By Mike Buchanan
mbuchanan@digitalsports.com
Seven
teams will compete on Sunday at Harford Community College for the IAAM A and B
and C Conference softball championships.
No,
that’s not a typo. The Mount de
Sales/IND semi-final game was unable to be played on Thursday or Friday or
Saturday due to weather. It is scheduled
– field conditions permitting – to be played on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. The winner will then play later that
afternoon, facing Archbishop Spalding for the A title.
In
between, the B and C title games will be played at 1:00 on adjacent fields.
C Conference
Championship 1:00 p.m.
No. 1 Towson
Catholic (11-0) vs No. 2 St. Paul’s SG (10-1)
The
two teams that met in last year’s finals meet again. Last year St. Paul’s handed Towson Catholic
its lone loss of the regular season; but TC then avenged that loss and won the
C title behind Jess Butler’s no-hit effort.
This
year, TC handed SP its lone loss of the regular season. Both teams ran roughshod through the league,
rarely being challenged. TC averaged 14
runs per game and allowed just 0.9. SP
averaged 13 runs and allowed 2.5 runs. In
their only meeting, Towson Catholic rallied for a late 4-3 win.
Pitching
will be the likely key, and with Butler on the mound the Owls have the
edge. Butler, including non-league
games, went 13-2 with an ERA of 0.78.
She allowed 24 walks and had 216 strikeouts. She gave up 30 hits in 99 innings.
The
Gators will need a strong outing from pitcher Sarah Meil and will have to take
advantage of offensive opportunities.
B Conference
Championship 1:00 p.m.
No. 3 Notre Dame
Prep (10-4) vs No. 4 McDonogh (10-4)
The
two finalists took care of the top two seeds to advance. NDP ousted top seed Chapelgate Christian and
McDonogh eliminated defending champ and 2-seed Maryvale Prep.
This
game is a coin toss. The teams had
identical 10-4 records during the season.
They met twice and split. The Eagles
won the opener, 3-2, on a cold, rainy day in mid March. The Blazers won the next meeting, 6-1, in
early April.
Emily
Trosch will get the start for McDonogh and Jess Lauenstein or Mary Beth
Wisniewski will take the hill for NDP.
A Conference
Championship 3:00 p.m.
No. 1 Archbishop
Spalding (12-0) vs No. 2 Mount de Sales (8-4)/No. 6 IND (3-9)
It
certainly would be hard to bet against the Cavaliers. They are undefeated and the
top-seed. And they will face a team that
will have already played earlier in the morning. Mount de Sales or IND will have to beat two
tough opponents to win the A title – a daunting task.
Even
more daunting is that fact the Sailors or the Indians will have to face the top
pitcher in the league, Elaine Nescio.
She already pitched a one-hit shutout to beat Seton Keough on Thursday
in the other semi-final. And the Cavs have beaten each of the potential
challengers twice during the season. Coach
Paul O’Brien’s Spalding team will be rested and ready to face either opponent.