Back on Track: After Season's First Loss, Lansdowne Responds at Towson

After suffering its first loss of the season last week against Eastern Tech, Lansdowne wasted very little time washing the bitter taste out of its mouth—at the expense of the Towson Generals.

The Vikings tallied 18 runs between the second and fourth innings and junior pitcher Maude McCourry narrowly missed out on tossing a no hitter as the host Generals were blown away, 20-0, in five innings via the 10-run mercy rule.

McCourry who also went 2 for 2 at the plate with a double, triple and two sacrifice flies, fanned 12 Towson batters over an impressive five innings of work, losing her no-hit bid with one away in the fourth when Jessica Steinbacher legged out a soft grounder between short and third. 

The infield single would be the only blemish for McCourry, who faced just one over the minimum and actually struck out the first eight batters she faced.

“She’s by the far the best pitcher we’ve seen all year,” said Towson coach Lindsay Dugobich, whose young squad falls to 3-6 on the year. “The hardest thrower and she she had a lot of pitches. She was the fastest and most accurate we’ve seen.”  

Offensively, Lansdowne (10-1) shared the wealth when it came to batting runs in. Eight Vikings had at least one RBI and seven drove in at least two, with McCourry and Kelsey Welsh leading the charge with three apiece.

Welsh actually plated all three of her runs on one swing with the sacks full, clearing the bases with a towering double to deep center and coming into score herself after a throwing error to make the score 17-0 to begin a six-run fourth inning.

The Vikings scored six runs apiece in the second and third innings as well. Although, had shortstop Carrie Shrewsbury not robbed Lansdowne’s Hunter Long of a base hit with a difficult, over-the-shoulder snag in shallow left field, the second inning would have been even more damaging for the Generals.

However, Towson had no defense for McCourry on the mound, who allowed just one ball out of the infield and four balls to be put in play all game.

For Lansdowne, today’s game opened a stretch of four consecutive road games with the Vikings needing wins in each to clinch the division and a spot in the county championship game.

However, the Vikings and McCourry are just happy to be back in the winning mindset.

“It boosted our confidence up, made us feel better about ourselves,” McCourry said. “[Eastern Tech] was a game we thought we should’ve won. It brought us down a little bit, but we’re good now.”

BOX SCORE

Lansdowne 20, Towson 0, 5 innings

L 166 61----20 13 0

T 000 00----0 1 3

Pitching

Lansdowne                         IP            R             H             BB           K

McCourry (W)                   5              0              1              0              12

Towson

Steinbacher (L)                 4              19           10           8              1

Scarff                                    1              1              3              0              1

Batting

RBI: L- Mau. McCourrey 3, Welsh 3, Pease 2, Mar. McCourrey 2, Stull 2, Lohmeyer 2, Wolford 2, Dreschler.

2B: L- Mau. McCourrey, Mar. McCourrey, Welsh.

3B: L- Mau. McCourrey.