Northwest's Miller, Schenkel Combine for Playoff No-Hitter

After throwing a no-hitter against Bethesda-Chevy Chase during her first pitching start of the season on March 28, Northwest sophomore Stephanie Miller revealed she was “really nervous” while experiencing control problems against the Barons.

On Thursday, Miller started in the circle against B-CC during a 4A West Region opening round playoff game at Cedar Creek Park. Gone were the nerves and control issues she experienced in Bethesda 45 days earlier.

A rattled-and-wild Miller was good enough to no-hit B-CC. A confident-and-on-target Miller was nearly perfect.

Miller allowed just one walk in four innings and combined with freshman Lily Schenkel to no-hit the Barons as the No. 8 Northwest softball team defeated No. 9 B-CC 13-0 in five innings. The Jaguars (10-7) will travel to face No. 1 Sherwood on Monday.

B-CC’s third hitter, Kira Rosenstiel, worked the count full against Miller in the top of the first inning before drawing a base on balls. Rosenstiel was the only Baron to reach base against Miller and Schenkel. Miller earned the victory, striking out six in four innings.

“My nerves calmed down,” Miller said. “Just being comfortable in the circle and the defense behind me probably helped a lot.”

In her first outing against B-CC, the right-hander threw 40 of 78 pitches for strikes (51 percent), tossed a first-pitch strike to eight of 19 batters faced, walked five and hit one batter in five innings. On Thursday, Miller threw 36 of 57 pitches for strikes (63 percent), delivered a first-pitch strike to 10 of 13 batters faced and walked one in four innings.

Schenkel came in to pitch the fifth inning --- a move that allowed the freshman to get some work prior to the quarterfinals but cost Miller the chance at a second no-hitter. Head coach Kevin Corpuz said Miller is “such a team player,” and the sophomore said she was unaware she had a no-hitter going when she moved to shortstop in the fifth.

Miller’s March no-hitter was the program’s first since 2001.

“She did some good things back [during her March no-hitter], but she was lights out here today,” Corpuz said. “The noticeable difference is her body language. Today, she was out there and she seemed a lot more confident and sure of herself. She came out and she had confidence from the start, she was throwing strikes. When she missed on her strikes she was able to go ahead and correct and make the adjustment and find the strike zone. It was a big difference. Even though she threw the no-hitter last game, [she had] a lot of walks. [Today], she had one walk and it was a full count at that.”

The Jaguars failed to score in the first two innings and had difficulty adjusting to the slower velocity of the soft-tossing B-CC pitcher. After a slow start, Northwest scored seven runs in the third, including a two-run double by Anne Harris and a two-run single from Emily Forst.

Northwest added six runs in the fourth.

Miller, Taylor Simpson and Kassie Nantz each had two hits for Northwest, and Jordan Sheppard, Forst, Paige Callahan and Harris each had one. Miller, Forst, Simpson and Harris each had two RBIs, and Sheppard, Erica Chopas, Schenkel and Nantz each had one.

Nantz, a slap hitter, finished 2 for 2 with two runs scored and an RBI.

“She actually read the defense well, too, and that was awesome,” Corpuz said. “We talked to her about that, too. She was able to really see what the defense was giving her and she went ahead and that first at bat she slapped the ball hard [to the left side of the infield]. The shortstop was staying back and [Nantz has] got some wheels. She can put the ball in play and use her speed to her advantage and get down that baseline. That’s good technique right there, that’s just the way you draw it up. … She’s been working hard all season to kind of get this technique down and so it was good to see her go out there and execute it flawlessly.”

Thursday’s game also gave the Northwest seniors a chance to remember their (likely) final home game as a win, rather than their senior night loss to Seneca Valley on May 5.

“It was great,” Nantz said, “because I’m glad that we had another chance to show a team what we are really made of.”

Forst shared similar feelings.

“Being a senior, thinking [the Seneca Valley loss] was the last home game ever was really upsetting,” she said. “Knowing that we had another home game to be played, it was amazing because I knew I could step on this field one more time.”

Now the Jaguars turn their attention to Sherwood, which beat Northwest 12-2 in six innings on Saturday. The Warriors led 10-0 after two innings and cruised to victory. Sherwood has won the last four region championships and Corpuz said the Warriors exude a winning mystique that messed with the minds of the Jaguars and helped contribute to eight Northwest fielding errors.

“I think it’s good that we’ve already seen them,” Corpuz said. “They’re legendary. They’ve got four regional championships in a row and they play well. … They have that reputation. For us to go in and play, you could tell we were nervous going in, for obvious reasons. Then they started hitting the ball, but we’ve been in games where [opponents] have hit the ball. Paint Branch hit the ball against us; we made plays against Paint Branch. Sherwood, we were a little hesitant, a little unsure of ourselves. I think that the reputation had something to do with it. …

“[Getting a win is] going to take us coming in and not being intimidated and not psyching ourselves out because of Sherwood’s reputation. They’re good for obvious reasons. But … we’ve got some good potential and our girls need to realize that. They need to stop psyching themselves out about other people. Let’s focus on us and the things that we can do well, go out and do our kind of ball. You go out and play our style of ball, at the end of the day, if the other team makes more plays, then we can walk away and live with that. But we don’t want to continually add to what they don’t already need help with.”

Callahan said the Jaguars need to be confident.

We need to “walk into the game with the mentality that we’re going to come out with a win,” she said.