John Carroll wins IAAM A softball semifinal
Holds off late Catholic rally, advances to meet Spalding
When the season began, John Carroll made it a goal to reach the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference softball championship. On Thursday afternoon, the Patriots accomplished that goal, but visiting Catholic made them sweat it out to achieve it.
The Patriots entered the top of the seventh inning with a six-run lead but saw the Cubs come back with five runs of their own to record a narrow 6-5 in the league semifinals.
Second-seed John Carroll (15-3) was led by Sophie Anderson, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, and Ryan Pindell, who had a double in the third inning that scored two runs. Catholic (12-7) was led by pitcher Ally McBride, whose grand slam caused all the sweat.
The Patriots move on to face Archbishop Spalding in the IAAM A Conference championship game at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie. The teams split two games during the regular season.
One of things that got the Patriots going was their base stealing. John Carroll stole six bases in timely situations and offensively seemed to be a step ahead of the Cubs.
The Patriots showed their pedigree right from the start, as Anderson singled to score Mykaela Getz to give John Carroll the lead. Getz got on base when she was hit by a pitch and stole second and third. McBride doubled the lead in the next at-bat when her sacrifice fly scored Anderson.
The Patriots added three more in the bottom of the third. After leadoff base hits by Savannah Claycomb and Getz put runners on first and third with no one out, John Carrol got another run when a passed ball let Claycomb score. Later in the inning, Pindell doubled to center field to score Getz and Anderson for a 5-0 lead after the third.
“She threw it right where I wanted it,” Pindell said. “She threw me a screwball and I love screwballs.”
John Carroll added another run in the fifth when a sacrifice fly to left field by Kallissa Coats scored Anderson for a 6-0 lead, and it appeared Catholic was done. Well, not so fast.
John Carroll starter Julia Wilkes began to tire in the seventh and Catholic took advantage. The Cubs got singles by Abby Thompson and Gabrille Gray, as well as a walk to Jenna Keener to load the bases with one out. A single by Kaylee Castle scored Keener to cut the deficit to 6-1, advancing each runner and leaving the bases loaded.
After a pop out by Ava Simpson for the second out, McBride deposited a pitch over the tall left-centerfield wall for a grand slam to cut the margin to 6-5.
That’s as close as the Cubs would come, as Wilkes got a popout to end the game.
“I think we probably took them a little more lightly than we should,” Anderson said. “We just kept tacking on runs throughout the innings, but slowly we just kind of let it go. We needed to realize that they weren’t done.”
“We gave it a good shot,” said Catholic coach Derrick Adams, whose team moved up to the A Conference this year after winning the B Conference title last season. “We made some uncharacteristic plays. If we make those plays, we’re right in the game. We let them know we were here today, though, and I’m proud of our team.”
Other softball scores
Catonsville 11, Parkville 1: Catonsville sophomore Amy Montgomery-Snoke pitched a no-hitter in her first varsity playoff appearance to lead the host Comets to an 11-1, five-inning victory over Parkville in the Class 4A North Region I softball quarterfinals.
The right-hander allowed seven base runners on three walks, two hit batters and two errors, but wriggled out of jams in the second, third and seventh innings. The only run she allowed came after two walks, a wild pitch and RBI groundout by Nex Vaughn that scored Moe Matthews in the seventh.
Montgomery-Snoke didn’t recall the last time she threw a no-hitter.
“Probably like when I was very little, but not recently,” said Montgomery-Snoke, who was undaunted by the playoff pressure. “I feel like when I’m nervous, I don’t do well. I relax and focus and my teammates have my back. I think our defense is really solid, and when we have two outs I feel like there is no chance of scoring.”
At the plate, Abby Grimes (2-for-2, two walks) and Abby Mitchell (2-for-2, 3 RBIs) led third-seeded Catonsville (12-6), which advances to play at second-seeded Dulaney in the regional semifinals Monday.
