Softball: Comets Can't Claw Back Against Perry Hall

Often times in softball it comes down to not how hard you hit the ball, but where you hit it.

An exchange midway through Friday afternoon’s contest between Catonsville and Perry Hall proved not only the truth to that theory, but also how one play can swing momentum in favor of a team.

Trailing 2-1 with one out in the bottom of the fourth, Catonsville appeared to be on the cusp of a rally after nine-hole hitter Carli White laced a ball into the right-centerfield gap for a stand-up double, setting the table for the top of the lineup.

However, leadoff batter Maggie Waters’ frozen rope on the very next pitch landed in the awaiting glove of right fielder Emma Pennington who quickly flung the ball back into the infield to double off White at second.

Rally over.

Perry Hall would take advantage in the very next inning sending eight batters to the plate and tallying three runs capitalized by Brittany Kinnear’s two-run, bloop single to left that fell just in front of White’s outstretched glove. 

Ahead 5-1, Gators’ starting pitcher Emily Briedenbaguh would have all the run support she’d need as the Comets scratched back for a run apiece in the fifth and sixth frames, but couldn’t string enough hits together to avoid a hard fought defeat, 5-3.

“The big play was in right field,” said Catonsville coach Billy Nelson, whose squad fell to the Gators 4-3, earlier this season. “We got doubled up on that play, but that easily could’ve dropped, could’ve been a run in and a double out of it. A matter of inches. Then they get a bloop single down the left field line that barely gets out of the dirt. Matter of inches there.

“We are good enough to win both of those games, it’s just a matter of inches and both times they pitched a very good game.”  

For Perry Hall (10-2), Briedenbaugh scattered nine hits while walking two, but was able to capture the big out when she needed to, stranding base runners in the fifth and sixth innings before setting down the Comets heart of the order in the bottom of the seventh. 

Briedenbaugh, who also fielded her position well all game, came up big to begin the final inning by snaring a shot up the middle by Brittany Kolbe for the first out before retiring four and five hitters Shelby Alther and Katie Morsberger, also on groundouts. 

“She worked very hard,” Perry Hall coach Brian Radcliffe said. “She has really come on the second half of the season. She started last year but she just didn’t have the instinct to put people away and today she showed it.”

 Despite solid efforts from Waters and No. 2 hitter Lisa Meyd, who combined to go 5 for 6 and each scored a run, Catonsville (8-5) couldn’t get enough production from the rest of their lineup (which totaled just four hits on the day) to mount a comeback.

However, had it not been for a few dazzling defensive plays—including Alther’s sprawled out dive to take away a hit at first base in the fourth inning and second baseman Gabby Eckstein’s reaching snag of a liner with runners on second and third to hold Perry Hall to just three runs in the top of the fifth—Catonsville may not have even been in a position to threaten the Gators late in the game.   

“Bill has a very fundamentally sound team that worked hard on every pitch,” Radcliffe said of the Comets defense. “We tried to bust it open and they wouldn’t allow us.”

The pitching tandem of Eckstein and Morsberger pitched admirably for Catonsville, allowing only four earned runs on eight hits, but the three-run top of the fifth proved to be the difference.

Morsberger, who relieved Eckstein in the top of the fourth, allowed just one hit over three innings—excluding the decisive fifth inning.

BOX SCORE

Perry Hall 5, Catonsville 3

PH 011 030 0----5 8 1

C    001 101 0----3 9 2

Pitching                               IP            R             H             BB           K

PH

Briedenbaugh (W)           7              3              9              2              7

C

Eckstein (L)                         3              2              4              1              1

Morsberger                        4              3              4              1              4

Batting

RBI: PH-Kinnear 3, Schmid, Briedenbaugh.

           C-Alther, Waters.

2B: PH-Salvo.

       C-White.