Fannett-Metal comes alive in D5 quarterfinal

It didn't take much for the Fannett-Metal softball team to get rolling on Wednesday in a District 5 Class 1A quarterfinal game against Rockwood. 

Despite having a week off between the final game of their regular season, and the district opener, the Tigers kicked things off in a big way in the first inning thanks to a two-run home run to center by Emily Metcalfe. 

Fannett-Metal had two more big innings on the way to defeating No. 7 Rockwood 10-2. The Tigers will move on to play No. 3 Shanksville on Tuesday, May 30 at a neutral site location yet to be announced. 

"Everyone immediately relaxed after that ball went over the fence," Fannett-Metal coach Michael DeAngelo said. "Moving forward the girls seem really confident. The first time we played Rockwood it was 2-1, and this time it ended up 10-2. The fact that we were able to pile everything on, moving forward I think that's going to be a confidence boost, playing well at the right time."

Fannett-Metal focused on keeping Rockwood's pitcher, Samantha Champey, off balance, and succeeded with a pair of four-run innings in the fourth and the sixth, including a two-run home run by pitcher Brooke Harris.

"To be honest, I thought she was going to rob it," Harris said, recalling the Rockwood left fielder sprinting towards the fence. "But when I saw the ump swing his arm around, I actually had to run the bases for once."

Virtually every part of Fannett-Metal's batting order was on fire, with every batter registering at least one hit. 

"The last time we played Rockwood we were all a little down," Harris said. "But today I think everyone realized, hey this is the first round of districts, we want to be here and we deserve to be here. I think it did help the batters with a lot of adrenaline and we were able to execute it very well."

F-M catcher Claudia Umbrell struck out in her first appearance at the plate, but turned it around finishing with a 3-for-4 performance with two doubles. 

"After the first at bat I knew I had to slow down or else I would strike out again," Umbrell said. "We stayed up and our cheering really got into her head and we batted her around. Coming in we were all just a little nervous but now we've proved to ourselves that we can do it."

"Claudia is that quiet player who does everything right the whole season, on the field and off the field," DeAngelo said. "She's worked her way up to that cleanup spot because she does everything right."

Leadoff hitter Morgan Ritchey was walked three time and had an RBI, while Jade Rhodes and Jamie Adams had a pair of hits. Adams and Kassie Holtry and Makala O'Donel each had one RBI.