Chesapeake Trounces Flowers, Heads to State Championship

Led by a lights-out pitching performance from junior Crystal White, the softball team defeated Prince George's County foe C.H. Flowers 8-0 Tuesday night and will advance to the state championship game.

White pitched six shutout innings and only surrendered two hits in the outing as Chesapeake (20-5) defeated the Flowers Jaguars (17-3) at the Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie. 

“I have been doing pretty good pitching lately so I had a little bit of extra confidence, which helped a lot,” White said. “I just went out there thinking that we could win the game.”

After a scoreless first inning, Chesapeake left fielder Olivia Ravadge walked and stole second. Right fielder Erin Van Dyke came to the plate with two outs and hit a single up the middle, which scored Ravadge as the Cougars took a 1-0 lead, and never looked back.

Van Dyke scored on the next at bat, when Amber Warner crushed a ball to centerfield for a triple, giving Chesapeake a 2-0 lead.

“I get really nervous, so I felt like I was under a lot of pressure, but I think I do better like that and I just tried to relax and hit the ball,” Van Dyke said.

Chesapeake played an aggressive game on the base paths. The Cougars recorded six stolen bases on the night and consistently took advantage of Flowers' defensive miscues.

After a homerun from Ravadge in the third to give Chesapeake a 3-0 lead, Jackie Richards hit a pop-up in between the Flowers shortstop and third baseman. The Flowers infielders dropped the ball allowing Richards to reach first. In the confusion of who would pick up the dropped ball, Richards advanced to second.

“We were hoping to put pressure on Flowers by seeing if we could take advantage of a couple of things,” said Chesapeake coach Don Ellenberger. “We have tried a couple of things all year and I thought we would have an opportunity today to maybe get an extra base and make them make a good throw.”

After a dominate performance from White through six innings, Chesapeake brought in their freshman closer Emily Muller. Muller finished things off for the Cougars as they earned their 17th straight victory and a spot in the state championship game.

“It’s exciting,” said White. “I never thought that we would come this far and the team is just playing awesome.”

Chesapeake will play in the Maryland State Finals against an undefeated Sherwood High School (20-0) Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Stick with Patch for complete coverage of the Cougars' state championship game.

This article has been updated to correct the spelling of a name. Patch regrets the error.