Key keeps grip on MIAA C Conference title
Obezags rout Concordia Prep to claim 2nd straight crown
Before their winner-take-all Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference championship game Monday, the members of the Key baseball team walked into their locker room at Joe Cannon Stadium and started to dance. It was an effort to reclaim their identity.
The boys who lost in 12 innings Sunday might’ve had their uniforms and names, but they weren’t the Obezags. Weak pop flies, fielding errors, and the inability to drive in runs weren’t common Key traits, nor was the pitching that gave up 11 runs — including eight in the 12th inning — to Concordia Prep. The silent, motionless dugout that watched it all certainly wasn’t them.
The difference became even clearer when the true Key baseball team returned Monday afternoon. Its offense crushed pitches and its pitching was lights-out as the Obezags beat Concordia Prep, 13-2, in five innings to win their second straight MIAA C Conference crown.
That, the team hugging each other on the diamond and hoisting a plaque, was Key.
“We wanted to have fun today. Yesterday, we had no fun,” senior Lachlan Armstrong said. “Nobody was nervous today. Everybody was loose, having fun, and the score certainly reflects that.”
The back-to-back titles, only the program’s third overall, were something coach Gary Gallant set into motion years before. He knew many of his current players from rec ball and recruited the rest.
“A low-key mastermind,” Armstrong, who had two hits and three RBIs Monday, called him.
“The program had a big question mark about our class. We all knew we had talent, but could we actually capitalize on it?” said senior catcher Colin MacNabb, who drove in three runs. “And through everyone’s hard work, we did.”
The Obezags shook off their canceled freshman year by working through the offseason. They earned the No. 1 seed in 2021 but were upset in the semifinals. In 2022, they unseated the defending champion Saints in blowout fashion. But that wouldn’t be enough.
“The idea that we can go out with a win, with those six seniors — my son being one of them — means the world to me,” Gallant said. “Probably one of the highlights of my life.”
Monday, Gallant asked his players to remember that work, as well as the time when they were little kids, just playing baseball for the joy. That’s just what the Obezags did, right up to the second out of the fifth inning.
Key (19-4) used four pitchers Sunday and the team worried it would be a six-man effort on the mound Monday. Junior Chris Williams gave up two runs in the first inning, but only allowed one hit the rest of the way. The junior struck out three in five innings, including the final batter of the game.
“Once I saw we had two outs and two strikes, I tried to get everybody going,” MacNabb said. “Because I trusted Chris.”
Gallant added: “We’re working on Chris for the future. Today, he showed what all
that hard work can really do.”
Sunday, Key left runners stranded in almost each of the 12-inning disappointment. Monday, it took one pitch into the top of the second for the true Obezags to come out.
Senior Sean Boomer blasted the first pitch he saw from Saints starter Nate Dooling. The bottom of the order — Williams, Angus Lunt-Woodward (2 RBIs) and Erhan Ortiz — set up the party with singles, doubles, sacrifice flies and, most importantly, RBIs, so by the time leadoff hitter Jack Gallant returned to the plate, the game was already tied at 2.
MacNabb flipped the lead for good, drilling a pitch to left field to score Ortiz and Gallant. Then, Armand Ortiz, who never found his groove on the mound in Sunday’s loss, strolled up.
“I just thought, whatever happened yesterday had to be flushed. It’s in the past; I couldn’t make up for those calls. Today’s a new day, a day at the beach,” he said. “Have a calm, collected mindset.”
Armand Ortiz’s single in the second extended Key’s lead to 5-2. In the third, he hit a ground ball through the hole to left field and scored his younger brother for Key’s 10th run.
“We really found the holes today, and when we didn’t, we hit hard, right at them, forced them to make the play,” Armstrong said.
No play could be made in Armstrong’s
final high school at-bat. He sent reliever Jordan Mentzell’s fourth pitch 340 feet and over the left field wall for the final two runs.
“That’s a great way to end my career,” Armstrong said with a grin.
With six errors and countless more mistakes, Concordia Prep’s dynamic defense that earned them Sunday’s win was gone.
After two Concordia Prep runs scored in the bottom of the first, the Saints angled for more. Jake Brintnall pelted a grounder at Kamins, who met Lunt Woodward at second for the out then threw to Armstrong at first base for a double play.
“It really settled everybody. We realized, we’re still that team,” MacNabb said. “We got this.”
McDonogh beats Gerstell for B Conference title
McDonogh baseball was swept by Gerstell in the regular season. However, the Eagles flipped the script when it mattered most, beating the Falcons twice in two days to win the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship.
Devin Pal pitched the Eagles to the championship, outdueling Gerstell’s Travis Smith in a 2-0 McDonogh victory Monday. Pal threw a five-hit shutout, striking out only one batter but not walking any. Monday’s win follows a 5-1 McDonogh win Sunday that forced a winner-take-all game in the
double-elimination tournament.
Gerstell previously beat McDonogh by 7-5 on April 3 and 10-0 on May 8.
Smith allowed just four hits and struck out eight, but four walks proved costly and McDonogh (18-11) got its hits at the biggest moments.
In the bottom of the first, Dylan Liedy drew a two-out walk and was driven in on Billy Moore’s double. It was the game’s only extra-base hit. The score remained 1-0 into the bottom of the fifth. Three walks loaded the bases and Liedy singled in McDonogh’s second run.
Gerstell (19-4) had its best chance to score in the seventh. Jack Bruffey singled with two outs and Hayden Pittler reached on an error. But Pal got Aaron Hammond to ground out to end the game and give McDonogh the championship.
Gerstell was on a 13-game winning streak and won 18 of 19 games before Sunday’s loss. The Falcons won the B Conference Red Division regular-season title with a 15-1 conference record. McDonogh was second in the division, going 12-4 in the conference. The Eagles lost their second-round tournament game to Black Division champion St. Paul, 6-4, on May 15. They won three games in four days, including avenging the loss to St. Paul with an 8-5 victory Friday, to set up the series with Gerstell.