Bowie's Sarah Bednarik pitches a perfect game

By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Manager

As the Bowie Lady Bulldogs and Bladensburg Lady Mustangs walked off of the Bowie field Saturday afternoon after a 26-0 win by the Lady Bulldogs in five innings, Bowie head coach Sarah Bible walked up to the umpire and grabbed the game ball from the side pockets that rested on his hips.

The ball re-appeared minutes later in the hands of her senior pitcher Sarah Bednarik, and for good reason.

Bednarik pitched her second-career perfect game in the five-inning effort Saturday, and helped her Lady Bulldogs improve to 8-0 on the season.

"I have only thrown one before," Bednarik said of perfection. " ... It is really exciting to do it my senior year. It's my last year playing, so it's really exciting for me."

"That is great, it is wonderful to throw a perfect game," Bible said. "She did a great job on staying on top of the count, her pitches were working, obviously, but a perfect game takes everybody. ... [Catcher] Mary [Miller] caught a good game and we had good defense in the field when it was hit."

The defense, in fact, was strong behind their pitcher as the Lady Bulldogs handled seven ground balls to assist their pitcher in achieving perfection.

As Bednarik (seven strike outs) had a lively arm, the rest of the Bulldogs had lively bats on the day as the offense totaled five home runs, two of the solo variety --those from Tessa Tolson and Aryn Johnston-- and three separate three-run home runs from Tajah Gloster (first inning), Kiara Washington (second inning), and Skylar McBarnette (third inning).

"I just saw the ball and hit it," Gloster said simply.

"Well, I just had to focus," Washington said. " ... So, I just got up and [was] confident."

"I just saw the ball, and I hit the ball, too," McBarnette said. "And that's all you have to do."

"I think this is one of the best hitting teams I have had," Bible said. "We have a good amount of speed, too, when we hit. We have been stroking the ball pretty well this year, and I hope this continues going into the thicker stretch of our season."

Bladensburg (1-5) was able to put the ball into play from the plate many times with a good amount of contact throughout the contest. However, each of its hits found the gloves of a Bowie player.

"I was pleased that we were getting out bats going," Bladensburg head coach Emma Simson said. "We were not just standing there and watching the ball, so I was pleased that we were making contact. [Bowie] has some nice fielding and they made some pretty nice plays. But, I was glad that my players were at least making them work."

And as for the plans of the ball she received, Bednarik added: "I am going to go home, write the score on it and the date and the game, and I'm going to frame it."

E-Mail: James A. McCray III

Bowie 26, Bladensburg 0
Bladensburg   0 0 0    0 0 -- 0 0 6
Bowie           7 10 7  2 x  -- 26 20 0

WP: Bednarik   LP: Debebe
Extra-base hits: 2B (Bednarik); Home runs (Gloster, Tolson, Washington, McBarnette, Johnston)