Lions soak up region victory after long wait

The Class 4A North Region Section I final softball game was postponed for three consecutive days and moved to three different diamonds, but when it was finally played, on an artificial turf field at Mount de Sales High on Saturday, Howard proved to be just as adept in the rain as Justify was winning the Preakness.

Howard (17-5) scored five runs in the bottom of the first and extended the lead with runs in three of the next five innings to emerge with a 10-5 victory.

Senior Katie Unkle went 3-for-3 to lead the Lions.

The Comets (14-5) came into the game having won seven of their previous eight games.

“Our coach says all you can do is swing the bat and just hope you can get a good hit or it gets past the fielders,” said Unkle, whose two-run double extended the lead to 5-2 in the first.

After Shanya Gordon, Julia Colton and Paige Eakes started the inning with walks, Emily Polimeni plated two runs with a single and Lindsey Smith had a single, before Unkle’s booming double.

“I was just really anxious, just waiting for a good pitch,” Unkle said. “I wasn’t anticipating anything because there was three walks before me and I really wasn’t expecting it, but I saw one that I liked and I just went for it,”

The inning ended with a diving catch by Catonsville second baseman Nicole Beautz.

Beautz is the Comets only senior and an All-County second team player.

The five runs erased a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.

Catonsville’s Erin Kreis doubled with one out and Dan’ya Truesdale singled.

Kreis came home on an infield single by sophomore Karly DiDomenico (3-for-4) and Truesdale scored on a sacrifice fly by Deanna Delaney.

In the top of the third, Catonsville cut the lead to 5-4 when freshman Devin Tracey (2-for-4) drove in the Christina Dayhoff, who had singled and Rachel Phillips, who reached first after a dropped third strike.

Tracey played the whole game at catcher despite only playing one inning on varsity after playing for the junior varsity.