SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Frankfort gave Rylee Mangold early run support, and the hard-throwing senior took care of the rest.
Pitching with a three-run lead after one at-bat, Mangold had everything working in the circle, fanning 16 hitters over seven shutout innings to lead top-ranked Frankfort to a 3-0 victory over No. 2 Allegany on Monday.
It was a historic performance for Frankfort, as the Falcons handed local softball powerhouse Allegany its first defeat to an area opponent in more than six years.
“I’m really proud of the girls because that is a big game,” Frankfort head coach Kim Root said. “That is the competition that has kept us from advancing in the area. … We’ve always competed well with everybody else in the area, but it’s always been Allegany that shut us out.”
The last time Allegany lost a local game, Root’s father, Rick Twigg, was still coaching the Campers.
Twigg, who now heads the Allegany College softball program, won more than 300 games at Allegany, but nearly six years ago to the day, his Campers were edged 1-0 by Petersburg and eventual Player of the Year Carly Cooper on April 6, 2019.
Cooper went on to a four-year career at George Mason, where she had a 3.44 ERA in 381 innings across 95 appearances.
It took a similar performance from a college-bound hurler to end Allegany’s local reign.
Mangold settled down from a two-hit first inning to retire 10 straight Allegany hitters — eight by strikeout — and the Concord signee gave up two base hits the rest of the way to maintain Frankfort’s 3-0 lead.
The Falcons (8-0) plated three runs in the first inning, the key knock a two-out, two-run single off the center-field fence for Frankfort’s second and third runs.
Frankfort’s first score was pushed across by Mangold with a single.
“They’re a great team, they have a chance at being state champs,” said Allegany head coach Dave Winner, who has coached the Campers to two Maryland Class 1A titles in the past three years.
“We fought the whole game. We had a couple chances where if we had just one hit, it could’ve gotten us back in the game.”
Allegany (6-2) put two runners on base in the sixth inning after a bunt single by Desi Hilton and a one-out walk drawn by Jordyn Sneathen — who spun a complete-game gem of her own in the circle.
Mangold got out of dodge with back-to-back strikeouts, and she retired Allegany in order in the seventh to clinch the victory.
“She’s one of the elite pitchers in this area in the past decade,” Winner said.
The right-hander pumped in fastballs to the mitt of catcher Tayler Likens (Kent State signee), but the control of her off-speed deliveries is what kept Allegany off-balance.
“Everything felt really good,” Mangold said of what was working in the circle Monday. “I threw my curveball well, my change-up well. My catcher Tayler, she keeps me in control, so I have to give all the credit to her. She’s great.”
Mangold’s counterpart Sneathen also went the distance.
The junior right-hander held a potent Frankfort line-up to three runs on eight hits in six innings with seven strikeouts to three walks.
Three Frankfort hitters finished with multiple hits. Likens was 2 for 2, Adison Pritts doubled twice and Morgan Weimer had two singles. Likens, Mangold and Pritts scored runs.
Allegany center fielder Tyiss Jessie — starting in place of four-sport standout Avery Miller, who was held out after tweaking something over the weekend, Winner said — had a defensive highlight.
Jessie threw out a runner trying to go from first-to-third in the sixth inning with a frozen rope in time to third baseman Savannah Walton, who applied the tag.
However, Allegany was unable to ride that momentum into the batters box, and Frankfort continued its perfect start to the season.
Allegany will have a chance to bounce back at No. 3 Northern (3-3) on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Frankfort hosts Southern (3-2) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Root hopes Frankfort’s last two games, a 3-2 win over Northern and a 3-0 victory against the Campers, is a wake-up call for the Falcons, who still haven’t hit their stride at the plate.
“It grounds them a little bit, so they realize there is competition out there,” Root said. “There are people that are going to compete with them.
“It’s only a matter of time before there’s an upset. I’m waiting, hoping, that it doesn’t happen. I do think that there’s going to be a team out there that’s going to hand us a loss, and it’s going to be shocking to us all, but it’s something that we have to be prepared to take.”