N. County continues dominant streak
They take down 2nd-seed Howard 10-0 in five innings
It didn’t matter that Bella Coates tripped over third base — nothing could ruin her joy in that moment.
She crossed the plate and crashed into the arms of her North County teammates after her three-run home run sailed over the fence and put an immediate end to a 10-0 victory.
The top-seeded Knights, with the five-inning win over No. 2 seed Howard Saturday afternoon, captured their first regional title since 2005 when they won their fourth state title in six years. North County (14-0), as one of three undefeated teams playing for region titles, will be seeded first, second or third and host a Class 4A quarterfinal game on Monday.
“We have the biggest field, so to hit it out of our field? It’s a shot,” North County coach Kelly Guarnieri said. “She got all of that one. I was so just so excited for her.”
The Knights have yet to play a close game in the playoffs. They cruised past Old Mill in familiar fashion on Wednesday, and that’s just what you have to do in the playoffs, winning pitcher Breanna Clayton said.
“Feels good to go far, to keep winning, to keep the momentum from fast games,” said
Coates, who went 3-for-4.
The Knights will keep the plaque recognizing their accomplishment in their dugout, for good luck to come as they head to the state quarterfinals. To them, though, it doesn’t matter who they get in the next round.
As long as North County fulfills its daily goals of improvement, the last Anne Arundel team in Class 4A feels it’ll be alright.
“It feels so good. These girls have worked every day, and even at this point in the season, we’re still getting better every day,” Guarnieri said. “That’s our goal. So I think we’re better today than we were yesterday than we were on Wednesday.”
Howard coach Chuck Rice believes his team, regardless of the outcome, “did wonders” despite the unusual spring season.
“This is our first loss since the third game of the season. We went through a majority of the season with only a handful of practices because we were playing every day,” the Lions coach said. “So we fought really, really hard. You can’t change that.”
Clayton knew she had to pitch well from the start. She tried to clear the pressure of a potential state quarterfinal berth from her mind.
“Everyone’s telling us [Howard pitcher