— Craig Clary
Perryville 2, Havre de Grace 1
North Harford 9, Elkton 4
Mt. Hebron 5, Howard 2
Arundel 6, Chesapeake 2
Crofton 17, JM Bennett 0
South River 14, Annapolis 2
Archbishop Spalding 13, Mount de Sales 1 Westminster 5, Centennial 4
Baseball
Atholton 8, Wilde Lake 4: Atholton is at its best when it’s aggressive on the base paths. Leading by a run in the bottom of the fifth inning of Thursday’s Class 3A East Region II quarterfinal against Wilde Lake, the Raiders leaned on that aggressiveness to extend their advantage.
Andrew Huntley intentionally worked his way into a rundown between first and second base. Camryn Williams crept farther off third base, waited for his moment, then sprinted home for the first of three fifth-inning runs. The fourth-seeded Raiders raced away from the No. 5 Wildecats for an 8-4 win, setting up a semifinal at top-seeded River Hill on Saturday.
“Me and Coach were talking about it right before it happened,” Williams said. “Coach was saying, ‘Watch, watch, watch, you have enough speed to get there, but just watch.’ The moment I saw him throw that ball to second base, I broke home and let it all loose.”
— Jacob Steinberg
Hereford 7, Lansdowne 6 Manchester Valley 8, Mt. Hebron 7 Francis Scott Key 9, Loch Raven 1 North Harford 5, Rising Sun 4 Patterson Mill 10, Joppatowne 0 Aberdeen 10, Edgewood 0 Chesapeake-AA 2, Northeast-AA 1 South River 11, North Point 9
Key 7, Park 4
Old Mill 11, Meade 0
Boys lacrosse
Broadneck 20, Annapolis 2 Glen Burnie 13, Meade 0
Girls lacrosse
Westminster 14, Howard 11
Bel Air 17, Edgewood 0
Fellowship of Christian Athletes 19, Tome School 8
Track and field
Carroll County championships: Manchester Valley boys and Westminster girls prevailed Thursday, taking home this year’s Carroll County outdoor track and field championships.
For the Mavericks, the win marks back-toback outdoor team championships.
It was an amazing day for Manchester Valley’s Logan Haines and Kai Chwang, as both were members of the winning 4x100 and 4x200 meter relay teams. Haines also earned first place in the 100 and 200, while*
Chwang won the 300-meter hurdles.
On the girls’ side, it was the Owls taking home the championship, ending a two-year Century run. Hannah Toth was her normal dominant self, taking home first place in the 1,600 and 3,200. She wasn’t alone Thursday night as Nylah Craig and Sarah Gassman each won events to carry Westminster to the title.
Gassman had a great day both on the track and in the field, taking first in the 300 hurdles and the pole vault.
— Timothy Dashiell
Anne Arundel County championships:
Severna Park track and field coach Josh Alcombright had to miss the county championships because he was out of town for personal reasons. Fortunately, Alcombright’s work comes before the meet in terms of training the athletes and organizing the lineup to maximize points.
It all came together wonderfully for Severna Park, which swept the Anne Arundel County outdoor championships, which it hosted Wednesday and Thursday.
Jumper Kian Williams led the way as the Severna Park boys piled up 111 points, 11 better than runner-up Broadneck. Distance runner Lexi Ensor and thrower Jillian Zukley combined to score 40 of 119 points for the Falcons girls, who beat the Bruins by 12 points.
Williams clinched the team title by winning the triple jump, the last event completed. He previously won the high jump at a height of 6 feet, 4 inches despite having just one week to learn the event.
Ensor captured county crowns in both the 1,600- and 800-meter runs, while Zukley was champion in the shot put and discus.
Zukley won the shot put with a throw of 97-7 and the shot put with a toss of 36-01 Cameron Glebocki was county champ in the 3,200, while Sallie Honeywell took the title in the 300 hurdles for the Severna Park girls. The Falcons were also victorious in the 4x800 relay.
Liam Hagerty was the only other individual champ for the Severna Park boys, winning the mile in 4:23.33. However, the Falcons had top three finishers in four other individual events and were runner-up in the 4x800.
Meade junior Kayvawn Simms-Rogers earned the title of fastest sprinter in Anne Arundel County after capturing county championships in both the 100 and 200 dash. Simms-Rogers set a personal record in winning the 200 in 22.12 seconds. Earlier on Thursday he won the 100 in 11.10.