. Kerrigan Moore lead-off with a bunt single followed by a Hannah Wilson walk. Paige Scruggs singled through the right side of the infield, scoring Moore. Scruggs then stole second, sending Wilson home on a bad throw by the catcher. Scruggs was shaken up on the play, but stayed in the game. Lambert then hit one into shallow right field and Scruggs came home, cutting the lead to 9-3.

That's the closest the Jackets would get. Frostburg State plated two more in the bottom of the third to re-extend the lead to eight, then three more in the bottom of the fourth for the final tally.

Murphy was charged with the loss, leaving her final record at 11-12. Emilee Walker came in to pitch the final 3 2/3 innings, fanning six.

Scruggs had an RBI and was 1-for-3 at the plate. Lambert also had an RBI and was 1-for-2. Emma Ruth went 2-for-2.

The Yellow Jackets close out the 2022 campaign with a final record of 22-25 and made their fourth consecutive MEC tournament appearance. It's the first season below .500 since 2017, which was the last year the Yellow Jackets didn't make a post-season appearance.