Seniors make their mark at final game
Fredonia's four seniors contributed to a 4-0 season-ending softball win April 30 over Plattsburgh. The day also saw a team home run record tied and a shutout by a freshman pitcher.
The shutout was the handiwork of Sam Seegar (North Tonawanda). The freshman right-hander scattered seven hits and struck out five. It was her first career shutout and lowered her team-leading earned run average to 2.91. She raised her won-loss record to 4-8.
Erin Mushtare (Oneonta), one of the four Blue Devil seniors, staked Seegar to all the offense she needed with a three-run double in the third inning. Lauren Pixley (Hamburg), a junior, had an RBI double in the fifth.
In addition to the big hit by Mushtare, the senior-class output included three hits and two runs scored by Khee Nance (Dunkirk) and one hit each by Maddy Stavish (Olean) and Sarah Cuillo (Blasdell). In the process, Nance lifted her team-leading batting average .342 and her Fredonia career average -- over two seasons -- to .348, fourth on the all-time career list.
Game 1 saw Plattsburgh -- the eventual No. 3 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament -- emerge with a 4-2 win. It also saw Blue Devil junior Katelyn Dennis (Webster, N.Y.) hit her ninth career home run -- and her seventh of the season. The nine homers ties Heather Mercer (2001-04) and Katie Bartkowiak (2010-13) atop Fredonia's career list. The seven homers fell one short of the single-season team record set by Samantha Voncina in 2007. Dennis also finished the season with 68 total bases, fourth most by a Blue Devil.
Dennis also set two single-season defensive records. The first baseman handled 264 chances and recorded 249 putouts. Cherise Gunnell was the previous record-holder in both categories.
