Spalding moves one win from 2nd straight MIAA A Conference title
Scratch across runs and lean on fine pitching and defense.
It’s a recipe that has defending Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champion Spalding baseball one win away from a second straight crown.
In the winner’s bracket game against visiting No. 4 Calvert Hall on Wednesday, the No. 2 Cavaliers put the ball in play, dropped down bunts and manufactured just enough runs for starter Cody Sharman and reliever Nathan Wines in claiming a 4-3 win.
With their second straight playoff victory in the double-elimination tournament — they opened with a 7-4 win over John Carroll — the Cavaliers advance to Sunday’s championship round. Calvert Hall dropped its first playoff game and will host John Carroll — a 10-0 winner over Archbishop Curley in Wednesday’s loser’s bracket game — at 4 p.m. Friday.
The winner meets Spalding on Sunday with game time set for 5 p.m. at Joe Cannon Stadium. The Cavaliers will have two chances at the title with the if-necessary second game set for Monday at Joe Cannon.
On Wednesday, the Cavaliers got six-plus innings from Sharman, who allowed two runs and finished with eight strikeouts; a 3-for-3 performance from shortstop Carver Salazar to key their 11-hit attack; and a poised seventh inning from Wines to earn the save.
“We know who we are. We’re not going to bang too many home runs, so the guys are buying into the small ball and playing for three to five runs knowing that we’re going to win most of our games if we can get to around those numbers with our pitching,” Spalding coach Joe Palumbo said.
Other baseball scores Gerstell 6, St. Paul’s 5 Key 12, Beth Tfiloh 2, 5 innings Softball
Glen Burnie 16, Old Mill 1: For a team that entered the postseason with a 6-13 record, a region championship was certainly not promised. But coach Dave Sauble told his Gophers that if they played up to their potential, they could do it.
Glen Burnie answered its coach’s call. The fourth-seeded Gophers steamrolled third-seeded Old Mill, 16-1, on the Patriots’ grounds, earning their first Class 4A East Region I title since their state championship run in 2019. Every 4A championship since has included a team from this region.
— Katherine Fominykh
Francis Scott Key 11, Liberty 10, 11 innings: Seven innings couldn’t decide the Class 1A North Region I championship, leading to an 11-inning slugfest with the top-seeded and county champion Eagles and No. 3 Lions fighting for a spot in the state quarterfinals.
In the end, Piper Beahm’s 11th inning walk-off single ended the marathon, as F.S.
Key defeated Liberty to become regional champions.
— Timothy Dashiell
Manchester Valley 10, Marriotts Ridge 0:
Makenna Deane pitched a five-hit shutout and recorded seven strikeouts to lead host Manchester Valley over Marriotts Ridge in the Class 3A East Region I championship. She also contributed two of the Mavericks’ seven hits and an RBI at the plate.
The Mavericks will wait for the state to reseed the teams to find out who and where they will play in the state quarterfinals on either Friday or Saturday.
Brooke Sims led Manchester Valley at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two singles and plating four RBIs in the win.
— Mike Frainie, For Baltimore Sun Media
The top-ranked Gators secured a six-inning win over No. 11 Wilde Lake in the Class 3A East Region II final, avenging last year’s regional final loss to the second-seeded Wildecats.
Reservoir advances to the 3A state quarterfinals, where the eight region champions will be reseeded based on regular-season record.
The Gators jumped out to an early fourrun lead, but Wilde Lake responded in the top of the fourth on Justyce Richard’s two-run home run to deep left field. However, Reservoir didn’t flinch and immediately answered with a sixth-run bottom half.
Abbie and Maggie Frisvold each drove in a pair of runs to help spark the rally.
Reservoir 12, Wilde Lake 2, 6 innings:
— Jacob Steinberg
Patterson Mill 7, Perryville 1: The Huskies were firing on all cylinders offensively, defensively and in the circle as they beat Perryville to win the 1A South Region I title, the program’s third straight regional championship.
Lily Baldwin scattered 10 hits over seven innings, allowing just one run on a fielder’s choice in the sixth.
The biggest hit of the day came in the second when Ella Laurentius led off the inning by launching a rocket that didn’t need the wind’s help to clear the right-center field fence. Patterson Mill collected 12 hits, with eight of the nine batters in the lineup getting at least one.
— Anthony Maluso
Dulaney 10, Perry Hall 0
Northeast 4, Century 1
Carver A&T 2, Hereford 1
Broadneck 8, Leonardtown 7, 8 innings
Boys lacrosse
Mt. Hebron 10, Catsonville 5: Mt. Hebron junior Keegan Ryan scored a career-high six goals and added two assists to lead the fifthseeded Vikings over fourth-seeded host Catonsville in the Class 3A state quarterfinals.
Ryan did most of his damage in the first half when he scored four goals and had both of his assists when the Vikings (12-5) built a 7-2 lead.
Nate Wess scored an unassisted goal early in the second quarter to cut into the lead, but the Comets didn’t score again until early in the fourth quarter against a Viking defense led by long sticks Zach Goodwin, Daniel Harrington, Stephen Sine and Alden Hauf and sophomore goalie Luca LeClaire.
— Craig Clary
Fallston 10, Southern-AA 5: Patrick Mull didn’t need much bulletin board material ahead of No. 4 seed Fallston’s state quarterfinal matchup with No. 5 Southern, the team that downed the Cougars in the Class 1A state final a year ago.
Landon Mills saved 14 shots, and Ian Swartzendruber’s hat trick led the offense for Fallston. Lucas Hurlburt, Quinn McLaughlin and Greg Hoer each contributed two goals apiece.
— Sam Cohn
Broadneck 24, Laurel 1 Severna Park 8, Towson 5
Girls lacrosse
Towson 13, Catonsville 4: The host No. 11 Generals got three goals and three assists from senior Avery Briggs and a stellar all-around effort on defense in a win over Catonsville in the Class 3A state quarterfinals to advance to the semifinal round for the first time since 2008.
After falling each of the past two years in the state quarterfinals, last year to Marriotts Ridge and in 2021 to C. Milton Wright, the Generals advance to the Class 3A state semifinals against Linganore, a 15-9 winner over Northern (Calvert). The game will take place either Friday or Saturday at a location to be determined.
Towson (14-1), whose lone loss came by one goal to defending Class 4A state champion Broadneck, is seeking its second-ever state title and first since 1997.
— Rich Scherr, For Baltimore Sun Media
Fallston 21, Southern-AA 18: Fallston thrives in adverse situations, and there were plenty of them in its win over the Bulldogs in a Class 1A state quarterfinal.
No. 6 seed Southern jumped out to a 4-1 lead but No. 3 seed Fallston responded with three goals to even the score. Later, four in a row from the Bulldogs to go up 10-8 gave way to a 4-1 run from the Cougars.
Ava Lambros, Ally Shromsky and Ayla Galloway netted four goals apiece for Fallston, which gained its final lead, 14-13, midway through the second half.
— Sam Cohn
North County 20, Eleanor Roosevelt 3 Broadneck 12, Urbana 6
Westminster 19, Damascus 6