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Baden wins Little League title
9-10 softball team edges St. Mary's, moves to states
Friday, July 3, 2009
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Baden claimed the 9-10 District 7 softball championship, edging St. Mary's on Monday evening.
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BRANDYWINE –– After a victory by St. Mary's American in a must-win situation last Friday in a five-inning decision match-up, the Baden Little League softball team responded and had the bats clicking on Monday night.
Baden, backed with stout defense throughout thanks in part to four runs in the final two innings, helped it pull out a 7-5 win in the District 7 9- to 10-year-old championship tournament at Baden Fire Department.
With the win, Baden advances to the state tournament at Robert Stethem Memorial Park in Waldorf on July 18.
"This is basically our regular season team, we've improved so much," Baden head coach Dave Cross said. "The first time we faced Valerie [Hammett] we didn't hit her at all and tonight we got the bats on the ball and that made me so happy because of all the hard work. Both pitchers threw great, we didn't outpitch Valerie but we matched her. This is as fun as it gets when you have all the parents on the hill cheering on."
Baden's defense was led by starting pitcher Kaylee Cross, who fanned 13 batters. Cross also had a perfect 3 for 3 outing at the plate with two singles, a double and drove in an run.
"It feels great considering that I got hurt a couple of times," said Cross, who fell on her tailbone sliding into third at one point of the contest. "We made it to states last year and this was a different team. It's blowing my mind that we we've been able to do to it two years in a row. This is pretty amazing because we have a lot of new players."
St. Mary's took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Taylor Hall and Hammett scored on wild pitches. In the top of the second, Cross then put Baden on the board after she crossed home plate on a wild pitch.
"I love my team and I've gotten great hits and pitching," said Hammett, who also struck out 12 batters. "The way the game was going back and forth I was saying, ‘They're going to win, we're going to win,' but it turned out fun and we all did good."
Baden tied the game at 2 after Cross scored all the way from first on a throwing error. After Janay Wade's single, Alicia Young came in as the courtesy runner and stole second and then scored after another St. Mary's fielding error to give her team the 3-2 advantage.
"I'm so excited and this is the first year and I never thought my team could play like this," said and elated Young. "The first couple weeks [of the season] we couldn't hit or catch, but now since we refined our game we've improved so much. I'm so proud of my teammates."
In the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded, Cross walked Rebekah Torgesen from St. Mary's, which brought in left fielder Miranda Cook across the plate tie the game again at 3.
Hammett then bolted a double down the left field line, scoring Grace Prelog and Mary Roemer to give it a 5-3 lead.
"Both teams had power with their pitchers, so it's just being able to keep walks to a minimum," St. Mary's head coach Donnie Mills said. "We just came up short and in the middle of the game we couldn't hit the ball. This is a great thing for the kids to see them grow and I have a lot of rookies that came out here and played little league which was a good thing."
Baden fought back with three of its own runs as Pritchett, Kassidy Cross and Elizabeth Pavkov each came home to make it 6-5.
Kaylee Cross then struck two of three St. Mary's batters in the bottom of the fifth. In the top of the sixth, Pritchett's RBI single scored pinch runner Raven Jones from second to seal the victory and the celebration begin.
After Baden defeated St. Mary's in the round-robin tournament, St. Mary's forced an ‘if' game with a 3-2 win on Friday night thanks to Hammett tossing a no-hitter and striking out seven batters.
The game was called in the top of the third at 8:30 p.m. due to the thunder and downpour, giving St. Mary's the win.
Taylor Hall, Karleigh Hall, and Danielle Boquet all scored the runs in the victory.
Staff writer Michael Reid contributed to this story
