MCDONOGH WINS THE AMAZING RACE

by Mike Buchanan
mbuchanan@digitalsports.com

 

(post-game quotes to be added)
 

The IAAM B Conference softball race, something akin to a reality show version of The Amazing Race, finally came to an end on Sunday.  And “voted off” was Notre Dame Prep, leaving McDonogh as the last team standing after a 5-3 win at Harford Community College.

It was a close, hard-fought game played under cool, windy conditions.  Both teams committed just one error, and McDonogh finished with two more hits and two more runs.

Emily Trosch pitched a complete game and helped her own cause with a two-run single in the fifth inning that put the Eagles ahead to stay.

It was a topsy-turvy season in the B this spring, as four different teams took turns in first place.  The top two seeds – Chapelgate Christian and Maryvale Prep - were eliminated in the semi-finals, leaving the 3-seed Blazers and the 4-seed Eagles to battle it out for the title yesterday.

McDonogh and NDP split the season series, but the Eagles came up with the key hits and plays to win the league championship.

The Blazers jumped out to an early lead with single run in the first inning.  Coach Emily Lessner’s squad added another in the second frame as well.  Shannon Zakielarz (SO, 2B) laced a one-out single to center.  A ground-out moved the runner to second, and then Mary Beth Wisniewski came up with a clutch two-out single to right to score the runner and make it a 2-0 game.

McDonogh threatened in the third, putting runners on first and third with nobody out.  NDP Catcher Morgan Stampf came up with an excellent defensive play to save a run.  McDonogh put on a delayed double steal, but Stampf read it correctly.  She faked a throw to second and got the runner on third to commit.  Stampf then rifled a perfect throw to third base to nail the runner before she get back to the bag.

NDP starter Jess Lauenstein had shut down McDonogh for the first three innings, but the Eagles broke through in the top of the fourth with a two-out rally to tie the game.  Sophomore Bailey Kershner singled and then junior catcher Stacy Berg jumped all over a Lauenstein pitch, sending a line shot to the gap in left-center for an RBI double.

Alex Dansicker followed with a single to center.  NDP All-Conference centerfielder Maggie Quinn sent a throw home, but Berg slid in under the tag to score and make it a 2-2 game.

After Trosch retired the Blazers in order in the bottom of the fourth, McDonogh got the bats going again in the fifth.  Kelly Brown drew a lead-off walk, but NDP then came up with another solid defensive play.  Kara Hoppes hit a sharp ground ball to the left side, and NDP shortstop Emily Neil went to her knees to make a back-hand grab and then got the force-out at second.

Lessner decided to make a pitching change, and brought on hard-throwing reliever Mary Beth Wisniewski.  McDonogh’s Anna Dimling was the next batter, and after two failed bunt attempts. Dimling measured a fastball and lined a single to center.  A steal of third put runners on the corners, and then Laurie Richardson drew a walk to load the bases.   Trosch stepped to the plate and got enough of a tough pitch down on the handle of the bat to loft a single to short left-center, scoring two runs.

Wisniewski was able to bear down and get out of the inning by striking out Kershner and Berg, but the damage was done as the Eagles had a two-run lead and the momentum.

NDP got one of the runs back in the home half of the fifth.  Wisniewski hit a fly ball to right that the gusty wind played tricks with, giving her a double.  Christine O’Keefe hit the next pitch to left field, but Dimling made a nice running catch for the second out.  Stampf then lined a clean double down the leftfield line for a double, scoring the runner.

Lauenstein continued the rally with a a single to left-center, putting runners on first and third.  With the tying run sitting on third, McDonogh got a key defensive play.  Quinn, NDP’s best power-hitter, stepped in the box and Trosch tried to reach back for a little extra heat.  In doing so, she uncorked a wild pitch.  But good luck was with the Eagles on this play, as the errant pitch caromed right back to catcher Berg.

The NDP runner broke for the plate, but when Berg came up with the ball so quickly, she was stranded between third and home.  The run-down was a little too nerve-wracking for McDonogh Coach Bridget Collins, but the Eagles finally put the tag on to get the final out.

Both teams went down one-two-three in the sixth.  The Eagles then added an insurance run in the top of the seventh.  Hoppes was hit by a pitch and after Wisniewski got back-to-back strikeouts, Trosch singled to  right.  With Kershner at the plate, Wisniewski uncorked a wild pitch that pushed across McDonogh’s fifth run.  Wisniewski got Berg on strikes to end the inning.

Notre Dame Prep had one final turn at-bat, needing two runs to tie.  Caroline Ladzinski tried to get a rally started with a line shot back through the middle.  But Trosch dove to her right to smother it and threw to first for the out. The junior right-hander got the next two hitters in order to retire the side and seal the win.

Trosch’s  final pitch, in essence, “voted off” the Blazers, and made McDonogh champion of The Amazing Race, with the B Conference title as the prize.

"This team showed great poise in coming back," said Collins after the huge win.  "Trosch really stepped up and got that big hit up the middle.  But we knew we needed more runs; NDP can come back at any time.  On any given day, and team can win in the B this year, that's what makes it so exciting." 

And this one was exciting.

IAAM B Conference Softball Championship