Seniors Paige Callahan, Emily Forst and other Jaguars lined the fence inside the first-base dugout during the bottom of the seventh inning on Friday as the Northwest softball team attempted to overcome a three-run deficit against Blake.
Erika Chopas reached on an error to lead off the inning, giving Northwest hope. Taylor Simpson reached on a dropped third strike and Ciarra Cristostomo followed with a run-scoring bunt single. After just one Jaguar reached base in the previous three innings, Northwest suddenly had the tying run on with no outs.
The Jaguars’ rally fell short, however, as Blake pitcher Meredith Mathis struck out two of the final three batters en route to a 5-3 Bengals win on a cold afternoon in Germantown. Blake improved to 3-0 while Northwest fell to 1-2.
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After the game, Northwest head coach Kevin Corpuz focused on the team’s resiliency.
“Things aren’t always going to go your way, but it’s the character” that is important, Corpuz said. “It’s your belief inside: Do you kind of just lay down and give up or do you keep working to make things happen and move forward? That’s exactly what we talked about in our postgame conference: there was no quit. Nobody got down, nobody was pointing fingers. The situation was what it was and we’re going to make the best of it. …
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“At the end of the day, it’s a loss, but it’s a loss that we’re all leaving the ballpark feeling pretty darn good about, ourselves, because we gave it everything we had.”
Northwest tied the score at 2-2 in the third inning when Stephanie Miller scored on a Blake throwing error. The Bengals went ahead to stay in the fifth inning, when third baseman Bridget Hawvermale roped a two-run home run to right-center field. With no outfield fence at Northwest’s field, the Blake senior had to sprint around the bases and was involved in a close play at the plate, beating the throw with a head-first slide.
Hawvermale, a right-handed batter, said she was not looking to hit the ball to the opposite field.
“I saw the gap in right-center and everyone was saying hit it to right-center, but I just go up there and hit,” she said. “… I saw [the ball] get a little past the center fielder so right then [I] was in the zone, just running, gunning for it.”
Blake extended its lead to 5-2 in the seventh inning when a Northwest throwing error allowed a Bengal base runner to score. The Jaguars finished with four errors.
“We’re not going to make any excuses,” Corpuz said. “It wasn’t one thing or another, it was just we didn’t make the play. … We’re better than that and we know that. That’s OK. We’ll move forward from here.”
Northwest took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Miller scored on a wild pitch. Miller finished 1 for 4 with two runs. Simpson went 1 for 3 and Cristostomo was 1 for 3 with an RBI.
Lily Schenkel suffered the loss in the circle for Northwest. The freshman pitched a complete game, allowing five runs --- three earned --- on six hits while walking three and striking out two.
“I like her mental toughness,” Corpuz said. “I think that’s a huge attribute to her. It looks like she’s unfazable. [Hawvermale] rocks a two-run home run and [the Bengals are] hitting the ball pretty much all day, but her belief is, ‘You know what, I’m just going to do my job, do what’s asked, I’m going to hit my spots, I’m going to throw strikes and I’ve got the confidence my girls are going to back me up.’”
Northwest is scheduled to travel to Bethesda-Chevy Chase for a 3:30 p.m. game on Monday.
Blake 5, Northwest 3
123 456 7 R H E
BHS 011 020 1 5 6 3
NHS 101 000 1 3 3 4
