Colleen Carty smashes her second bases-loaded, bases-clearing double in the fourth inning.
Colleen Carty said she couldn't remember whether she pitched a no-hitter this season. She won't forget Sunday's, however.
By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.comIf there was a year that O’Connell was supposed to finally take a rest from winning the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament championship, this was supposed to be it.
The Knights returned just three seniors, saw their 121-game regular-season WCAC win streak snapped and entered the WCAC tournament as the No. 2 seed.
But not only did O’Connell prove it was yet again the best team in the WCAC, it proved it convincingly, defeating top-seeded Paul VI 8-0 behind a perfect game and six RBIs by senior pitcher Colleen Carty Sunday at Catholic University.
“I think we always were a powerhouse,” Carty said. “I think it just took us a little while for the nerves to settle down and everyone to realize what they can do.”
It is O’Connell’s fifth straight WCAC tournament title and with the win the Knights reached the 20-win mark for the 16th straight year. The Knights had split with Paul VI during the season as the Panthers ended O’Connell’s win streak on April 10 and O’Connell came back to win on May 1.
“It was probably the most special year for me because this is my fourth year wining WCACs,” Carty said. “It was hard without those seniors. We had our doubts when the streak ended, but I knew this was going to happen. When we need to play like this, we do.”
Carty said she couldn’t remember whether she pitched a no-hitter or perfect game this season, but as she clutched the game ball afterwards, she knew this would be the most special memory of all.
Carty single-handily took over the game from the time she stepped onto the rubber. She struck out nine batters while not allowing a single runner to reach base and also provided the Knights with all the offense the Knights would need, pummeling a bases-loaded doubles in the third and fourth innings to bring in three runs each time. The first blast scooted by Paul VI’s left fielder and the second was a shot to the gap in right centerfield.
"She had the game of her life," Paul VI Coach E.J. Thomas said of Carty. "And that was it."
O’Connell scored its other two runs on an RBI double by Sophie Giaquinto immediatedly following Carty’s third-inning double and a bases-loaded walk of Metcalf in the fourth inning. Both innings were set up by senior Kelly Miller, who drew a walk to lead off the third and laced a one-out single to jumpstart the fourth.
“This is the best game she’s ever pitched,” senior Devon Metcalf said of Carty.
“We were worried [this season]. We knew we were going to have a young,
inexperienced team. But when it meant the most the people came through.”
The Knights hit their stride in the playoffs, outscoring Holy Cross, St. Mary’s Ryken and Paul VI by a combined score of 21-0.
But no matter, what anybody else did, Carty’s performance was unforgettable. After the final out, a strikeout, O’Connell coach Tom Orndorff told everyone within hearing distance that Carty had just completed a perfect game, including the umpires. He hugged Carty and told her just how unbelievable her feat was as the other girls let out a collective, “awww.”
“I could not imagine this,” Carty said. “I hoped and dreamed it would happen last night but I did not think it was going to. … I knew when I could get to that seventh inning that it was over and I could get the perfect game.”