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Jan 14, 2024

Potomac State softball is NJCAA Division II World Series bound!

KEYSER, W.Va. (WV News) — A year ago, Potomac State finished with an overall

KEYSER, W.Va. (WV News) — A year ago, Potomac State finished with an overall record of 41-4, and ended their season with a trip to the NCJAA Division II World Series in Alabama. This year, they’ve done it again. The Lady Catamounts currently stand with a record of 43-3 and have once again qualified for the NJCAA Division II World Series, this time in South Carolina.

"It's a big plus for our program, our players, and our coaches. It's due to hard work by everyone involved with the program, especially our players. And, we’ve fortunate enough to get ourselves some talented players the last two years. We’re very excited," Potomac State coach Craig Rotruck stated.

According to Rotruck, "Two years in a row, we’ve went over 40 wins during the season. The girls come in and beat who we are supposed to beat. We’ve played a lot of good teams this year and been very competitive in the games we’ve lost. We’re really excited about what we’re doing here."

Potomac State opened the season with two losses, then dropped two to equal their record at 2-2. Then came the streak, the one in which the Lady Cats won 31 consecutive games to improve to 33-2 on the season. After a loss, Potomac State ran off 10 more straight wins to reach an overall current record of 43-3.

The last five of those 10 wins represents a perfect record in Region XX Tournament play. In succession, Potomac State defeated Montgomery County 9-0 and 10-2, Hagerstown Community College 8-0, Chesapeake College 9-0, and then Hagerstown again 12-3.

As such, they outscored their Region XX Tournament opponents 48-5.

Like last year, Potomac State plays an exciting brand of softball. In 45 games last year, the Lady Catamounts launched 66 home runs. This season, in 46 games thus far, Potomac State has hit 85 home runs.

Leading the way in the home run category this season with 21 is Keyser's own Alexa Shoemaker. Shoemaker is also leading the way with a jaw-dropping .600 batting average.

Just behind Shoemaker in home runs is Sissonville, West Virginia's own Alexis Bailey with 20. Bailey also impresses with a jaw-dropping .549 batting average.

Then comes Abby Peace, a Berryville, Virginia native and Clarke County High School graduate, who has hit 18 home runs.

Peace also leads the way at Potomac State in the circle as their ace pitcher. Peace is currently undefeated as a pitcher with a perfect 22-0 record. In 138.1 innings pitched thus far, Peace has given up only 30 runs (22 earned) on 69 hits, for an ERA of 1.11.

Jenna Burkhamer, a native of Winchester, Virginia and graduate of James Wood High School, has also been very successful as Potomac State's number two pitcher. Burkhamer currently stands with an overall record of 15-2. In 90 innings pitched thus far, Burkhamer has given up 57 runs (27 earned) on 91 hits, for an ERA of 2.10.

Good hitting. Good pitching. That's always a winning combination in softball and baseball.

"It starts in the circle. I think that we’ve got some pretty good pitching. From Abby Peace, a freshman, whose gone out and thrown the ball extremely well for us. And Jenna Burkhamer, a sophomore, she's been very surprising for us this year. She came on very well and is doing a good job for us," Rotruck stated.

According to Rotruck, "We’ve also set a home run record for us here at Potomac State. We’ve got Alexa Shoemaker hitting .600 with 21 home runs. You’re hitting .600, are you kidding me? She's followed up with Alexis Bailey with 20 home runs, hitting in the .500's."

"I feel that our hitting is very deep. I think one through nine, we got down at the Region XX, and Mia Kincaid, she hit a home run for us. Ashley Joll hit a couple deep balls for us, all the way to the fence. It's not been just the two, three, and four hitters, but pretty much everybody up and down the lineup. That's what separates this year's team a little bit from last years," Rotruck detailed.

The team will leave for the World Series on Sunday, May 22, and drive to Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, where they will practice on Sunday afternoon. From there, they will drive the rest of the way on in to Spartanburg, South Carolina.

On Monday, there will be more practice, a coaches meeting, and a banquet for the players.

On Friday morning, May 19 at 10 a.m., the brackets for the NJCAA Word Series will be revealed. All are invited to join the team for the revealing at the University Place Theatre on the campus of WVU Potomac State.

"After that, we’ll get to work on getting a good scouting report on the teams that we could run into," Rotruck noted.

There is reason for optimism at the World Series approaches.

"Our coaching staff, everyone on the current roster that we have, we like to think that we’re going to go down and be very competitive this year. As we did last year. We’re just hoping the ball bounces our way a little bit, and gives us a little bit of luck, so that we can go down and do what we want to do," Rotruck explained.

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