Catonsville softball builds big lead and holds off Carver, 7-3, for Baltimore County softball championship

Catonsville senior Maggie Kreis went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs, and she pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts as the No. 9 Comets defeated No. 6 Carver A&T, 7-3, in the Baltimore County championship game at CCBC-Catonsville.

The two teams split during the regular season with Catonsville winning 2-1 on April 19 and Carver blanking the Comets, 6-0, on April 28.

Tuesday, the Comets (13-2) built a 7-0 lead in the first four innings and Carver (9-2) rallied late with three runs in the final two innings.

Kreis allowed only one hit in the first five innings, twice striking out the side.

“She was pitching really, really good today,” Catonsville senior catcher Caelyn Voss said. “Her curve was working really good, a lot of people were going for the rise and it worked out a lot with that and just the plain fastball.”

Catonsville coach Paul Harris was even more impressed.

“She was lights out, absolutely amazing,” he said. “I’ve said it from the beginning of the season when Maggie is on her stuff, she is a very, very tough pitcher to beat and she was on her stuff today. You could hear it hitting the glove, it was just lightning. She had the Carver offense off-balanced for the whole game.”

Catonsville’s offense got on track in the top of the first with Kreis starting the rally with a one-out single.

Courtesy runner Andie Sutton advanced to third on a single up the middle by Grace Bielski. The throw hit Sutton on the way to the bag and Bielski advanced to second.

“The kid is a magnet down there, she’s been hit three times this season down there and we took advantage of that,” Harris said.

Both runners scored on a wild pitch when an attempt to get Sutton at the plate was thrown wild.

Catonsville extended the lead in the top of the third when Abby Mitchell got a leadoff single and scored on a double by Kreis. Courtesy runner Sutton advanced to third on a flyout to center field by Bielski and she beat the throw home on Alyssa Ochmann’s ground ball to second.

The Comets added three more runs in the top of the fourth. Kreis followed hit a bases-loaded double over third base that scored two.

“She does an excellent job with the bat. She came through like she was supposed to, that’s why she’s bats where she does,” Harris said. “We count on the lower part of our lineup getting on base and when that happens it usually ends up with a lot of runs.”

That ended the day for junior starting pitcher Mallory Cooper who pitched a two-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts to beat the Comets.

“She has got a bad ankle right now,” Carver coach Kevin Klimko said. “Her ankle is hurting and we had a talk in between innings after she came out and she gave me what she could. Mallory is a gamer, she’s 100% a gamer and the team goes how Mallory goes and Mallory knows that and she gave it all she had, and really we let her down defensively.”

Freshman Lilly Dennis relieved Cooper and tossed three scoreless innings allowing just one hit.

Carver finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth after a triple by Haleigh Frye and an overthrow that allowed her to score.

They added two more in the seventh with a double by Maddie Gult and singles by Lauren Allender, Dennis and Robyn Palmer.

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“I’m really proud of these kids, these kids didn’t stop, they never quit right until the last out,” Klimko said. “We gave it our all and that’s all you can ask. The last time we played her we were able to stay off the rise ball and today we weren’t, and that was the difference in what happened today.”

There was no county championship game last season, but the Comets went on to win a state championship.

“I did tell all of my returning players they had one more thing they had to do this year,” Harris said. “We had a state, we had a regional championship and we didn’t get a county championship last year. I think they ended up giving it to Towson because they had beaten us, so they ended up with that. So we wanted to be able to come back and get that county championship this year, so mission accomplished, I’m very proud of them.”

Voss, a senior captain, was one of those returning veterans.

“It’s very exciting, it’s something we didn’t get last year and we get to get it this year,” Voss said. “We now have everything under our belt and we are going for another good run.”