Green Hornets 14U Softball ties GORC 5-5

Story And Photos By Peter Crispino

In a matchup of two of the area’s top 14U softball teams, Payton Klingensmith and Kaylin Fitzmaurice struck out eight batters and Kailey Campbell scored two runs as Severna Park tied the Lady Wildcats of GORC, 5-5, in a dramatic outing at GORC Park on April 25. After jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, the Green Hornets’ bats fell silent, but their strong defense and pitching kept the rallying Wildcats from taking control of the game.

Campbell started the game with a bunt single and a stolen base before being singled home by Emma Moore. After a pair of walks, Sarah Quasny and Lauren Hedenstead drove home two more to give the Green Hornets an early lead. It appeared the rout was on when Sage Beauparlant walked, stole two bases, and scored on a wild pitch to start the second inning. But Wildcats pitcher Jamie Smith settled down and struck out three straight batters to end the inning. From that point on, Severna Park battled to keep the hard-charging Wildcats at bay in spite of a silent offense.

“Our pitchers did well,” Green Hornets coach Guy Klingensmith said after the game. “We had solid defensive play and we ran the bases well, but we need to work on our hitting, we just didn’t hit the ball after that first inning today.”

The Green Hornets made Smith pay for any walks she served up by staying aggressive on the base paths. Nearly every time Severna Park hitters reached base, they promptly stole second and third. At first, it looked as if the Lady Wildcats had no answer for Severna Park’s speedy base running until Smith came up with her own solution­—don’t allow any more runners. After Beauparlant walked in the second inning, Smith struck out eight of the next 11 batters she faced and allowed only three hits the rest of the way. She finished with 10 strikeouts in the game.

Tara Hetzler scored the game-tying run for GORC in the sixth inning after reaching on a leadoff walk. Hetzler stole second and third then slid under the tag on a close play at the plate after a wild pitch.

For the Wildcats, Smith added an RBI single to go with her stellar pitching performance. Mariah Klawon had two singles and scored a run. Kayla Mascarenhas and Alicia Hughart both added RBI singles and reached base twice.

For the Green Hornets, Quasny reached base twice and made a great throw from third to stop a rally in the second inning. Fitzmaurice reached base in all three plate appearances, scoring once. Hedenstead had an RBI single and a running catch in left field to rob extra bases. Campbell scored twice and Rachel Hutchings made a nice running catch on a blooper to left field.

“We played very well defensively, our pitchers threw strikes, we got ahead in the counts against batters,” Klingensmith said. “We’ve just got to hit the ball and go forward from there.”